Halloween homes: how to create spook-tacular decor for ‘fright’ night

Mottled rose gold pumpkin battery light, £21.99; and 10 mottled pumpkin fairy lights, £8.99, Lights4Fun (Image: Archant)

Halloween - when we celebrate all things spooky - doesn’t mean you have to embrace frightful style.

It’s perfectly possible to take a walk on the dark side, with sophisticated and playful decor touches that create drama, conjure a bewitching setting and last way beyond October 31.

George Home Glitter lantern, �6 Asda (Image: Archant)

Be brave and take on the twilight trend...

Embrace dark but dreamy decor

If you love living on the dark side year-round, make a statement with a Halloween Mural depicting a haunted night sky, from £26 per square metre, Wallsauce. Alternatively, a Haunted House Mural, from £29 per square metre, Pixers (top image) could be fun for an occasion like a party. Simply add candles and skulls for a spellbinding effect.

Glitter pumpkin, �4, Asda (Image: Archant)

Pimp your pumpkin

It’s the traditional symbol of the festival, but if you’d rather avoid the chore of carving your own Jack O’ Lantern (and want to preserve your fingers), there are plenty of alternatives around.

Metal house tealight holder, �18, John Lewis (Image: Archant)

Invest in our feathered friends

Ravens, witches’ familiars in fairy stories, and flocks of crows are essential elements of a gothic setting, whether safely caged or flying free...

Celebrate the Day of the Dead

Sugar skull tea light holders, �2 each, Asda (Image: Archant)

If the setting’s too gloomy for your taste, bring in colour with vibrant items evoking the spirit of the Day of the Dead, the annual celebration in Mexico.

This skull-shaped seat and/or side table’s designed to send shivers up your spine.

Skull tealight holder, �4.05 each, Amazon (Image: Archant)

Design a ghostly banquet

Transform a table with a creative setting. Simply lower the lights and make the table a focal point by decorating with a string of pumpkin lights, as well as individually lit pumpkins, and ramp up the eeriness with skull-decorated plates and accessories.

Light up a twilight zone

Day of the Dead wine glass, �1, Poundland (Image: Archant)

Flickering candlelight will cast magical shadows (though go for artificial candles, which are safer if children are around).

LED animated zombie crow in cage, �10, Asda (Image: Archant)