Creepy Decor Galore!

Hi there! It is finally the fall season- my favorite time of the year! I have been busy doing some projects around the house preparing for a Halloween party (that I probably won't have but want to pretend I will).

My family has always gone way above and beyond for Halloween decorations and I've always enjoyed coming up with new, fun, creepy decor to put around the house. Traditionally most Halloween decorations have been outside but with the rapid popularity increase in Pinterest I assume many more people are now starting to deck out every flat surface with some pintresty project :)

Here is a look at what I've been doing so far! Some tutorials are written out, others are just photos. If you want to know how I did anything specifically just let me know!

Here is a view of the entire mantle. I draped the "creepy cloth" from the dollar store to give it something different. (yes, my fireplace is always orange, we painted that awhile back and LOVE it)

Here are some closeups of the actual items:

I got an old dictionary from goodwill and am using it just for paper. I tore some out, burned the edges and crinkled it up to stack it up to look like spells or potion recipes!

Also, these labels were hand-drawn on the inside sleeves of the old book's covers (it was a perfect aged, discolored look that is the perfect setting for creepy things!) I drew in pencil and modge-podged over to seal it up. 

Here's where the twine-wrapped vase came from--

I took a cheap cylinder vase I had from my wedding and decided to wrap it in some twine I had on hand. I know I can use this for far more than just Halloween so I hot glued it going up. After doing glue all the way around I realized I really only needed a few dots here and there and it stayed pretty well. Just make sure you keep it tight going up!

Here is the finished vase before filling it

I went out back and collected some branches. I cleaned them off a bit and just put them in to create some height to the mantle. I played around with different ones in order to not completely take over my TV but also keep the volume.

Besides the mantle I did a few other things around the house!

Here I took some of those pages from the dictionary again and glued them on cardboard. I took a sharpie and drew out a spider. I started drawing a skull but realized I just can't make those look good... so I went for the easier option :)

I am so excited to have collected some stuff for this table! I have the candle stands from wedding gifts and added the other stuff to them. I found the skill, bat cutouts and crows from the dollar store. My mom found the cool skeleton candelabra, spider vase and pumpkin from Kirklands.  The only other thing I might add eventually is more creepy cloth or black lace underneath it all.

Here are more closeups of the cool potion bottles. I simply spray painted them all matted black and added the paper afterwards. Some labels were printed from sites I found on Pinterest- just search halloween labels and there are TONS of ideas!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

DIY Roman Shades

2. Simple panel curtains turned into roman shades!

This next project was really one of the first we did here. I have 3 large windows that let in SO much sunlight around 2pm that we really needed to solve the issue. I know roman shades can be quite expensive, and I had 4 panels of striped curtains from our old apartment that we got with wedding money....so why not reuse them?
I decided to make the printed fabric into roman shades.. originally my idea was to do the whole pinterest "roman shades out of cheap walmart blinds" thing, but my mother suggested we do it the real way, and I have to admit, I think she was right :)

 I also kept our long brown IKEA curtains which weren't quite long enough for these windows. I added a small panel of gold to the bottom which was from pieces of cheap curtains from Walmart.

The kitchen window also has the roman shade, but instead of doing it the real way, I thought tying it up with jute would look a little better.

I really like the informality of it... the nice thing is if I want it raised, I just have to adjust the knot!

total project cost: $30 for the roman shade kits

Re-Purposed Antique Sewing Table

Hello everyone! (if there's anyone...)
I am finally at the point where I can sit down and show you all of the things I have been working on in the past 6 months or so.
The last post was all about the new house. Well, since then, I have changed/ added/ decorated/ re-purposed/ salvaged/ painted/ etc. MANY things.

Let's have a look... shall we??


1. Antique sewing table turned hall entryway table!

Found this at a local flea market.. someone had painted the top a weird grey color. The first thing I did when I got home was sand it back down and stain it dark. I kinda liked some of the grey still showing, so I went with it!

Next thing I did was polish up the iron legs and pedal

Love it!

Ugly brass lamps

I'm sure you all have been to goodwill before, if not, you should go! there is so much good stuff! (if you dont mind cleaning things up and giving them a new life!) so, because we are moving soon and are in need of things to make our space a home, I wanted to hop into Goodwill to check out what they had. (I tend to do that often..)

I found some ugly brass lamps, you know, the ones that everyone has at some point and can't wait to get rid of.. maybe something like this?

We paid attention to the shape of the lamps, not worrying about if they matched or not. oh! and make sure that you check the lamps before you buy.. luckily, they set up an outlet at the lamp section with a couple light bulbs. these were good to go!

We ran into walmart and bought some black flat spray paint (I love the flat because it makes it look modern, but not shiny). Also bought some nice lamp shades, they were also pretty modern and a neutral color that goes with the master bedroom idea (in my head).

and voila! new lamps! Andrew even mentioned how he liked that they weren't the same and were unique!

my shopping list:

• brass lamps:
• one for $7
• one for $4
• flat spray paint
• $2.40
• lamp shades
• 2 for $14 each
• TOTAL:  about $26 for 2 brand new lamps! and I must say, they look quite nice :)