Halloween is one of the funnest celebrations of the year. All the spooky decorations, candy and excited boys and girls running from home to home. But it’s not exactly the easiest celebration to style, especially if you want to avoid plastic tat and keep decorations in line with your home decor.
So, how can you get in the Halloween spirit but avoid hanging up fake cobwebs everywhere? Here are some of our top haunted hacks to transform your home with style.
Decorating Tips for Halloween
#1. Keep Things Natural and More Rustic
When it comes to Halloween, it can be really easy to go for bright colours, glitter, and glow-in-the-dark decorations. This can quite quickly make everything look a little hectic and disorganised.
Going for natural colours, textures, and objects can really help to bring a sense of calm and class to a space. In this sense, pumpkins work amazingly. There are so many different varieties of pumpkin that can add colour and texture to your arrangement. You don’t have to carve them either. Simply arranging them in groups of different sizes looks really good and ‘effortlessly’ Halloween.
You can also go foraging and make decorations and door wreaths using natural materials such as leaves, conkers and pine cones. They help to make everything look autumnal without looking cartoonish (as Halloween decorations can easily do)!
#2. Use Candles
Candles are fantastic at changing the ambience of a room. At Halloween, try using dark-coloured candles such as dark green or even black. They add a sophisticated spooky look without being over the top. Just remember to create vignettes using different heights to create balance in your decor. It’s also important to think about the candle holder, there are plenty of stylish candle holders in the shape of pumpkins or other Halloween objects that can add a subtle spook!
#3. Decorate Your Mantel
Decorating your mantel is a fantastic way to update your interior decor to match the seasons. You can add new decorations without breaking the bank or doing anything too permanent to your room. As mentioned, dark candles can work really well on a mantel, as can smaller pumpkins on the mantel and larger ones around the fire. You can also decorate using garlands made out of fallen leaves (if safe to do so) or fill glass bowls with pine cone
#4. Consider Your Colour Scheme
Halloween decorations tend to be illuminant orange or slime green. While these are fun colours, they don’t exactly scream elegant decor. Try to choose decorations that are burnt orange, gold or dark green. These are all expensive colours and they help to bring harmony to a room. You could think about adding some cushions or a new vase to go away from the cliche Halloween look.
#5. Use Sticks and Branches
Autumn is the perfect time to forage for interesting sticks and branches that you can use as decorations. Burnt orange hawthorn berries look amazing when placed in a decorative vase. They help to create height which can be really useful when clustering objects in threes. You can also add branches with orange leaves still attached as well as curly hazel. A good tip is to spray paint an old wine bottle black. It’s a great shape for larger and more voluminous branches.
Try painting the curly hazel black too and arranging it in a low vase as a table decoration. It’s elegant, yet gives the slight illusion of a haunted house tree!
#6. Use Traditional Halloween Decorations Sparingly
Just because you want style, doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun. After all, that’s what Halloween is all about! Just don’t overdo it on the decorations.
One of the best ways to get something spooky into your decor is to use a favourite object and let it take centre stage. For instance, you can use an ornate pumpkin or skull and place it on your coffee table for something a little different. Similarly, you could make simple bats out of black card (with no extra decorations to keep them chic) and hang them off branches or place them around a mirror or entrance hall. Simple Halloween decorations can still look stylish and add a bit of fun to your home.
#7. Think About The Little Things
If you’re having people over for a Halloween party, there’s no need to go out and buy plastic monster cups. You could get some reusable black champagne glasses that look way more classy and just a little spooky! You can also think about black tablecloths and miniature pumpkins to decorate the table or food area. Investing in a chic bowl to put your candy in is another great idea. Not only will it look good but you can use it all year round!
#8. Make a Good First Impression
Halloween is all about decorating your front door. And, while a lot of them involve skeletons and fake spider’s webs, there’s no reason you can’t do it tastefully too. Large sticks painted black are a fantastic way of creating an archway into your stylishly haunted house. You could even wrap fairy lights around the branches to attract trick-or-treaters.
If you’ve got steps to your front door, think about using height to create a welcoming entrance. Large twigs or even pampas grass will look great in a black vase surrounded by various pumpkins. You can even use fake candles to create a safe yet spooky welcome.
