7 fun ideas for fall decorating

But the creative minds at Studio 427 Interior Design & Decor have developed seven fresh tips for decorating your home for Halloween. In fact, Laura Austin-Bullock, owner, has more than a few tricks up her sleeve.

1. Bring old glass containers back from the dead by using them all year long for crafty home decorations. This can mean anything from an oversized mason jar, to a long out-of-use fish bowl to, well, anything transparent.

For fall fill-in layers, try some plastic grapevine or puffy, fake spiderwebs from a craft store. Sprinkle acorns or pine cones on top. For the final layer, gather crunchy fall leaves (real or otherwise), and top it all off with a tiny flameless candle.

2. This one is as simple as it gets, but yields beautiful results. Go out into the crisp, fall air and search around for the most beautiful leaf you've ever laid eyes on. Once you've found it, press it between two glass panels and frame. Voila! A beautiful, autumn portrait to be hung in the room of your choice.

3. Try tying some raffia around any glass container, and fill it with brightly colored fall leaves. On top of the leaves, try adding another classic accent like orange and red autumn flowers. This look can be topped off by black candles to add a little more Halloween festivity to the overall appearance.

4. Instead of sticking pumpkins outdoors for kids to smash, try using your jack-o'-lantern as a candle holder! Remove the stem from your small to medium-sized pumpkin. Next, place the candle you'd like to use over the hole and trace around its base. Cut out the hole, gut your pumpkin, and carve a spooky scene of your choice -- or just leave the pumpkin au naturel. Once you're finished with the accoutrements, fit the candle snugly in the hole and watch it glow.

5. Another creative way to repurpose pumpkins is to use one as a vase in the middle of your fall centerpiece. Cut out a hole, like before, big enough to slot in a clear glass or plastic vase. Fill the vase with pretty but spooky accents, like fake black roses, purple and orange baubles, and twigs painted black.

6. If gutting a pumpkin just isn't for you, or you don't trust your children with those tiny, jagged carving knives, there are alternatives. Try expressing your creativity (and saving some time on cleanup) by experimenting with glow-in-the-dark paint on your pumpkin. The results look spooky and intriguing when you place the pumpkins outside at night.

7. Try cutting simple bat shapes out of black craft foam. Once your bat shape is cut out, glue on some big, googly eyes to give the bat a cutesy-but-still-watching-you vibe. Punch a small hole in the bottom of the bats and tie them up to low-hanging tree branches or porch awnings so they can overlook your yard. Or hang them on a garland in your house.