Not too long ago, I took a day when the house was quiet and it was just me and dogs puttering about to transform this little house from ‘tired of summer’ to ‘Halloween bedazzled!’ I love this part of the year, when the home becomes more cozy and whimsical with merry holidays, and Halloween is first on the list, and one of my favorites!
I’ve shared with you here how I discovered Nicol Sayre on a trip for our first anniversary, and I think her beautiful vintage style dolls have set the tone for the ‘vintage Halloween’ look that I like to celebrate with.
I have a weakness for the look of crackled and careworn decorations, slightly tarnished silver and gold with black and white and pops of burnt orange. I like to use sweet holiday inspired dolls and decor mixed with family heirlooms and deeper darker tones.
Come, have a look!:
The spooky dolls on the left are both handmade and purchased at a little boutique in Eureka Springs, Ark. called “Something Simple.” The silver framed photo on the top right are my great-grandparents in the 1930s and the little pumpkin box is also a Nicol Sayre item. On the bottom right you can see an amazingly strange portrait I picked up at the antique mall a few years ago of two little girls— the frame is dark and ornate and the way the girls are captured in the photograph and hand colored is just a little bit odd and unnerving– I love it!
The two witchy dolls in that same photo are also Nicol Sayre pieces and the painting of the woman and the baby is one I painted myself.
The wooden mirrored dresser from the 1920s is one of my most favorite possessions and it stays in our room. It looks beautiful against the peacock green walls and stenciling. You see this piece many times on here because I like to photograph new paintings on it. There is an east facing window right beside it which lets in lots of bright morning light.
Here I’ve put the little handmade dolls from Something Simple, my treasured 1940s editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights (in the green case) and a couple of the Boney Bunch candle holders that Yankee Candle puts out each year. There’s a little garland of gourds and other autumn bits and bobs hung across the mirror.
And so…that is Halloween around my house! I always look forward to getting out all my spooky pieces! And while there are lots of versions of Halloween— I like this look best— it’s old timey, a bit muted, and kid friendly. Audrey has been dragging most of this stuff out from the storage cabinet since July. My little decorator just couldn’t resist! I’m so glad she enjoys all this stuff too, and my husband graciously goes along with living with all this odd stuff. He even says he likes it 😉 Well, good!
Well, it’s fall break this week and I need to find something for me and a little miss to entertain ourselves with. Then maybe, just maybe, she’ll snuggle up and take a nap and this mama can get a little painting in! Fingers crossed…
Have a lovely week!
~H
Sleightholm Folk Art 
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