Ask An Expert: How To Decorate Your Home For Halloween
Photo Credit: ThinkstockHolidays are an excuse to be creative and fun. It allows us to have an excuse in implementing those "outside of the box" ideas into our everyday lives, and it allows us to spend time pampering our house. What if you prefer not to decorate for the holidays, and especially Halloween, because your preference of decor is much more elegant than "a few witches, a spider and a giant Frankenstein cutout?" Fear not, we have the perfect "Halloween-not-so-Halloweenie" ideas, thanks to South Florida's own Jennifer Corredor of J Design Group, Inc. These ideas are especially clever if you are one of those people that leave your Christmas tree out clean through to July of the next year!
J Design Group, Inc.
225 Malaga Avenue
Coral Gables, Florida 33134
(305) 444-4611
www.jdesigngroup.com
With modern elegance, splendor and innovation, J Design Group has lent to the scintillating aesthetics of some of South Florida's most refined restaurants, financial institutions, hospitality installations, corporate facilities and luxury homes. With an amazing balance between schedule coordination and budget management, J Design Group has worked with a plethora of interior design projects, whether in a commercialize setting or in making a house feel like a home. J Design Group has over 28 years of experience in high-end design and decoration for businesses and homes alike. Experts on style, color matching and moods, textures and fabrics, aromas and lighting, J Design Group brings your home to life with a personality of its own. In preparation for Halloween 2015, they want to contribute to your home decor through these five tips for this holiday's decorating.
Pumpkins at the entrance of any room or walkway can set off the dynamic of Halloween and last throughout the fall season. Enhanced with lit candles, pumpkins will not only warm up the entrance of your home, but will also serve as a functional alternative to walkway lanterns. In addition to pumpkins, adding seasonal plants and decor to the outside of your home will spell out "fall" and even Halloween! "Pumpkins with their natural orange color, which spells "Halloween," will enhance and warm up the entrance area and steps of any home. Additionally, it will become more festive when they are complemented with more candles that further kindle that space and reminds us that Fall and Halloween is here," advises Corredor.
Accessorizing the entrance of any living area or office space with natural elements, such as dry twigs and acorns, will give a rustic feeling of the winter that is on its way but not quite here yet. Allowing the feeling of fall to be enhanced through decor is reminiscent of life and death, through the sentiment of harvesting and cultivating. Seasonal vegetables and grains do well at telling this story through art. Corredor explains, "Accessorizing with natural elements that are born of the season is also an added welcome. Create a lavish display of acorns as a centerpiece for a console or coffee table."
Fun and almost therapeutic, tablescaping gives you the opportunity to explore your creative freedom. First think to yourself, "What do I think about when I think of Halloween (or fall)?" Then, embrace expression! Tablescaping a centerpiece, using natural elements, will enhance your living space during the season.
"Tablescaping a dining table is probably one of the most central and epic part of the house, will wow us and exude Halloween, as it is essentially the heart of the home," says Corredor. " Adorn the table with linens or a liner with bold colors such as orange, and dress the table with accents of natural leaves such as figs. We can further accentuate the table with a flower arrangement of Heliconias, which again, are the fall and Halloween tones of oranges and rust colors."
"Adding candles throughout your home will give a nice, cozy glow," advises Corredor.
But, they will also serve a few more purposes, depending on how many candles you use, how you place them and where you in place them at. Candle-lit rooms, even battery operated candles, can create an air of mystery, intrigue and danger. Needless to say, Halloween also falls into the zodiac of Scorpio, so romance and seduction may also be embraced through this decor. Candle-lit atmospheres are welcoming, even in the dark unknown. Even if you choose not to decorate through candles, consider spending just one night in serenity with candles lighting the evening.
Specifically for use during Halloween, Corredor suggests, "Candles are always a welcome to any space, and Halloween is no exception. Candles warm up the space and create a cozy feeling. Carve out the center of cocktail-sized pumpkins and place them as accents throughout the home, such as on the mantle, coffee table or around your bath tub to perpetuate that Halloween spirit."
Give your living quarters the feeling of "cozy," as fall and the onslaught of Halloween usually signify the beginning of cold air and long sleeves.
A final thought on Halloween and Fall decorating within your home and private space, Corredor encourages us to "Be innovative and further spread the Halloween spirit by designing and displaying beautiful flower arrangements throughout the home by using the pumpkins as vases. Imagine cozying up on a Halloween night in front of a fireplace on your favorite couch, with a burst of orange and rust pillows, warm throws, looking at your coffee table with lush tropical flowers and displays of candlelit pumpkins throughout the home — and yes you know Halloween is here."
As an added bonus, consider scents of pumpkin spice, vanilla and cinnamon, as these are traditional smells from the fall season.
