Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Boo-tiful Decor for pennies!

I think Halloween is a great kid-friendly holiday, and I wanted to decorate my house this year in celebration, but I had no desire to spend a fortune on things that are going to be manhandled by my kids, so here is my house this year

Here is my favorite room. I found these crows at Dollar tree and couldn't resist their Halloween charm, so I brought them home, sawed off some dead branches from a tree in my yard, spray-painted them black, and stuck them in a black vase. Now Rachel begs me to let her see the "birdies" every time we're in the family room.
I also love to "decorate" with seasonal books. I only have a couple of Halloween books at my disposal, and even fewer that are presentable, but I love this Pumpkin Soup book, so I thought I would incorporate it. (I also love how you can see my ghost--a grocery bag stuffed with newspaper, taped on the top of a lamp and covered with muslin) reflected in the mirror. The spider votive candles and paper lanterns were also Dollar Tree finds. No sense spending the big bucks for punching bags (that are sitting on the floor right now because Rachel just came in the room, by the way).

On to the dining room! I found this pumpkin candle wreath at DI for 5o cents and couldn't pass it up. I wrapped it with some berries that were on clearance at Michaels and put a real pumpkin in the middle.

I rarely splurge, but I bought this tablecloth a couple years ago for a friend's birthday only to discover that she had purchased a square table. Well, I couldn't bear to return it so I got her another gift and I am now the lucky owner! I love the fact that my centerpiece is a basket of apples from our tree in the backyard. My girls eat them like crazy, but I didn't have to pay for them, and they are a nice, healthy snack!


I usually put my girls' artwork up here, but I was lazy this year and put up some cute prints I found instead. (OK really they are just treat bags that I got at Dollar Tree, but where else can you find 20 prints for a buck?)

5 comments:

Shannon Stoker said...

I don't know how you do it...the decorations look amazing! Will you come decorate my house, too? (Never mind that for the cost of the plane trip you could buy some REALLY expensive decorations...)

Katie said...

It looks so cute! You're so inventive! You wanna come decorate my house next?

Maureen said...

Very cute and creative!

Anonymous said...

I love the black crows great for halloween. Quick Question, how did you get your mirror on the brick wall?

I've recently got my fireplace done with cornerstones and would like to add an oval mirror, but afraid to crack the stones.

Any suggestions?

Kristi said...

I didn't know you were so inventive with this kind of stuff. It's so cute and totally looks like the stuff they have at pottery barn and all that. I'm so impressed. I hope you keep posting stuff like this when you have ideas. love it!

(Bytheway, I like your blog! I'm going to start haunting it more often) :)