Sunday, September 23, 2012

Once upon a midnight dreary. . .

A few weeks ago I was invited to be one of the designers featured at The Artful Table, a charity evening hosted by The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio. Proceeds from the evening benefit the center's art education program. Designers are left to their own ideas, no theme to follow, which was wonderful. I knew immediately I wanted to do Halloween but not orange, green or purple...and certainly not cute. I had toyed with the idea of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. Then, at the Country Living Fair, my friend Kathi from KD Vintage  had these fabulous Poe inspired items she designed for her wholesale line of Halloween decor so it all just fell together a weekend before the event. Whew!

The beginning of the set up...my son and I, hauled these great old doors up to the Decorative Arts Center's back door and saw nothing but stairs....stairs, stairs and more stairs.
(actual staircase to second floor of The Decorative Arts Center, built in 1835)
He took one look and said "Uh...no Mom. No." LOL Thankfully we found an elevator and the doors JUST fit (at an angle, but they fit). Once we got them into the room we hinged them together to illicit a chamber door feeling. I have another pair and seeing the completed project I wish I had used all four and more branches. Enjoy!











8 comments:

Brandon Woline said...

WOW! Great job!

Grace @ Sense and Simplicity said...

Well done. I love the height the doors and branch give the arrangement and love all the bird touches.

antebellumfarmhouse said...

LOve it! So filled with dreaminess. I could live there.

Sparkly Heart Studio said...

enjoyed the beautiful styling! thank you!

Kadee Willow said...

So glad you got the doors set up.... they really set the tone to your theme which was genius! The other unexpected element were the captain's chairs. Again, genius as it seems like most people tend to gravitate towards country french. All those books... the ravens.... the branch. What fun that must have been coming up with all those ideas!! Job well done!

Kadee Willow said...

I'm so glad you were able to get the doors up to the right location as it really set the right tone and backdrop. And the captain's chairs were a genius idea as most people would think the current trend of country french. Those were just perfect! The branch... the ravens.... the vintage books.... what fun it must have been to come up with all these fabulous ideas!

Ashlee said...

I absolutely love this- great job!!!
Now where can I get those plates?!!?!
I must have them! And that bust too! :)

Sheree Norman said...

nice decorating, especially like the doors and crows. My farm is the "Murder of Crows Farm". I would love to know where I could get those plates!