Halloween Decorations 2010

I decorated for Halloween yesterday.  Some stuff has changed since last year, so hasn't.  Some I'm happy with, some I'm not. 

I'll show you what I'm not happy with... Everything Outside.

This is all I've got by the front door this year

I normally do the black netting around the door, with purple twinkle lights and light up witch hats.  But last Christmas, I blew out the electrical plug by the front door and haven't had an electrician come out for repairs.  I decided that I didn't want to have to run electrical cords from the garage and that I could live with this.  I may eventually decide to run cords, but for now, I'm tired and just over the decorating.

To try and make up for the snoozy front door decorations, I added some pumpkins to the flowerbed...

The rest of the decorations, I'm either okay with, or love...

My kitchen Table is the same as always...

My dining room table uses some elements from last year, but I added a few things to make it "more"...

I have actually had this decoration done since Labor Day.  I don't do the dining room table as holiday specific as the rest of the house.  This is the table's "Fall Look" so it is this way from Labor Day until Christmas Decorations go up.  I used to use real gourds and pumpkins, but having them out that long means that they start to rot before I'm done with them, so now I've gone to these fake ones with a little sparkle to them...

Next is the Halloween Tree. 

It is on the buffet by the kitchen table, but because of the openness of my house, it is visible from the living room too.

Last year was the first year that I used this tree instead of the mesquite branches I had used in the past.  So last year my focus was getting getting some additional ornaments to fill up the tree.  This year, I punched it up with the sparkly purple bow on top, dispersing the orange swirly branches (that I spray painted and glittered last year) throughout the tree, and of course, my new found candy corn garland.

Everyone advised me against the purple bow, but I like it.  I think the purple is a needed burst of color to prevent orange and black overload.  Also when you are closer to the tree, it helps bring out the purple in many of the ornaments.

I think it's an improvement from last year!

My haunted house village that is on the buffet also...

Yesterday, before I started decorating, I looked at photos from last year.  I decided that I thought my mantle looked horrible last year and I was going to punch it up this year.  So I took some inspiration from Southern Living, and did this...

Some close-up photos...

I used a couple of photos that are up there year round.  I also used some of the candle sticks that are there always (far left of photo below).  Finally, I used some silver pieces that I got from my grandmother (that I've been needed to polish, but I decided that tarnished silver kind of fits Halloween)

I failed to do much more than that.  I got tired and gave-up.  Maybe I'll get re-energized to do more before Halloween.  If I do, I'll let you know about it, but for now at least, this is it.

Happy Halloween!