Let me show you around our spooky chic dining room, kitchen, and family room all with easy, neutral colored decorations (no orange!) and even a hint of fun!! ⟹

Welcome to the inside tour of our humble haunt!
I still love Halloween even as an adult and all of the fun that comes with it! That includes decorating the house and yard. But because we are now empty nesters, it has changed ever so slightly. When the kids were little I would put a hint of Hallow’s Eve in just about every area of the house. I’ve now cut back to decorating just a few areas that have the most impact. And gone are the more cutesy kid-like orange elements. Our Halloween decor is now a more grown up version that I add to the fall decor already in place.
If you missed the Halloween front porch post, you can check out our ghoulish visitors here. They always bring the trick or treaters to the yard!

This year I’ve focused on just two areas of the house…the dining room, and the kitchen and family room. Let me show you around!
The spooky Southern Gothic dining room.

As you come in the front door of our house, the first area you come to is our dining room so I went biggest with the decorating here. It gives the feel that the whole house may be done up to guests and trick or treaters that don’t actually come in.
This year I went with a spooky chic Southern Gothic theme. My next Halloween post will go in depth into this tablescape, so this is just a little taste of this moody, vintage look:

Being true to my Southern and Louisiana roots, I brought in decor that reminded me of scary Southern things like voodoo, moss dripping from trees at overgrown abandoned mansions, and spirits of those that have passed on but may still be among us.

It was actually easy for me to create this look because I happened to already have all of these elements which were a mixture of past Halloween decor, home decor, and vintage family heirlooms.

If you would like to see lots more pictures and details of this Southern Gothic dining room and the elements I used to create it, you can see it here.
The kitchen and family room.

Moving into this area of the house, the Halloween decorations are much simpler. The colors stay neutral, so it feels a little more grown up than having orange pumpkins everywhere like I did for the kids.
In the kitchen, I got big impact for free from some dead branches I took off of a blackjack oak in the yard.

I always think they look like scary Halloween trees from movies when they are bare in the winter! I thought about painting them black, but their bark is already so dark I think they are creepy enough in their natural state.

I put them into a large mercury glass jar and attached little crows to nest among the gnarly limbs.

I have a whole bag of these skeleton hands from Dollar Tree left over from a craft so I use them every year for something. This year they are holding battery operated candles.


I’ve even used them in the past on buffets at parties to hold things. The fun possibilities are endless!

You may spot another simple spooky touch under the cloche by the sink…


You can see the last touch of Halloween decor in the kitchen down by the pantry:

And a couple of its friends behind the chair in the family room…

And there’s a stray by the mantel…

All of the Halloween decor for the family room is focused on the mantel. But you can’t miss it with the banner that wishes you “Happy Halloween!”

To add a hint of Halloween to our family room mantel, I added three skeletons on top of the fall decor I already had in place. If you missed the post on putting together this neutral and natural rustic fall mantel, you can see it here.

I like my Halloween to be fun…nothing gruesome or super scary. These skeletons always fill the bill for me because you can pose them and they always look like they’re smiling and laughing!

These three are having a great laugh about something…


Wish I was in on the joke! I used a bit of Command strip poster tape and wire to get them to sit and stay the way I wanted.

That is the extent of my Halloween decor for this area but it feels completely decorated for the holiday because it’s on the two focal points…the kitchen island and the fireplace mantel!
Uh oh. It looks like we may have an infestation on our hands:

And one last creepy crawler hanging on the staircase in the foyer as you leave the tour…

I’d love to hear your comments and your favorite things of how you made your home “boo-tiful” this month. Happy Halloween Friend!

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What a beautiful home. Your Halloween decor is scary delight.
You have so many gorgeous and creative ideas! I love the branches filled with ravens and the hands for a candleholder. So much imagination, without being too expensive. Thanks so much for sharing your Halloween home.
Thanks Meegan! Can’t get much cheaper than a free branch and dollar plastic hands!!
Wow, they are all very scary! 🙂
Glad they got you in the Halloween mood Dagmar!
You did an amazing job, Kate. I love, love, love all the hidden details. Every time you think you’ve seen it all there’s another boo-tiful creation to make you do a double-take.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Leslie!
Oh my goodness – the hands “holding” the candles creeped me out. Genius idea! Love the skeleton under the cloche and the Spanish moss arrangement on your dining table too. It all looks terrific!
Thank you Suzy! Part of what I like was how easy the most fun parts of it were!
What awesome decor Kate; you really go all out! Brilliant idea to use the command strips; I’ll have to remember that!
Thanks Sara! I love that command strip poster tape for so many decorating things. It sure saves me the headache of things falling over the whole time they’re out.
Love your spooky decorations. Laura
Thank you Laura!