Hello everyone! Are you enjoying the Hauntingly Beautiful Blog Hop so far?  I am certainly loving all the different ways my talented friends have incorporated magical Halloween decor in their homes. When you are finished reading this post you can treat yourself to even more Halloween eye candy by visiting all the other blogs on the hop too. They are all truly inspiring!

In September I shared a full home tour for early fall and I am working on a late fall home tour for November, so instead of sharing my whole home today I am going to be highlighting some of the ways I use vintage treasures to create hauntingly beautiful vignettes. I woke up early this morning eager to start taking photos, but right away I noticed something very, very strange…

The sun was shining! After a week of dreary gray skies, it was quite a paranormal day! I snapped a picture of the anomaly of sunshine streaming down the stairs. The effect was perfect for a Halloween post, wouldn’t you agree?

A few weeks ago we started working on our bedroom makeover and since we are going with a more traditional and masculine theme, I decided to move my shabby antique dresser down to the living room by the staircase. It was the perfect piece for a hard to decorate spot that I really hadn’t been satisfied with since we moved in three years ago. I have styled the top with old clocks, vintage frames, brass candlesticks and a few other little trinkets for my every day decor, so it was really easy to create a hauntingly beautiful vignette by simply adding a few Halloween-y touches.

 

 

The focal point of the vignette is this awesome thrifted painting which I shared in my Super September Junkin’ Finds post. Someone had painted out the eyes so I scored this hauntingly beautiful lady for only a quarter!

I really contemplated leaving the painting as it was for Halloween, but when I found these googly eyes in my Halloween craft stash, I couldn’t resist!

I find that adding a bit of humor to Halloween vignettes keeps things from going “to the dark side.” No gory decor here!

Icky decor? Well, maybe just a little! I found this old magnifiying glass a few weeks ago at our local trade days and I really had no intention of using it as a Halloween prop, but since it was already styled on the antique dresser I got the idea to stick a creepy critter underneath. ICKY!

 

I love using antique photos in Halloween vignettes. This year I added two amazing vintage carnival girl/gypsy Romani photographs to my collection!

I already had a picture of a young girl and another old photo, which I presume to be two sisters.

Last year I used the “happy sisters” photo on my mantel.

They appear to be so thrilled about the lovely and festive witch’s hats I made for them.

“Smile sister! In 150 years we will be made to look like witches and our photo will be used as a mantel decoration in some ol’ “Kintuck” home. Then through the use of state of the art technology our photo will be transported electronically through wireless airwaves where millions of people all over the world will be able to simultaneously gawk at us for their holiday amusement by receiving signals on their cellular handheld devices and these thinking machine thingies they keep on their laps that can do arithamuhtick  faster than a fly on a hog. Got it?”

This other little gal seemed indifferent to the whole Halloween thing, but she still looks hauntingly beautiful nonetheless! I love using vintage jewelry in Halloween vignettes too, especially any with black, green or purple stones. The sparkles of the jewels add a touch of magic. I added this beautiful antique brooch to a velvet pumpkin to create a blingy Cyclops “monster.”

Antique photos of unknown people seem to add some mystery to any hauntingly beautiful vignette.

As I was taking a picture of this Romani gypsy I remembered these two brooches. I had forgotten all about the vintage style tags I had used on my shabby burlap pumpkin makeovers, but when I went to get the brooches in the curio cabinet the tags were right beside them. I suddenly realized they could “become” little coins from a Halloween carnival so I scattered a few across the top of the dresser.  This is an example of how most of my favorite vignettes come about. Most of the time they aren’t planned and just happen spontaneously when inspiration strikes.

How perfect is the destiny tag for this vignette? It is definitely my destiny to find more antique photographs and vintage treasures in the future, I can tell you that!

Now let’s take a peak into the music room through the nearly 100-year-old French doors to see some more hauntingly beautiful vignettes I have created using vintage treasures.

I especially love decorating our home for all of my music students who take weekly lessons. They literally light up when they see my holiday decor. When I see their excitement, it makes it so worth all the extra time it takes to add every little magical detail that most adults never notice!

I had all plans of having a complete music room makeover in time for Halloween, but we got into the bedroom makeover instead. Maybe everything will be “finished” by Christmas! Even though I didn’t get around to painting and rearranging everything in the music room I did add some fun Halloween touches to the piano.

“Da-da-da- dahhhh………

Da-da-da- dahhhhh….”

(Translation: The opening theme of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony)

Beethoven is not amused. Ever.

But my students are! Yesterday I was fixing my tea as a student arrived, so I told her to go on into the music room and start warming up. I heard giggles as soon as she walked in and met Captain Beethoven. Mission accomplished!

I kept my everyday piano decor for Halloween and just added some extra candles, spider webs and blindfolds to my vintage bust statues. Since everything is vintage and brocante style already, it was super easy to create an elegant Halloween look. The gorgeous antique mirror above the piano was truly a bit creepy when I first bought it at a friend’s junk sale. My husband usually rolls with my ideas, but he wasn’t real keen on the mirror which he said belonged in “The Addams Family mansion.”  It did really look like a scary movie prop if the truth be told!  But I knew that after some chalk paint and dark wax, and the addition of some pretty hand crafted music candles it would be  hauntingly beautiful! The mirror reflects the 120 year old antique organ (a family heirloom) on the other side of the room which is also perfect for Halloween. I hope to add some Halloween touches to the organ in time for Trick-Or-Treat when all our family comes to visit.

I was going to make some mini black masquerade masks for my little boy and girl busts that I keep on the piano, but I ran out of time and couldn’t find any fabric in the house. I was working on the Welch House 1900 post (the first post on this Halloween hop) and I noticed that my talented friend Larissa had just tied little blindfolds around her bust statues, so I borrowed that clever idea from her! At Halloween parties of yesteryear, people did play blindfold chasing games, so the idea really works. What also works? My 12 year old’s extra set of black basketball shoe laces as the blindfolds…because that’s all I could find in the house to use!

If you haven’t already checked out Larissa’s amazing Welch House 1900 Halloween Home Tour guest blog post here at Follow The Yellow Brick Home, you will definitely want to go back and take the tour. Her home and style are truly hauntingly beautiful!

Well, the laces almost work. They are pesky shoe laces after all and have to be retied all the time! Anyway, decorating vintage busts and statues is so much fun and such an easy and elegant way to add hauntingly beautiful Halloween style to your home. You can pick up inexpensive little statues at yard sales and thrift shops quite often.

Dried roses or spent flowers become “dead” flowers when used in Halloween vignettes. They still look elegant and beautiful with just a touch of faux spider webs. Cozy candlelight adds to the hauntingly beautiful ambience.

Now let’s take a closer look at my favorite skeleton who sits just inside the French door holding a candle to greet my students.

Wait! Where did he go? I just turned around for a second and now he’s on the other side of the door! Horrifying!

Speaking of horrifying! Look up at the top of the stairs! No, I am not referring to that sort of odd folk art metal sculpture of a woman’s dress. I am talking about those crooked antique picture frames! It’s my nightmare on Forest Avenue!

 

I actually have no clue about this piece but I fell in love with it at a thrift shop this past spring. It had a very hefty original price tag still attached but I scored it for $15.00. I thought it was unique, shabby chic, and sort of hauntingly beautiful. I figured if I couldn’t find a place for it year round it would make a great Halloween decoration, “repurposed” as a mysterious headless and hand-less “apparition” at the top of the stairs.

What I didn’t expect was actually getting spooked last night when I headed upstairs in the dark and forgot about it. The moonlight came in through the window and hit it just right and it seriously looked like a glowing dress… I literally jumped! My oldest son said the same thing happened to him! Again, mission accomplished! I have created some “pretty-creepy” decor without all the blood and gore!

And what has happened to Buck? He looks DEER-RANGED! If this is your first time meeting Buck this is not a very good first impression. Please do take my early fall home tour too so you can get a more proper introduction. I just can’t imagine how this happened to him!

Maybe SHE had something to do with it………

What do you think?

 

 

Oh no! The broken vintage clocks suggest it’s midnight, so I guess it’s time to start wrapping up this post. But there’s still so much more Halloween to see!

Here’s a fun video recap of this post along with some sneak peak photos of more Halloween to come! (This is what happens when you are a vintage-decor-lovin-junk-hoardin-music teacher)!

 

You can see all the rest of my more traditional and vintage “Merry Halloween”decor here!Here’s a little sneak peak collage:

I will also be sharing a bit of my super fun outdoor Halloween and porch decor on Tuesday!

And now it’s time to party on with the rest of our friends on the Halloween blog hop! Grab a tasty treat and your favorite mug and fill it with some hot tea, coffee, apple cider, (or whatever other concoction you want to brew up) and enjoy the rest of the hop! Be sure to go back and take a look at Larissa’s Welch House 1900 post here, Rhonda’s stunning tablescape post at Hallstrom Home, and Olivia’s amazing French Country Halloween ideas at Reinvented Collection. These posts are all so gorgeous!

Next up is Deborah at Hip And Humble Style. Head on over to her blog now to see her fun and stylish Halloween decor!  You can follow the schedule below to visit all the other homes on the hop. Enjoy all the Halloween (eye) candy!

 

Do you have Halloween decor to share? The Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Link Party is still live through Tuesday, October 31st, so please link up all your fantastic ideas with us too!

Happy Halloween my friends!

Amber

Linking up with:

Shabby Art Boutique

Feathered Nest Friday

Thursday Favorite Things

Home and Garden Thursday

Foodie Friday and Everything Else

No Rules Weekend Blog Party

Saturday Sparks

Share Your Cup Thursday

Vintage Charm Party

Share Your Style

Talk Of The Town

A Bouquet Of Talent

Olives and Okra Halloween Blog Hop

Home Matters Linky Party

Pink Saturdays

Simple Saturdays

Silver Pennies Sundays

Dishing It Digging It

Inspire Me Monday

Over The Moon

Sundays At Home

Inspiration Monday

Busy Monday

Creative Mondays

Merry Monday

The Scoop

A Stroll Thru Life

Tuesdays At Our Home

Metamorphasis Monday

Wow Us Wednesdays