Haunted Little Lending Library - it's Spooktacular

I've heard of haunted houses and haunted graveyards or even creepy crypts

But have you ever heard of a haunted Little Lending Library . . .? 

Well, now you have. See that ghost peering out the window at you -- or the spirits floating in the wind just above the doors?

Yep...my little lending library (which just happens to match my house--see the house in the background?) is haunted--at least during the month of  ShOctober ;D 

I just couldn't leave it alone...you might say I was haunted by the idea of decorating the little library. And, if you take a moment to look really closely, you'll see witches flying across the front and pumpkins and bats blowing in the breeze, just underneath the eaves. But that's not all...there's more to come.

We (as in my husband) will be installing a couple more things, including a teeny-weeny chandelier -- that will really light up (if everything goes according to plan). 

And another classic sconce on the inside wall of the library. 

I guess you can tell, I never had a dollhouse and always wanted one. But this is even better. My little library gets a lot of traffic because it's right on the bike path, next to a busy street. So, people stop by all the time to "check-out" a book. Of course it's all on the honor system. Books  are free to take and keep, I just ask that, sometime in the future, those who have taken a book, drop by one of the books they want to donate. It's a "pay-it-forward" system.

When I asked my husband to build me this lending library, he went all out. He installed hardwood flooring, wallpaper and even a chair rail on the inside. He had to handcraft the tiny siding to match the Victorian Gingerbread on our house and then he installed a cedar shake roof. I love this little library but, like I said, for the month of October it's totally haunted. 

Wishing y'all a Spooktacular Fall

Halloween is lurking just like a ghost. . .around the corner. And with so many negative spirits haunting our recent past, I was thinking... (yep, I know that's a surprise) we should do something festive and fun to celebrate the coming holiday.

This is how I've been spending my energy lately...preparing our family's new "Dead and Breakfast"...for any stray ghouls who want to stop by unexpectedly.

And I just had to make a Day of the Dead pumpkin. It was super simple. I painted a regular pumpkin from the garden. Of course, I spent a little extra time trying to pick just the right one.

Then I covered the shell with black paint, which was super simple to do. But you could use the pumpkin in its original shade, or opt for a green or white gourd.

The problem with white gourds for me is that I always envision ghostly images instead...

And I paint those little gourds into characters... hey, did I mention I'm a writer? Characters are always popping into my head and inspiring me...but I digress.

And that was just the beginning. We decided to build our own family graveyard...in the front yard.

And it turned out pretty realistic looking. But then we added our fun sign...

Which I painted on an old piece of wood my husband shaped for me with his jigsaw.

And we  hung it out over the graves. 

But that wasn't enough. We also made a scarecrow.

And a ghostly figure out of chicken wire, which we painted with glow-in-the-dark spray paint.

And hung little scarecrows on the fence, in my little flowerpots. Then I wanted witch brooms to hang more lights. But when I found out how much they cost, I thought, I can make some instead. So, I ran to the local feed store and bought a bale of straw and stopped at a lumber store to buy some dowels. The straw was $11.99 at Side Saddle Tack and the dowels were about $3.00 a piece at Mr. Plywood. So for about $30.00, I got more than enough materials to make 6 brooms. The brooms were really easy to make. I laid out some strapping tape on the bale and placed the straw on the top of the tape and simply rolled  the dowel around the tape. I used a bit of twine and voila! I had my brooms. 

The hardest part of making the brooms was keeping my little Freya (my German Shepherd) busy by throwing her ball for her.

Then we lined the brooms up the walkway and wrapped them in lights.

And at night, they are seriously Spooktacular!

Don't they look like they're on fire? An unexpected scary little touch.

Plus, I hung a beautiful fall wreath on the front door.

And made some candy corn cushions for my benches out front (you can check out my previous post about how I made those but here's a quick picture)

 Or two...

And they're reversible, so I can use them through Thanksgiving. 

Maybe we're getting carried away, but we  keep adding to our display.

I don't know...what do you think?

Anyway, I'm hoping you have a Spooktacular Fall Y'all!!!