A Halloween Treat

When you live in Central New York one of the things that you love, (and hate at the same time) is the changing seasons, every one of them distinct, every one of them with their own personality. My favorite is fall, more specifically, October! There is just something about October that gets my senses racing. Whether it’s the crisp weather, I hate the heat, or the fact that my fall/winter wardrobe looks so much better, or even perhaps the changing leaves, whatever it is, it just seems best in October. There’s apple picking, pumpkin picking, baking, festivals, fall crafts, the kids are finally back in school on a routine, the holidays are right around the corner…sigh! I just love October! 

So when a customer asked me if I could do a fall/Halloween type table for her home, I was thrilled! I’d really never done anything like that before. Sure, I’d used “fall” colors but never really a Halloween theme.

If you’ve been following me for awhile you know that this is one of my “favoritest” tables to use.

• It’s so versatile. It goes with any décor, in any space. I’ve decorated them in college themes, bedroom schemes, art deco designs and so much more.

• It’s very easy to assemble and unassembled.

• It comes with its own packaging too, which is great for shipping purposes (If you have ever tried to ship furniture you know how awesome this really is).

• I buy the table from an unfinished wood furniture shop right around the corner from where I live, so it’s convenient. (Like I’ve said before, I love to reuse and restyle furniture, but every once in awhile I break down and have to buy a piece, but the good news is even though they are all the same style of furniture ever design is totally unique)

How I achieved this look!

I used a color fade for the background, which is sort of hard to do in acrylic paint. When I first started painting years ago it was in watercolors. A fade is so easy to achieve in that medium because the paint is really wet and the colors blend easy. In acrylics, not so much, so I’ve learned an easy way to do it. It’s a gradual fade. I use a bunch of similar colors, for example; Ruby Lips (red), Fireball Orange (red orange), Tangerine (orange) and finally Mac and Cheese (yellow orange). I do each color in a 1-2 inch strip, then quickly run a dry Chinese brush (soft & fuller bristles)over the areas where the colors intersect, smoothing the transitions between the lines. This is the technique I used in the background on this piece. Then once that was set I drew out the moon and black silhouettes. She wanted to keep the “cutesiness” to a minimum, so I had to resist the urge to go all girly on it and stick to simply designs. So I didn’t add polka dots or roses, just some spooky eyeballs to the legs keeping with the Halloween theme. I painted the top boarder gray, made different sized rocks all the way around, and then with a small sea sponge, sponged some paint (green and black mixed together) around various areas creating a mossy look. Took a bat wood piece, painted it black and attached the embellishment to the back for added interest.

I’m really pleased with the end result. I hope she will like the way it turned out.