Mr. Skeleton & Co.

Here is my new friend Mr. Skeleton, AKA Humphrey Seymour, lamenting his death at his gravesite, as best he can.  Being as how he doesn’t have shoulder rotators, this is as close as he gets to putting his head in his hands.  Poor Mr. Skeleton…

Also, unfortunately, for him, he is stuck with that garish smile for all eternity!

But, I’ve lit his “den” with a fun little candleholder and gave him a spooky tree to sit under.

This black beauty used to be brass:

For the spooky tree, I just stuck some branches in an urn, smushed plastic bags around them to keep upright and spray painted them black-ish.  I added some red, gold, and black beads for festive-ness:

The tree actually sits on the table, but you couldn’t see the branches against the backdrop, so here it is on the floor. :)

Perfectly spooky, now, don’t ya think?

A little more Halloweeeen

Here’s a few more sneak peeks at our Halloween party decor:

That fireplace will look a little more spooky when all the candles inside are lit…

That’s the top of my kitchen cabinets…

    

Happy Almost Halloween!!

Pretty Pumpkins

Today Michael and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins!  It was a beautiful warm day with lots of sunshine!

After much frustration trying to decide on a design, I finally chose a cat stencil, while Michael carved the World of Warcraft Horde symbol.

Here is the process:

Yay Halloween!  I also went bargain hunting today and got a bunch of cool decorations for 75% off! Whoo!

More decor to come… stick around for tomorrow’s post!

Halloween Decorating

So, I got up a few more Halloween decorations this weekend.  I finished my other Dollar Tree sign, too.  Here you are—lots of Halloween inspiration!

Before:

So, that was okay, right?  But it was not snazzy enough for Sarah.  So, after a botched first draft, I repainted it silver with black lettering and some glitter for good measure.  And those spiderwebs in the background?  Credit goes to the trusty paint pen:

It’ll pop even better on the green front door, which is where I intend to hang it!

So, last time I told you about Mr. Pumpkin in the guest bathroom.  Well, today I spookified the other side of the vanity with a few branches and leaves, some hot glue spiderwebs and  black bats (template at Country Living):

Now, its kinda scary in there!  Especially when you close the door and see the awesome tulle wreath I made with a wire ring and strips of tulle tied on (tutorial from Something To Do):

Okay, that’s not scary… but the bats are!

And in the living room, I’m starting to transform the accessories.  I fixed up a couple of black candle sconces that I got at Goodwill for $1.50 each with some black paint.  Having them flanking the mirror with bleeding tapers makes me feel like I’m in some haunted Victorian mansion.  Eeek!

Speaking of eek, here’s my last project for today:

I just printed out the letters with Halloween backgrounds and stuck ‘em over the botanical prints that were already in the frames.  For anyone who was wondering about the fonts I use… I got these Halloween fonts from dafont.com.  ;) They have lots of cool ones there.

Okay, so that’s all we got for now!  But rest assured, there’s more where that came from!  Later I’ll show you my Halloween table “tree” that I made with some more branches.  And the brass candleholder revamp.  Stay tuned!

Hooray for Halloween

So, here at the Horvath house, we are getting into the spirit of Halloween.  Much of our spirit of Halloween comes from our annual costume party, which requires that I convert our house into a haunted mansion without making Michael want to kill me and hang me from the porch for extra macabre decor.

So, I have been working on a few Halloween displays lately, some go up now for our enjoyment, and some have to wait and go up just for the party night.

Here’s what we have on the counter in our guest bath—a happy Jack-o-lantern:

He’s happily sitting on a little decorative stand that I stole from my mother’s yard sale junk.  It had these lovely little people figurines on top and after I had my father cut those off, I painted it black for an eerie accessory.  Then I just threw some berries and leaves under Mr. Pumpkin for that finishing touch!  I heart!

And my other projects this week have included a couple of Dollar Tree signs for the party that were just not up to snuff as they were.  So I repainted them from this:

To this…:

…With a little chalkboard paint, some gold accents, and penciled in spider webs in the background.  Then I just wrote in the menu for our Halloween party with chalk!  Doesn’t all that sound appetizing?  Don’t you want to join us for some Bundt of Bat Bodies with Guano Glaze?  It’s tasty, I promise!

The other sign is still in the process of being fancified, so it’ll be coming in a later post.

Hope you are getting into the Halloween spirit!  Only 10 days to go! :) 

Cheers for Chandeliers!

Today was a special day.  Today we got a new chandelier for our dining room--the crowning touch to our formal eating space!

The former dining room light was a white ceiling fan, never before pictured due to its unworthiness. :)

Here is what the dining room used to look like, BEFORE we came to call this place home:

 

And AFTER my father and husband got involved to install the chandelier (yay muscles and electrical knowledge!):

This lovely light was purchased at our local Habitat Restore for a mere $40!  The espresso aged iron finish and cream shades look right at home in our dining room.

Our next installation will be a dimmer switch to control the glow from nine forty watt bulbs!  With this much light, I’ll be able to see exactly what Chef Michael is making me eat for dinner!

Can’t wait to have a dinner party and enjoy the new ambiance!

Note: No ceiling fans were harmed in this process.  The little white ceiling fan joined his brother from the kitchen to live  out their days in my father’s new garage. :)

Birthday Bounty

For my birthday, I got a cherry flatware cabinet (as if I had enough flatware to put in it) for my dining room.  Lucky for me, it has three additional drawers for storing  linens… placemats, napkins and such that I have collected over the years.

Here it is, now gracing the corner of our dining room:

I love how cute the silver tea service looks  with the dessert plates on the wall.   Like I could just go have a cup of tea and something to eat on one of the plates.  :)  The silver service was a gift from my father to my grandmother.  She later gave it to my mother, who has now given it to me to polish and display. :)

Naturally, I had to spruce it up a bit with some roses in the creamer. hehe

Now, would anyone care for a spot of tea?