LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN PINSPIRATION!

 

Back in 2010, I had watched the movie Vertigo, and got hooked on Hitchcock. Because of the stairs, the movie had inspired my Hitchcock Hallway I decorated in the stairway of our townhome in Florida. Another Hitchcock element of inspiration was of course - The Birds. Ever since then, I've really liked the look of branches, black crows and feathers used for Halloween decor. And now with Pinterest, there is no shortage of inspiration of branches, crows and black feather used in Halloween decor....

 

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Silhouette images are a simple way to frame and layer in a hint of Halloween into your existing book shelves, buffet or entry...

 

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 How fabulous is this? Faux crows crown an elaborate mirror marked with a spooky poem...

 

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Welcome trick-or-treaters and party guests this Halloween with front-door accents that cast just the right spell like these black feather wreaths with simple ribbon - perfect for a double door entry...

 

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 Need a little getaway this Halloween and the Bates Motel is full? Why not try the Miller's Dead & Breakfast... They have a Vacancy...

 

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Love the look of this serving buffet and shield shaped mirror layered with a black feather wreath from Eddie Ross...

 

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 A collection of vintage mirrors can bring depth to your Halloween decor - especially the branches - and reflect more of the candles glow...

 

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A mantel is not required for holiday decorating! Love the look of this other option--a piano -- again adorned with a few branches and crows...

 

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With so many people incorporating hints of vintage into their homes, black crows is a natural mix a for spooktacular setting...

This year, I only did a small vignette on our buffet in the living room, but still inspired by Hitchcock's birds and black feathers... I'll share later on today, but here's a sneak peek...

 

I lucked out last year, spotting this black feather wreath at Goodwill for only $3!

Also last year...

 

Sephora and me with our top hats on Halloween. This year, I used the top hat in my vignette...

Don't eat TOO much candy today...

Have a Hauntingly good Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by...

HOW TO CREATE A GOLD MIRROR GALLERY WALL FOCAL POINT

As much as I love to make seasonal decor changes in our home, sometimes I'll find that one change I like so much, I keep it. One such change I made here in our living room is the focal point behind the sofa. Last year, I had changed the images from NYC images, to coastal images in Summer, to horse images for Fall. But for winter and holiday, I was looking for a more simple approach and decided to create a gallery wall of collected mirrors. Most of the mirrors I already had (from HomeGoods & JCP), but I needed a few to bridge in some gaps and fill the wall. Thrifting for those last few mirrors at GoodwillAZ and Savers thrift helped to fill the gaps while staying on a small budget, but I was really wanting all the frames to be the same: gold. Although some mirror frames were already gold (and I left them that way), the ones that were black or silver I painted antique gold. This one small change made a huge difference and I haven't had to change the wall since...

 

Love the look of the gold mirrors on the dark grey wall.

Here is how I made my mirror gallery wall....

 

I started with a vision and a plan...

 

I used the garage floor first to layout the mirrors - like a puzzle...

 

I double checked the width to ensure it would fit in between the windows and above the sofa plus table...

 

A 'quick' spray of antique gold in the back yard...

 

A quick clean up with mineral spirits and a razor...

(Sometimes pre-cutting paper and taping takes too long and some paint comes through anyways) After soaking the mirror with mineral spirits, I was able to scrape the excess paint off with the razor - and not scratch the mirror + come close to the edge for a crisp clean finish.

 

Good as gold!:)

 

Ready to bring inside to hang...

 

Supplies all pull together on my work tray (old cookie sheet)

Chalk (because my walls are dark), level, tape, nails -- and yes: nail hole filler and paint to repair prior holes (remember: I'm renting)... 

 

Space cleared and I used some foamcore boards to re-layout the composition I had done in the garage...

 

Started from the top and across... then worked my way down the wall...

 

I really like the mix of gold shades vs being all one...

It was nice with the B&W images of NYC for a while, especially since we had just moved to AZ from the east coast. But as in Florida, I've since relocated the NYC to the home office (another time when something just worked and felt right.) Here is a look at the subtle changes, mostly coming from switching pillows on the sofa, but all working with the gallery wall focal point -- especially the mirrors...

 

Spring 2012 

 Mirrors mixed with images..

 

Summer 2012

 

Autumn 2012 

 Holiday Home 2012 plus see more photos at

Holiday Home Tour 2012

Spring 2013 

Bold B&W prints with Tribal Maze and Houndstooth...

Autumn 2013

Yes - in Florida I did more with color, but here in AZ, it just feels right mixing plaids (windowpane, glen plaid, and houndstooth) - especially in Fall paired with leopard...

 

Autumn 2013 

I'll probably go back to greens and whites for holiday this year, maybe with a few touches of red, but I really liked the green and white last year. Since it does get really cold here in the winter, many leaves die off tress and everything gets REALLY brown and overcast. Funny how three of these mirrors started off gold (back in the 90s) and I painted the silver (remember "JOY" for the Christmas bedroom I did?) and now they are back to gold. 

Everything old is new again - except me - I'm just getting older!! lol

Thanks for stopping by...

Getting Guest & Thanksgiving Ready

Over the weekend, I spent some time starting to winterize our home as well as plan my Thanksgiving table. Sadly, it won't be filled with 16 or more friends and family, but we will have one more guest here vs. last year: Jeff's mom is flying into town on Tuesday evening to spend Thanksgiving with us. I had also asked my mom to fly in, but she can't because of her work schedule. We picked up most of our Thanksgiving groceries (and bird!) Saturday, minus just a few last minute items to pick up next week. I gave the oven a test run this weekend with some chocolate chip cookies for Jeff. Since temps have (finally) dropped here in Arizona, this was a great way to help warm the house!

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And now that the closets have been sorted for donations and summer clothes have been exchanged for winter, it's also time to pull together the last space in this house: a guest room. To get more use out of the space other than just a guest room, we opted for futon-type sofa: The armless sleeper sofa. While out Friday afternoon, I found a (new to me & area) store called Garden Ridge, and they had two styles & colors to choose from. We had looked at similar styles at stores and online at Target, but with the shorter time frame + extra shipping charges, shopping local was the way to go. The sleeper came in micro-suede or faux leather: We opted for the softer micro suede. I wish it had been offered in off white, but tan or black were the options to choose from. Since the room is already a pale blue-grey with existing tan rug, I went for the black. It's very similar to my inspiration photo I spotted in the small space issue of House & Home.

 

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Lord knows, I already have plenty of pillows, and I also have plenty of framed black & white photos I've captured & framed. Since upstairs will primarily be winterized with holiday, winter woods and Ansel Adams images, I'm going to use my B&W beach photos from the summer. The room is next to the garden room, so I'm going to link the two spaces together with a few collected seaside mementos. I already had framed a quad of 4 coastal images in the first floor entry, so now the lower level will have a coastal retreat vibe - a nice little get-a-way from this desert. No pics yet, bot the framed images have been collected and leaning against the wall, to go up today.

 

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Later when it warms up a bit (low 40's this morning! I'm heading outside to paint! (YAY!) In our FL living room, I had a wall, mostly of collected mirrors. They were mainly silver, with touches of gold, but this year, I'm painting them ALL gold to hang on our charcoal grey wall behind the sofa for holiday. I don't want to do the white tree this year: I'd like to go more naturals & greens with white. Since Jeff's mom will be here next week, I'd like to get a head start this week on some holiday prep like removing the black I layered in for Fall, switch out the layered woven rugs for the heavier white shag, and add more panels & sheers to windows to keep the cold out. I'll already have the mirrors up, and I'm thinking I'll probably pack up the orange leaves of fall for some fresh cuttings from our neighborhood to mix with my branches. For the table, I'll use my thrifted white dinnerware I've collected: I truly love the idea of using layered white dishes: it gives a clean palette and lets the abundance of food be the star at Thanksgiving. On the stoop: I may remove the orange leaves and I'd like to paint the orange pumpkins white and use them to spell "thanks".

 

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What are your plans for this Thanksgiving? and

When do you start to decorate for Christmas?

Thanks for stopping by...

Touched With Gold - Mirror Makeovers & Accessory Updates

Although I'm keeping our Fall decor a little more simple this year, I did take some time to update some accessories, mirrors, a lamp and even refinished a buffet. They were all experiments I tried out, and I'm loving the updated looks! One look I actually had started to admire last year was adding in GOLD. So this year, to balance out our living space, I added in a few more gold touches by updating the finish on a few existing pieces like these mirrors...

Before

Light, bright & crisp in silver, gray, black & white

Adding in some gold helped to warm up the look of the wall, and help transform the mood of the room from Summer to Fall...

I used both, a touch of Rust-oleum's metallic gold, and a little lit of RL Aluminum I had...

This was a good way to still mix metals in the space...

but still mainly focusing on the addition of the gold...

Since I already had painted the mirror black

(about 4 years ago - It was mahogany and attached to a dresser we had, but donated)

Using the chip brush added texture. Keeping in as a dry-brushed look let the black show through a bit... and relates to the other black pieces in the room...

I also painted over the other silver mirrors on the gallery wall...

(thankfully our first floor is tile, which makes it so easy to paint inside!)

The REALLY funny thing about this though is the other mirrors on the wall WERE gold when I first got them (like back in the 90's lol) and I wanted NO PART of anything gold in the new Millenium! Funny how everything old is new again :)

I thought this may look "too gold", even with the silver showing through... so I tried something: I layered over the metallics with my Jacobean wood stain...

I used two brushes: One to apply the stain - the other was the chip brush to give it a hash texture...

A little more work than spray painting last year... but easy enough to do in an afternoon,

and no over spray! YAY!

Again - I laughed when I was painting this mirror last year - from silver to gold - because it was gold originally... To change its look, I had not only sprayed it silver, but I had added a few pieces of silver leaf. Thankfully, the Rust-oleum Gold Rush spray covered it evenly, so it did show through...

Read more about GOLD tablescape transforamtions

at last year's Sneak Peek for Thanksgiving.

Last year I hung the gold painted round mirror in the dining room for Fall.

For Holiday, I had moved it back over the bookcase in the living room, and it's stayed all year. I might move things around (a bit) while cleaning, but when something works well in a space, I usually will leave it.

Having the round in the room helps worm the space because round is more approachable...

 

(Round mirror - JCP -- Lamps - HomeGoods)

For my Fall Transition, I relocated some of the accessories around the mirror, and painted them as well...

Sephora REALLY loves these Salvaged Stools, and they helped bring some red over to this side of the space...

No white after Labor Day!

I refinished my white accessories with shades of black (more about that shortly - so stay tuned!) My lamps (this one from Homegoods), I changed shades from whites to greys and blacks. (Grey linen shades from HomeGoods).

The black and the gold textured mirror frames and some silver gave a great mixed look to the revamped space for Fall...

And painting the 10 year old thrift buffet was another small change

 (done in one afternoon) that made a huge difference!

More about the red redux on the buffet in another upcoming post...

GALLERY WALL 2010 - Collected over time (from thrift, JCP, Ikea & HomeGoods)

Ironically, the day I was painting the mirrors (and also painted the buffet that day), Robin Baron of Simplifying Fabulous had used this photo in her post about mixing mirrors and art for a gallery wall...  READ ROBINS: Translating Trends

The lamp was a (thrift) makeover too...From navy to black (including the painted vintage shade!)

This side of the room just never got any love (except maybe on the buffet) ... now it's feeling loved. The red leather pillow cover (a Pottery Barn find) relates back to the red painted buffet. To play with pattern (relating fashion & decor) I paired a B&W classic stripe pillow with a zebra fur throw (both from HomeGoods!)

One other GOLD charm in our living room is the thrifted faux bamboo coffee table I refinished back in February. You can see its transformation at:

From Thrifted To On Trend (for Spring - but GOLD is so on trend even more NOW!!)

I really enjoy experimenting and trying out some new finishes or techniques in our home. I take it as a form of training myself and hopefully too, inspire you! - Hopefully sometime before the recession (finally) ends, I can pick up few more local clients to help out around here, and apply some of these techniques & trends.

What projects have you been working on for Fall?

Closet clean ups? Gardening? Painting outside? Patio or deck fix-ups?

Send me your pics and a little write up (or link back) and if I get enough of them,

I'll post about it!

Enjoy your day & thanks for stopping by!

LINKING POST TO:

Under The Table and Dreaming - Sunday Showcase

The DIY Showoff - Project Parade

Between Naps On The Porch - Metamorphosis Monday

HomeGoods - Happy by Design Pinterest Board