So today I’m doing my first ever holiday house tour, along with five other fabulous bloggers. Thanks so much to Stephanie from Sandpaper and Glue for putting this together. Make sure to check out all the other tours after you take a look at mine; I’m really excited to see what everyone else has done–Halloween decorations are my favorite! Until Christmas. Then Christmas might be my favorite. But I can’t think about that yet.
Here’s the view from the front of the house. We a get little more themed once you come inside, but the outside is a collection of….stuff we like. I hit the clearance sales after Halloween and keep an eye out at thrift stores and try to add something new every year.
The Frankenstein’s monster (or, as the kids inexplicably call him, “Mary Shelley”) and the skeleton on the other side of the steps have been with us for awhile. Putting mums in the skeleton’s head is my favorite. I thought about trying to carve pumpkins in time for this post, but my research indicates they would never have made it to Halloween if I had:
We made the raven planters last fall to fit in with our Edgar Allan Poe theme. At the time I thought we’d turn them around for most of the year to the undecorated side, but it turns out they’re really heavy once they’re full of dirt….so they stay ravens all year. But now they’re seasonally appropriate again! We planted the boxwoods in there last winter, and they’ve done really well with no care whatsoever. My kind of plants!
The snake wreath on the front door is new this year.
This skeleton, a thrift store find, is this year’s other new addition. I realized after I got him home that he didn’t really have quite the right parts, so I disassembled him a little before I put him out in our little graveyard:
I’ve had some of these skulls that line our walkway for a few years now, but I keep finding another set or two (at thrift stores) every year. At this rate, we’ll have enough for the whole walkway before the decade’s out :):
I’ve had the kids help pick out a theme for our Halloween decor for the past two years, and this year they settled on Great Expectations, especially the Miss Havisham parts. We read Great Expectations together last year, and I guess it made an impression. The dining room is where things get really theme-y, but I tried to carry it through a little bit in this display in our foyer, too…..mostly in that the books here are all Dickens (I have a nice set that used to belong to my grandparents and then a couple of others that I’ve picked up here and there):
Most of the things here were in the Halloween box in the basement and have been around for Halloweens past, but my favorite new find this year was this little brass pumpkin:
On the dining room buffet, we have Miss Havisham’s abandoned wedding feast, complete with rat infested cake. I’ve already posted about it, but here are a couple of pictures for people who haven’t been here before:
I’ve also put out some less creepy, more all purpose fall touches that should take us through Thanksgiving. This box usually has brass candlesticks in it, but I switched them out with gourds:
I have no shortage of woodland creatures to hang out with my decorative gourds. The wood-look squirrel took a spill awhile back and lost his tail and one ear, but I finally got around to breaking out the super glue, and now’s he’s somewhat close to good as new again.
It’s always nice when it’s time to break out the deer salt and pepper shakers:
And, finally, a few more gourds on the kitchen island:
And this guy didn’t just come out for Halloween, but I’ve never posted him before, and he fits in with the other fall stuff, so….here’s the fox cookie jar (he’s from Target) that my friend Tracy gave me as a thank you gift for dog sitting for her:
That wraps things up here, but there’s still plenty more Halloween goodness to be found on the other tours. Click on the pictures to go to their posts:
Stephanie – Sandpaper and Glue
Kelly – This Old Colonial Home
love it ! the habersham area is my favorite still!!!! my home is sorta decked out but i did not get my act together to take photos…. or even write a post today…
You already did a fall house tour! You don’t want to be too much of an overachiever here 😉
oooh I love the skill planter- so good! 🙂
*skull
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You had me at Mary Shelley, but a Miss Havisham theme? Be still, my English teacher heart. 🙂 Now I’m thinking I might, maybe, actually go get some pumpkins today.
Well, if I’ve convinced just one person to go shop for giant decorative gourds, then my work here is done 😉
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I love your skull planter and snake wreath! Did you make it? Your dining room buffet is also fantastic!
Thank you! Yep–the snake wreath was my first genuine attempt at wreath making (blogger confessions ;))!
Wow! Nice job! You should do a tutorial 🙂
You’re so good at this Halloween decorating! That wreath and cake are seriously impressive!
I love your literary references! The Dickens is great. Also think the snake wreath is brilliant. Nicely done!!
Lory at Designthusiasm
Thanks so much, Lory!
I love this Gretchen! Once more, I have nada up for Halloween – I seriously lack the motivation to make any effort to decorate for a holiday that isn’t Christmas, as much as I can sit back in wonderment and appreciate all the awesome things other people do! The Miss Havisham’s vignette still takes the cake for me – pun oh so very intended 😉
I did pretty much no Halloween decorating pre-blog, I have to admit. Just having kids who would get into it was not enough; it took kids PLUS blog to bring out the seasonal decorator in me. And you win comments for the day with your awesomely terrible pun 🙂
What an awesome Halloween home tour. So many great moments as you walk up to your house and continue inside 🙂 I am totally over the moon about your buffet 🙂
Thanks, Katja! I fear I might run out of steam by Christmas, but Halloween decorating is always fun 🙂
Love it Gretchen! I have to live vicariously through you this year with the Halloween decor!
But you did an amazing job decorating your KID, so I think you’re pretty well covered 🙂
Goodness gracious for a fear-avoiding person like yourself, there are some pretty creepy things there!! Those skulls are phenomenal and I hope you continue to collect them year after year!!
Fortunately, I don’t list being left at the altar among my many fears, so Miss Havisham is fair game 😉
This theme is so perfect! And we might have to make those Raven planters you made last year. We are a little Poe obsessed.
Thanks! Raven planters coast to coast, is what I want to see :).
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Those skulls on the walkway are hilarious and terrifying. I do expect you to have serious Halloween game being from Atlanta. I mean Walking Dead. Amiright?
I’m so wimpy I couldn’t watch Walking Dead any more after the first two seasons, so I fear your high expectations for me might be misplaced 😉
We have the same semi-dismembered thrift store skeleton! I knew you were my Halloween twin. I’m loving your display this year. My surgery sidelined Halloween (and my planned series for the most part). Next year we join forces 😉
You have some of the best stuff.. and the dining room!? GENIUS! You definitely went all out and I love love love it!!
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