Happy fall! Thanks to impromptu homeschooling and the general state of unrest around the house, it has been a while since I’ve popped on the blog. However, I was inspired by the season to spend a little bit of time last week decorating for fall and Halloween and wanted to share my progress.
I’m somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to holiday themed decor, so I didn’t go all-out. But I did add a pumpkin here and there to infuse some fall warmth into the house. And a little bit of spookiness. Considering most of the real pumpkins I purchased were around 60 cents each, au natural is a good budget-friendly decorating option. Even better, you don’t have to worry about storing or even putting away your pumpkins when Christmas season arrives. They can go right into the compost bin.
The Entryway
You may recall that I repainted pretty much the entire downstairs last November and installed board and batten in our entryway and hallway. This is the first time I have decorated it for the holidays, and I absolutely love how the fall colors contrast with the white walls.
I decorated the entryway table with a mix of real and faux pumpkins. We purchased the real pumpkins from Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s pumpkin selection is somewhat limited this year, but the quality and price can’t be beat.
The mercury glass pumpkins are an old Pottery Barn purchase that I’ve managed not to break for over a decade. Unfortunately Pottery Barn no longer sells this version of the glass pumpkin, but it does have a lot of fun pumpkin options in more modern colors (check out these pretty rose gold pumpkins here). Amazon carries these light-up mercury glass pumpkins
I added a touch of Halloween to the other side of the entryway table by adding some mini faux pumpkins to my topiary. This decision was somewhat of a compromise between the kids and myself. I usually mix the mini pumpkins with the glass balls in the vase on the other side of the table, but the kids love playing with the pumpkins. So this year I’ve put them in a spot where they can be easily accessed. The large metal spider is another Pottery Barn find from years ago.
You may have noticed that I jumped on the bat bandwagon this year. These DIY paper bats were all the rage last Halloween, and they’ve been on my radar for a while. I made mine out of black construction paper that I folded in half length-wise. I used a white crayon to make a half bat silhouette in two different sizes and then cut them out. PJs and Paint has a more detailed tutorial along with a bat pattern in case you are interested in making your own. Or if you don’t have time to DIY, check out these premade bat decals
The Family Room
Aside from our entryway, the only other place I have decorated in the house is our family room off of the kitchen. And when I say “decorated,” I mean I added three pumpkins and a sign. Ha. Don’t get me wrong—I do love Halloween decor. But with the kids’ toys and everything, I don’t want to add too much more noise to the chaos.
We recently updated the bar area in the family room with shiplap, and I painted the room a light blue/grey color toward the end of summer. We live about 100 miles from the beach, but I decided to break convention and add a tiny bit of coastal vibe to this part of the house. It’s now one of my favorite rooms in the house because it reminds me of our trips to the beach.
The large mercury glass pumpkin is another “vintage” Pottery Barn purchase. I like how it fits in with the purple from the orchid and the coastal blues and whites.
This little white pumpkin is on the console table behind our couch in the family room. I didn’t have time to straighten out the couch for photos, but I felt like I needed to include this pumpkin on the fall decor tour because Lamborghini is quite proud of it. He found it at Trader Joe’s, and it has the cutest little curlicues.
Our “Mud-Wall”
I don’t think I’ve ever shared this angle from the family room. Instead of a mud room, we have a “mud wall.” It’s the drop place for all of the kids’ shoes and bags and things like that when they first come into the house. The space is right off of our back door, so it works nicely to keep the outside items corralled. The baskets underneath the bench hide our shoes.
I purchased the “Boo” sign at Kirklands last year. The artist is actually local (though I can’t remember her name) and she has made several holiday variations of this metal framed sign. For some reason I can never find the signs online, so I plan to do some reconnaissance work the next time I go to Kirklands. I must admit, though, that I am avoiding Kirklands at the moment for the sake of my pocketbook. The burnt orange pumpkin on the bar is a plastic pumpkin that I found at HomeGoods years ago.
The Kids’ Rooms
And that’s it for Halloween this year. I do want to point out that I’m not a total curmudgeon when it comes to Halloween decor. This year I let the kids take over decorating the upstairs. They made these cute spooky signs for their door and hung the swag of Halloween cards past (thank you Sara and Aunt Peggy!) on the doorknobs.
We also have numerous plastic spiders littered throughout the upstairs.
If you want to see our Halloween look from a few years ago, check it out here. It’s amazing how much of a difference the white walls make!
See what I mean?
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