(4 min read) Ahhhh it’s pumpkin season! My favorite time of the year. That short period when trick-or-treaters put on their scariest costumes and hit the streets looking for the sweetest candy. We hang some fake skeletons, make some cobwebs out of old audio-tapes, and do our best to make our yards and house interiors look as spooky as possible. The effect is usually heartwarmingly eerie and familiar in all households. But there is always that one neighbor who takes it one step further, so the rest of the neighborhood ends up being jealous. This year we’ll help you become that one neighbor.

The fact that you are here, reading this particular blog, means that you are already style-aware (uhuh, new term) and you would like to make your house as Halloweeny as possible without crossing that fine line into trashy and classless. To ensure that, you should start with the base, and the base is the color, or in this case — Fall. Yes! Oranges, browns, yellows, and some reds to spice it up, that’s the palette. Don’t hold back. From coasters to curtains, make everything fiery as much as u can. Once you’ve injected enough autumn colors into your home interiors, the base is done, and you can start with the real stuff.

Keep in mind that the base is the most important part, and all you do after doing it will look terrific if you’ve done the base properly. Once your life-size Freddy Krueger doll is sitting on your couch covered with orange slipcovers, holding a dark green coffee mug, all it will take is one look from your visitors to leave them in awe.

There are two ways to go about your Halloween decorations once the base is finished. The first and most used one is the movie route. It’s the one where you take your favorite horror movie characters, place their replicas in your front yard, and redo your house interior to fit the narrative of the movie. I personally am a huge fan of this particular approach, because I’m also (as most of you already know) a huge horror movie buff.

Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to stick to one particular movie. Most people opt for Michael Myers and Halloween for obvious reasons, but I myself always go for Jason Vorhees. Nothing sparks silent dread like a “Crystal lake” sign next to your front yard gate. Aside from these two, you can also go for zombies, vampires, werewolves, Leatherface, Jigsaw, Sadako, Ghostface, Kayako, etc. The options are many, all you need is a little dedication and some work.

The second and less used route is the inconspicuous route. No bloody zombies and dead bodies here. Pumpkins small and large, cobwebs in the corners, some vampire teeth in unexpected places, creepy candelabras, and maybe a few skulls stylishly placed throughout the hallway. Contrary to popular opinion, this décor is more difficult to achieve. Unlike the movie route, where everything is already over the top, and you are just placing it on the base, with this type of decorating you are trying to stay within the particular lane. You have to be careful while building because you can easily get carried away and your space can end up looking scattered, messy, and cheap.

Halloween is just around the corner, so we hope we helped. We did our best to find a bunch of cool pics all over the web to inspire you and give you some dread and awe-inducing ideas. Until we meet again, happy Halloween. Bwahahahaha!