Halloween Fireplace Mantel | Enter If You Dare

 

Cue scary music ~ think Disney's Haunted Mansion & screams a la Tower of Terror.

While I typically prefer a more whimsical take on Halloween, I thought we'd go a little on the dark side this year ~ with a little added Disney Humor.  This really started because I wanted to go as cheap as possible for Halloween decor ~ honestly, Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  Gasp ~ I know!  I'm sure it will be more fun when we have kids to dress up and take trick or treating, but for the time being, it's not really our thing.   But, here in Atlanta it's a huge deal and I kinda felt like a party-pooper for not partaking 

(our neighborhood has gone ALL OUT!). 

As this post started to take shape, I wanted to share with you how you can start with an idea, stay on budget, be creative, and end up in an entirely different direction than you intended.  This can happen with any project, from decorating for parties to home decor ~ whether the look you want is out of budget or that exact color scheme can't be found anywhere ~ by thinking outside the box, you can come up with an idea you would have never thought of.  I mean, I would never have thought to do a spooky, haunted mansion type theme, but it kinda turned out fun and unexpected.  So back to the project at hand, to stay on budget I made a trip to my local Dollar Tree Store (one of those stores where everything's a buck) and came across these crows.

My initial idea was to do a simple black and white wreath, add some crows and candles for a simple fireplace mantel.  After searching the rows I came up empty handed for a wreath and wasn't in the mood to make the drive across town to a craft store.  Well I must have been in a cynical mood that day, because I ended up buying 2 packs of skeleton garland and 3 styrofoam tombstones.  Making my total Dollar Tree tab $9 plus tax. 

 Most of the time I have a strong opinion about what direction I want to take a project.  With this I had no idea.  I didn't care for the design on the tombstones ~ a little to dark and creepy for my taste ~ so I decided right away to use the blank backside.  I strung one strand of skeleton garland, placed crows and went into my pantry for black beans which I poured into glass vases. 

 I did that thing where I stood back and starred for a good 10 minutes.  Hmmm.  What else did I own that would add to this look?  Cue the proverbial light bulb.  Some black lanterns, vintage books, a broken candelabra and a leftover chalkboard were added.  To fill out the skeleton garland, I combined the two strands.  I used a white paint pen to write on the tombstones and straight up copied the epitaphs from Disney World's Haunted Mansion.  The busts had been a recent score ~ a retail shop was throwing them out.  Then candles were added for an eerie glow.  There you have it, my creepy, yet humorous Halloween Fireplace Mantel! 

  

Do you decorate for Halloween?  What style are you going with for decor?