Dining In The Crows Nest

Happy Tablescape Thursday!!!

This table for 4 was set at the bay window next to Dan's home office. Although Halloween is no doubt one of my favorite holidays, unfortunately its also one of my most challenging when it comes to decorating.

For me, the challenge is trying to add elegance to horror and whimsy.

Another challenge is capturing the setting with dim lighting...especially since I use a lot of dark colors. In this case, the darkest...black. In an attempt to meet the challenge, I incorporated white with the black as an alternative to my original black table cover. I thought the black and white color would be in keeping with the "haunting" appeal.

The black valance and drapes are simply yards of unlined and un-hemmed fabric that I arranged to tie the window into to the table's primary color theme.

The black and white check table topper is a picnic blanket.

Vintage etched stemware. Ironically, the milkmaid oil painting was a garage sale find which I purchased about 16 years ago for a haunted mansion theme party. However, I liked it so much that I decided to hang it all year. Dan strongly dislikes it because he thinks it looks too amateur.

I cut some of the same black fabric to make sashes for the sconces to tie them, like the valances, to the table's color palette.

I added books on the window sill for a little haunted library/study touch.

Here are the artificial white peonies which I spray painted some in a glossy black.

We purchased the used wrought iron cage chandelier for our outdoor decorations. I thought it worked well in this setting as it lent to the spooky ambiance.

The following images are of the first setting I created. I decided to change the table after looking at these photos. It just looked too too messy. The funny thing is that Dan liked it better because he thought it was spookier and insisted I include them in the post for you to decide.

The black birds were all purchased from Target 5 years ago. They are definitely my favorite Halloween decorations.

I just took black tulle and artificial spider webbing and went crazy.

I purposely left the wrinkles in the tablecloth to add to the creepy chaos.

The stone gargoyle candle pillar holders were a great find from Home Goods.

Finally, 2 images in color.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Thank you for visiting and please don't forget to stop over at Between Naps On The Porch to see unique and creative tablescapes.