Easy Halloween Decorating

The last couple of years I’ve felt blah about decorating for holidays which is a big departure from my usual over-the-top excitement. I think part of it is the imaginary pressure that I put on myself to create something new and impactful. This year I decided to keep it low key and minimal. I focused on decorating the entry and then sprinkled Halloween/fall décor into the living, dining and family rooms.

The Entry

To make the the entry feel more festive, I switched out my everyday décor for more fall-Halloween related items. I purchased these sweet natural braided mini pumpkins and lined them up on the tray. I also purchased this huge wooden jack-o-lantern bucket from Home Goods. I looked for this item online and the only thing that came up was this ebay link. This same bucket is listed for $185. WHAAAAAAT??! That is crazy.

I really love the bucket. It’s heavy and feels high quality. I think I paid $40 or $50 for it last year.

To make the entry feel a little spooky, I placed a large spider on one of the pumpkins and added spiders to the wicker mirror.

I used these super inexpensive spiders and gentle secured them by pushing their feet into the different crevices of the wicker. They’ve been up for about 7 days now and not one has fallen!

The Living Room

The living room is my happy place and I like to keep it neutral. Whenever I sit in here, I feel relaxed, so I wanted décor that would easily blend in with the rest of the room.

I added two skeleton spiders and a white fabric pumpkin that has an orange ticking stripe pattern. Sometimes less is more, right?

The Dining Room

I haven’t shown you pictures of the dining room before. The main pieces of furniture are in place, but I want to install board and batten on the walls, paint the trim and replace the carpet with wood floors. So while it’s a work in progress, you can see where we are right now.

I simply added gourds and small pumpkins to a long wood bowl. I did this last year, too and the gourds/pumpkins lasted until Thanksgiving. Both me and the pumpkins were ready to move on at that time.

I put some dollar store spiders on the light fixture and called it a day. Can you spot them above?

Family Room

Like the dining room, I have never shown the family room on the blog. It’s not ready and is still a mish-mash of furniture from our old house. The carpet needs to go, the bookshelves are too small, the wood mantel is too orange and I’m missing key pieces of furniture (a substantial sofa table and a TV armoire). It’s actually the lowest priority room for some reason….even though we spend most of our time in it. I will get to it, eventually.

Can I talk about something that I love and I may be the minority on? I keep our mantel bare for most of the year. The one exception is Christmas when it’s covered in garland and lights. I really like a bare mantel…it gives the fireplace all the attention. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who thinks this?

What I do love though is a decorated hearth. For Halloween I added a skeleton dog, stacked pumpkins (they light up!) and a black sequined pumpkin on one side. The lantern is a staple and stays there year round. The other side has a grouping of three artificial pumpkins.

In a demonstration of my “minimalism” this year, I only decorated one book case. It felt like a good idea at the time. I stretched a spiderweb material over the book case in a way that felt kind of natural. I added a sequin pumpkin (also from the dollar store) and called it a day. That creepy book was already sitting in the white bird nest basket, but it definitely adds to the spooky feeling. It was a happy accident.

There you have my simple and minimalistic fall décor. I may try to plan a little more for Christmas, but it’s 2020, so who knows.