Welcome to the Raven Hollow Designs blog, version 2.0! Halloween is the best season of the year (although some people call it fall, or football season), don’t you think? Over the years I have created and acquired many dark and spooky items which I use to decorate as much of my home as possible for Halloween (and usually throw a big party to show it off). So for my first post, let’s go on a Halloween Home Tour!
Future posts will include how-to’s for many of my projects and other decorating ideas. As a graphic designer, many of my projects include labels, tags and other printable decor, some of which will be available for download. So stop back again soon and see what’s next!
I’ve been decorating our house for Halloween since we moved in 15 years ago, and the Halloween storage bins now take up more room in the basement than the Christmas bins. There are many styles of Halloween decorating, and mine seems to have evolved to an “eerie-haunted-Victorian-mansion-with-some-witchy-elements” look and feel, with a little bit of humor or tongue-in-cheek presentation. And it’s always an on-going, evolving thing.
FRONT DOOR/PORCH
I’m hoping to do more with the front door/front porch in the future, but for now it features two large columns that fit over the existing narrow white porch posts, hanging lanterns, two black wreaths that fit over the light sconces, and a hand-carved sign on the front door that reads “Enter Foolish Mortals.” The other elements change from year to year.
FOYER
The foyer features many hand-made items, including the “haunted mirror,” the crystal ball, the book page skull wreath, and the red divider curtain. The stair swag visible in the upper right is made from gossamer fabric and purple string lights. Some of my collection of potion bottles sit on the table.
Here’s a closer look at the foyer table:
Another look at the mirror:
Book page skull wreath close-up:
The red divider curtain is made from faux velvet stretch fabric that I got on eBay. The curtain clips are hanging from 3M Command adhesive hooks. One of my favorite Halloween decorating tools. A gold tassel tie-back hanging from another 3M hook holds the curtain back.
Some foyer wall decor:
The plates normally hang in my foyer without the creepy creatures on them. Removable wall vinyl lets me temporarily add some spookiness.
KITCHEN
I don’t normally do much with the kitchen because we use it so much, but there are a few touches here and there.
This display features a graveyard terrarium, a poison apple specimen and a Haunted Mansion mug from Disney World. A feathered raven is tucked into the twig wreath.
For a Halloween party, we raise the light fixture and replace the regular bulbs with bare flicker bulbs.
Behind the kitchen is a hallway leading to the powder room, office, laundry room and garage. To keep people from going in and out of the garage (which is a giant accident waiting to happen, maybe someday I’ll blog about garage organization — or not) we hung another red faux velvet curtain with gold tassel tie.
POWDER ROOM
The decorations in the powder room really vary from year to year, but there were two things last year that stand out. First are the soap dispenser labels, which I will make available as a download in a future post. The second is the potion/spell book that sits on a shelf on the wall.
LIVING ROOM
This is the second most decorated room in the house. White sheets cover the furniture, tattered curtains hang over the windows, and spooky knick knacks are everywhere.
Here’s a closer look at the coffin table:
And the caged displays by the fireplace:
Here’s more of the fireplace and mantle:
Potion bottles line the top of the corner cabinet:
A bench display sits by the french doors:
We also made a Ouija Board side table.
DINING ROOM
Our dining room doesn’t normally have much furniture. Just the piano and a small side table with drawers. So this becomes the party room at Halloween. And it’s the most decorated room in the house — the walls and all the furniture are covered.
The side table holds more artifacts:
Stained cheesecloth makes tattered curtains:
FRONT YARD
Outside the house, we have a collection of hand-carved tombstones and plenty of hanging lanterns. Here is a sample of some of the tombstones:
I hope you have enjoyed touring my Halloween House! The outside of the house is definitely the place I want to do more with in the future. Another feature I would like to work on is lighting — it’s one of the best ways to set the atmosphere. What Halloween projects will you be creating this year?
Thanks for reading!