Spook Your Apartment For Halloween With These 20 Decor Ideas

Let’s go big this year for Halloween. These decor ideas will help get your apartment ready for the spookiest season—October. Try one or all twenty of these decoration ideas out and see if you can scare any of your friends or maybe your neighbours across the street.

1. Lighting

It is amazing how easy a room can change with just a flick of a switch. If you want to make your apartment spooky in an instant, then ditch the fluorescent bulbs for some candlesticks. Candlelight is the perfect way to give your apartment a spooky ambiance while still looking trendy. Candlesticks can also be reused for other celebrations, so you aren’t wasting your money on cheesy Halloween decor that you’ll throw out November 1st.

2. Smoke

You shouldn’t smoke in your apartment unless it’s Halloween and you’re trying out spooky home decor ideas. I’m sure your landlord will understand—just show him this article. If you want to go full Halloween this year and totally scare everyone who dares to enter your apartment then you need a smoke machine. Cover your floor with a cloud of smoke to create a dream-like mood in your apartment, except this dream is a nightmare. People will feel like they’re walking through something awfully mysterious, never knowing where their next step is going to take them.

3. Cobwebs

Don’t vacuum for the entire month of October because there are so many spooky home decor ideas you can use cobwebs for! If you don’t want to use the actual dust that is sitting around your apartment because that sounds ‘gross’ to you, then you can buy those dollar store cobwebs. I guess those will work too. Hang cobwebs around your apartment for small spooky details. Not everyone will notice them, but someone at your Halloween party will be terrified of spiders and you will scare the crap out of them, even if they know it’s fake.

4. Pumpkin Snowman

If you’re looking for decor ideas that are spooky and fun then, you need to make a pumpkin snowman. Three pumpkins of different sizes stacked on top of each other will give your apartment a fun and festive Halloween spirit with the beautiful orange color poping in your living room. However, if you want to make it spooky, make sure you turn them into Jack-o-lanterns before stacking them. This way, your snowman won’t be a bunch of gords on top of each other. It’ll look like a stack of heads!

5. Spooky Snacks

Nothing is scarier than carbs, but also— it’s October so who cares what you look like You’re going to be all bundled up anyway. Spooky snacks are the best way to make your apartment ready for Halloween. Macarons, cookies, and cupcakes are great spooky snacks to make because they can also be used as decor items if you don’t eat them all right away.

6. Spooky Drinks

If you’re thirsty after making your spooky snacks you may want to create a couple of spooky drinks to go with them. Orange juice, red wine, or black punch can really add some pops of Halloween-themed color into your apartment to make the entire space look more spooky.

7. Details

Halloween is all in the details. Just like your favorite scary movie, it isn’t the big things that scare you, it’s those small little details that crawl out of nowhere and surprise you. Create an environment like that in your apartment by ditching the large decor ideas and opting in for the small little details that are so creepy it hurts.

8. Color Theme

Before you really get into decoring your home for Halloween you need to make one important decision. What your color theme is going to be. Halloween is one of those holidays where there isn’t just one theme to go with, you have options. Black and purple, orange and black, red and black, black and onyx. Okay, so basically you have to choose what color you want and pair it with black. Still a big choice though.

9. Smokey Pumpkin

Combine two of the decor ideas already listed and make yourself a smokey pumpkin. This way you can keep your smoke machine contained in the pumpkin, saving it from damage and you don’t have to worry about lighting a candle inside a pumpkin. Not to mention, it also looks very spooky.

10. Vintage

A vintage Halloween theme might be exactly what you’re looking for this year. Think about the Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland. It’s so scary because it’s set a hundred years ago, creates a feeling that the mansion, or in this case your apartment, is being haunted by an old ghost who is really looking for revenge.

11. Music

If you really want to create a spooky atmosphere in your apartment then you need some spooky music to set the mood. Depending on what level of spooky you’re looking to set in your apartment will change your music choice from Monster Mash to spooky whispering and occasional screams.

12. Biggest Fear

Time to face your biggest fear, because if you really want a spooky apartment for Halloween you’re going to want it to actually scare you. If you can’t handle this idea find out what your friends’ biggest fear is and have that be your theme. You can scare them when they come over, they might not come over again, but that’s a risk you’ve got to take this year.

13. Scary Movie Themed

October is the perfect month to binge all your favorite scary movies. Don’t just watch the movies though, turn your apartment into a scene from the movie! There are so many good ones to chose from. You could do the psycho motel room, the prom from Carrie, complete with fake blood and everything, or keep it simple and just hang a single red balloon in your living room. If people have seen the movie IT, they will be terrified just walking into your apartment. I’m scared just thinking about it.

14. Clowns

Speaking of IT, clowns are terrifying. Something even scarier than one clown, a bunch of freaking clowns! I can speak about this from experience; my nursery as a baby was decorated with my mom’s clown collection. To this day I still can’t see a red nose and not feel like crying. That includes Rudolph.

15. Scary food

Scary food is different from scary snacks because snacks work as a decor item that you can display throughout October. Scary food is something you should think about if you’re throwing a Halloween party. There are lots of great recipes on the internet for ladyfingers, brain spaghetti, human kidney bean chilli, and other scary foods for you to try out.

16. Potions

You can buy little potion bottles at most craft stores. Fill them up with water and food coloring to make them look like real potions. If you want to get extra creative, then you should print out labels that say crazy spooky things like “eye of a snake” or “spider tears.” These are a great decor item to have around your apartment to add just a touch of spookiness. You can freak your guests out too by having a few in the fridge or near the food you’re preparing.

17. Grave Yard

This might sound crazy, but if you wanted to combine a couple of these home decor ideas you could probably turn your entire apartment into a graveyard set. This would be spooky and take a lot of work so if you are very committed to Halloween, then please try this out and send me the photos.

18. Dead Flowers

Fresh flowers scream springtime, but dead flowers were made for spooky home decor ideas. There is so much you can do with a couple of black rose petals. Scatter them across the floor, place them in bowls on tables for centrepieces or just leave them in the vase wilting away. This is both a great home decor idea and a great way to recycle.

19. White Sheets

Nothing is scarier than a bunch of white sheets covering furniture. Why? I have no idea, but in every scary movie when someone walks into a room and all the furniture is covered in white sheets there is a 90% chance of a ghost being in that room. Covering your furniture in white sheets ads a bit of mystery to your apartment. This is also a great way to cover up your furniture that isn’t spooky and totally ruins your Halloween decor ideas.

20. Dry Ice

Similar to smoke, dry ice can add a spooky atmosphere to your entire apartment. Not being able to see what’s in front of you clearly can create a scary sensation in your home. Be careful though, dry ice can be very messy and difficult to use, so make sure you’re being safe and lay down some towels. Maybe just make sure they’re scary towels, though.

Try out these spooky home decor ideas this October and you’ll be ready to host a scary but fun Halloween party. Comment below which home decor ideas are you ready to try out this October?