Saturday, October 8, 2011

I Sure Love Pottery Barn Halloween Displays, but Not the Prices!

My first attempt at a Halloween table display was this:

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PA-THET-IC! I mean really, a sunflower? And that’s the runner and straw placemat thing I used for my summer display. And a hand stuck in a vase?  Ooh, how creative, spooky, and original ::rolls eyes::  Yes, I absolutely roll my eyes at MYSELF.  At least I stuck a skull and a plastic rat in there.  I guess it was a “fall harvest medley” meets “Dawn of the Dead” thing, but still, I could do better.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was wandering Oak Brook Mall and being mid-September, Halloween displays were already  out. I was in love, especially with these displays at Pottery Barn:

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GOR-geous! All of it! Then, I started lifting things off the table to see the prices and about had a coronary, and backed away slowly. Don’t get me wrong, my bed is from Pottery Barn as is my dining room table, but in both cases I waited for a good sale. I even used my rewards from the dining room table to buy the bed frame. I do believe in paying for quality, but I don’t need my Halloween display to be family heirlooms. Do you? Well, maybe TNM does.

With the P.B. Halloween display, well let’s just call out a few things:

  • Small box of fake spider webs (yeah, I know): $9
  • Small bag of Spanish Moss (3 or 4 were used): $9.50
  • Iron owl lanterns: $59 for large, $29 for small
  • Mercury glass votive holders: $3.50 <—actually reasonable!
  • Glass apothecary jars: $39 – $69
  • Mix leaf vase filler: $14.50
  • News Text candles: $16.50 – $29.50
  • Various pillar candle holders: $19 – $49 each

I couldn’t resist the owl, I wanted both but just couldn’t spend almost $100 on them.  I did use my $25 PB cardholder coupon to bring the large owl down to $37 out the door. Steep, but it was a seriously heavy piece of metal and will last a while. And once in a while I don’t mind splurging a bit. I also grabbed 2 mercury glass candle holders because really, I don’t think I can make them for much less than $3.50 each anyway. For the rest, I was off to Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, and the local thrift store.  Now, I wasn’t looking to completely recreate the PB scene above, but it inspired me to do some cool things. Here’s a quick peek, I love that owl!

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I stopped at Michael’s and picked up some foam pumpkins, I have a problem with squirrels attacking mine. I’m done chasing them away from my beautiful hand-carved jack-o-lanterns that are barely recognizable as anything except pulp, seeds and a withered shell.  I then spray painted them to get the colors in line with my overall theme. I picked up some black, silver and deep purple floral pieces, twigs, and large feathers at Hobby Lobby for between $0.49 and $1.99 each. Also nabbed a HUGE bag of spider webbing for $0.99 and a grocery sack size bag of Spanish moss for $2.49, FULL PRICE. You hear that Pottery Barn?!? $2.49 for about 10x the amount you wanted $9.50 for. Geez.  Found a few cute pumpkins and gourds in various shaped and sizes for around $3 each.

My stop at Dollar Tree netted me a ton of creepy cloth, severed limbs, eye balls, and a few other novelties for about $7 total. I lastly stopped at our local thrift store and picked up some brass and pewter candle sticks, a couple of glass jars, and some really nifty old plastic prescription jars. I have ideas for those later!

As I started to set things out, I realized my summer table runner would NOT do, but I didn’t have anything Halloween-ish. Even the cheesy spider web ones are like $10 and they fall apart if you wash them. Then it dawned on me, I have a TON of creepy cloth, only mine is from the Dollar Tree.  That’s right, $1 for a spooky Halloween runner.  Looks pretty good on my expensive Pottery Barn table huh?  I added some tattered leaf vase filler, only mine wasn’t the Pottery Barn kind, it was from Pier 1 and I paid about $4 for a large box of it.  Looks the same, only $10 cheaper.

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Next, I tossed a pillar I grabbed on clearance after Christmas last year into the owl. It was $3, smells like vanilla, and is the right size and color.  I filled a free vase that I sprayed glittery black with Hobby Lobby black roses, a black feather, and silver berry branches costing about $6 total.  Added some bulk bagged tea lights to the mercury glass holders, stuck a skull on top of a $4 pewter taper candlestick from Goodwill, garnished with a black and cream patterned gourd I grabbed at Hobby Lobby for $3.50, added a dash of farmer’s market mini pumpkin  ($0.75) and topped it off with my hammered pewter spray painted pumpkin from this previous post.  Oh, I also grabbed the plastic rat from the sad, original display. Since my table wasn’t as huge as the PB one, it’s definitely not as ostentatious. But it’s adorable!

Here is a brighter photo so you can really see everything I used:

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A more realistic image of what it will look like at night and during the Halloween party. Spooooky:

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I have a lot more in the hopper, but I am pacing myself.  Stay tuned, I just picked up some cheap but architectural looking wooden candlesticks and old pie tins (remember Pop n Fresh?) at the Brown Elephant for a song. Going to be painting and gluing them together to create some cool tiered stands for Halloween AND my craft room!  Thanks to brilliant folks on Pinterest for giving me the idea Smile

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