C.B.I.D. HOME DECOR and DESIGN: HAPPY HALLOWEEN

With Halloween here, I just had to share my FAVORITE idea this year found on Pinterest (don't you just LOVE Pinterest?) but originally from Better Homes and Gardens...

How completely awesome is that? AND there is a tutorial of sorts...find it here on my board.

I love a natural look - I love fall colors - I love garden urns....

and this arrangement had it all going for me. That black urn really makes this, don't you think.

I would do this for my fall decor!

From Mary Carol Garrity - (you have only to check out her books to see why I love her).

This from her now famous shop - too far away for me to visit - Nell Hills.

So, pumpkins, right?

Love them, but what do you do with them AFTER you go all out and decorate with them?

I know you will say make pies, or toast the seeds...

but my gag reflex kicks in the minute I touch that inner pumpkin slime...

I'd love to have a big statement like this, but I'd have to do it in funkins

and then...where to store it all?

For the funkin manufacturers out there - (faux pumpkins)

could you make some that look like this? I would snap those up so fast!

For me, its all about Halloween -

I kicked off an annual party last year for my clients and friends.

so....

Here's my second annual Black Hat Society party decor

(costumes were optional, but hats of any kind were mandatory!)

THE MANTLE

This year I found adorable felt skull garlands at Home Goods. The skulls needed something to help them stand out against the white mantle, so I bought cheap plastic ivy and spray painted it matte black.

I added these battery operated orange mercury glass lights at the last minute

(made a huge difference)

(also found at Home Goods)

These garlands....so cute!

Everything else remained as it was - with the exception of adding the crows and the Halloween candles.

THE HALLOWEEN TREE

This was my favorite thing last year, and I loved it so much I had to do it again this year. I stuck curly willow twigs in styrofoam in an antique urn and decked them out with a variety of lanterns and mini crows.

I can't tell you how happy this tree makes me every time I walk into this room and see this riot of color and craziness.

MR. SKELLY

He was on the mantle last year, but this year Mr Skelly was happy to spend his time on a small chest in front of the window - draped with bittersweet - atop a wooden planter.

THE KITCHEN

Not a lot of decorating space in the kitchen - but these little ceramic jack-o-lantern votives found a spot on the cook-top hood

and I managed to bring some color to the island with a 'crow and floral' arrangement.

I don't remember where she came from - but my silly jack-o-lantern doll lights up the corner of the kitchen. I love that she's completely ugly holding her black cat with her weird green hands..

but she looks so awesome when you plug her in!

THE DINING ROOM

I used the large buffet under the window to display Mr. Bones and a colorful arrangement of chinese lanterns and velvet pumpkin stems. The highlight is my 'Witch's Cupboard', though - a bit of a curiosity with birds nests, mortar and pestle and various potions and skulls.

The bottles are a combination of purchased and concocted - I'm sure some are missing...must have missed a box this year...

LIVING ROOM AND ENTRY

(and I still don't have the curtains back up....)

I love bright orange chinese lanterns. I remember real ones growing in the backyard as a child - they fascinated me. They are probably a weed, but this arrangement makes me happy.

I love the silly skulls ringing the top of the urn, too. Over in the corner by the french shutters I filled a crock full of fall leaves. These bright touches in my neutral living room really pop!