[Last-Minute Decorating] Simple Halloween Mantel

Slow & steady wins the race. Or is it, last one to finish is still a winner?! Either way, I know Halloween is less than 1 week away, but I just HAD to do a little last-minute decorating. We’ve had our fall decor out since the first week of September, but I find it VERY difficult to muster up the energy to take it all down and trade everything out for Halloween decor. Right?! Even as a blogger, when holiday decorating is serious business, I just can’t ever gear up to make something halfway presentable.

Until this year. Less than 1 week from Halloween. We have a super simple [and super cute!] Halloween mantel!

Want to know my secret for getting it up so quickly and effortlessly? I grab the plastic bin labeled “Halloween” and pulled all the items from there, instead of running around town telling myself I have to buy all the cute new stuff that’s out. You know why I don’t have to do this? Well, because every year after Halloween, I stock up when all the decor is 80% off.

That’s how I had a loot to choose from! And I even was able to leave a couple things in place and swap things out around them saving me more time and energy. Here’s what I mean!

Remember this black and white vase from my Fall Home Tour last month? I had yellow stems in it, so instead of taking the entire thing down, I simply grabbed a few glittery gold pinecone twigs and the only orange stem I could find in my fall bin and put them up there together.

The rest of the mantel decor is just pumpkins. A few brass candlesticks and more pumpkins. For real!

I did grab the bat bunting and the October 31 sign from the $1 spot at Target a few weeks ago, but everything else was packed up in the Halloween decor storage totes for who knows how long.

 

Isn’t the little round paper garland so cute? It was maybe $.99 in an after-Halloween sale. Like I said, I can’t just walk by and not stock up for the next year! I simply hung the bat bunting and then draped the circle garland in and around it and secured them both using my favorite temporary hooks.

The biggest actually ran up and hugged me to tell me that he liked the Halloween decorations. I guess a 4 year old does want to see pumpkins and bats and all the orange, black, and white stuff out around the house! Like I said, stuff was out, but it was like 5 things…one in each room. Not enough to notice it was even there!

I found the round paper garland at Target last year, metallic pumpkins are a mix from the Dollar Tree years ago and Hobby Lobby either last year or the year before. The black and white ones jumped into my Hobby Lobby cart around the same time then, too.

In case you’re looking, I found some similar metallic pumpkins here!

The black spider web bowl was from the Dollar Tree and the brass candlesticks were thrifted. I’ve got quite the collection now. I can’t seem to pass up a $1.99 brass buddy when I see one. Can you blame me?! The make perfect stands for pumpkins, bowls, plants, you name it! Did you catch my thrifted finds makeover last week for the Swap It Like It’s Hot Challenge? Take a peek and you’ll see that ANYthing can go on top of those brass candlestick holders ha!

Oh and the books I had on the mantel that you may have seen in my Fall Home Tour, were simply flipped around so their pages were out front since the color of the book’s spine didn’t exactly scream Halloween. This is a great tip to use if you ever need some height in a vignette but you don’t have the right colors in the books you have around the house. The pages are the perfect neutral solution!

The “October 31” sign would be a super easy DIY. Don’t you think?

Since I decorate with a lot of black and white, my pillows and throws fit right in. That is what I LOVE about neutrals.

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You can use these pieces year-round and add the appropriate pop of color when you want. A classic black and white striped throw or a black and white flannel throw are definitely 2 of my neutral home decor must-haves. They’re perfect for styling on a chair or couch [or hanging out of a metal basket, like I have here] and are actually soft and cozy too!

cream plush throw | gold side table | spider web bowl

What about you…do you trade out your fall decor for Halloween? What do you do after? Do you put the fall right back up through Thanksgiving?! If you’ve got any other tips for making decorating for Halloween a cinch, please let me know below!

Thanks for stopping by today and checking out our Simple Halloween Mantel. I hope you’ll be back tomorrow because I’m going to be sharing my week #4 update for the One Room Challenge [See the rest here: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3]. I hope to see you back right here!

Are you planning to do any last-minute Halloween decorating this week? 😉

Don’t forget to pin for later!