Halloween Memories

Here at Hillsdale’s corporate headquarters you’ll find touches of Halloween fun in all corners of the office. Desks are adorned with smiling jack-o-lanterns, wicked witches, and bountiful bowls of candy, while common areas are graced with ghoulish décor and devilish treats. Being the fan of Halloween that I am, I couldn’t help but ask my co-workers, “What’s your favorite Halloween memory, costume, or tradition?” Here are some of their answers

Tabatha, from accounts receivable, says her favorite part of the season is going to many of our Kentuckiana haunted houses and performing in a backyard haunt called the Hetzer Haunted House on Halloween night .This year they are taking food donations for the local chapter of Dare to Care.  

McClanahan dancers ready to perform in their Halloween best

A member of our sales support staff, Julie, spends a lot of time with her daughters at Irish dance competitions throughout the year. In October, she loves the Halloween competition when the girls forego their traditional dance gear for fun costumes. 

But costumes aren’t for everyone. So when our sales manager, Katrina, was asked to a costume party she was none too thrilled, “I hate dressing up for Halloween. But one year I had to go to a costume party when I was very pregnant, so I poked my legs and arms through a Hefty garbage bag, and stuffed it with newspaper, and went as a bag of trash.” 

Baby Jack's photo by Capture Me Photography

For Dawn in internet sales, this year Halloween is all about her baby boy, Jack. “As a huge fan of Halloween I started pondering Jack’s first Halloween costume in August.  The ideas were endless. Then, while having a conversation with a friend it hit me, it’s all in his name.  Over lunch my friend and I discussed all the wonderful “Jack” costumes we could think of.  We thought of everything from Jack-in-the-Box to Captain Jack Sparrow.  Brimming with this idea I went out and purchased Jack’s first Halloween costume, a fluffy soft Jack o’ Lantern.”    

A chainsaw pumpkin crafted by Jim Dethy

Laura, our international logistics manager, has a great family tradition. “For the past ten years, the highlight of our autumn comes in the form of Jim and Joan’s annual Halloween party.  Each year, they invite friends and family to enjoy an evening under the October moon.  We all bring our favorite dishes. There is music and karaoke.  This year my eight year old daughter, Isabelle, performed “Cowboy Casanova” and if you close your eyes you would swear it was Carrie Underwood. The entertainment is followed by a hayride around the farm complete with ghost stories. What better way to celebrate the season than with these wonderful friends!"      

Everyone at the Hillsdale Headquarters is excited to make more great Halloween memories tonight, and we’re wishing everyone a very Happy Halloween!

Scary Citizens (of the Hillsdale Headquarters)

In honor of the Halloween season, Hillsdale wants to spotlight an employee whose name has become synonymous with the horror scene, both locally (here in Louisville) and nationally.

By day, Jeff Gaither is our mild mannered Art Director, crafting beautiful catalogs and marketing materials. By night, he is a wickedly sinister horror artist bringing our worst nightmares into artistic reality. Jeff blends the aesthetics of the rock and horror genres into an intense visual assault of graphics and color sure to scare the pants off even the most dedicated fans. Whether painting, sculpting, or sketching, Jeff’s brand of work goes hand in hand with Halloween.

Introduced to art at an early age by his mother and aunt, Jeff has spent over 30 years honing his craft and unique style. You cannot mistake a Gaither masterpiece for anything else.  Intricate details, graphic imagery, and vibrancy of color are unmistakable Gaither attributes. His work has graced the CD/LP covers and/or shirts of hundreds of bands including The Misfits and Guns N’ Roses. Many local publications, such as Leo Weekly and Velocity, have featured Jeff’s art on their covers and he has designed all the posters, ads, billboards and shirts for Louisville’s Annual Forecastle Festival (ten years running). Jeff has contributed his art to numerous exhibitions , including the Kentucky Psychological Associations “Heads Up” project, an exhibit to promote awareness of psychological disorders and most recently the Thirty Three Quarters exhibit, which celebrates the iconic open faced motorcycle helmets of the 60s and 70s. His work has been called “prolific”, “unmistakable”, “disturbing”, and “sinister”, and he is a true “legend of the underground”.

Jeff's piece for the Thirty Three Quarters exhibit. Photo by John Rott

With such an eye for all things gruesome, I couldn’t help but be curious about what he might get into during the Halloween season. Though he says he’s not a fan of dressing up he will play along sometimes when we have a Halloween day at work. And in regards to his favorite horror flick, he’s hard pressed to single out one. The best he could offer is a three way tie between The Thing (1982 remake), The Exorcist, and Dawn of Dead (1978 original). And when I asked, “What is your favorite thing to do during the Halloween season in Louisville? “ his response was, “Same as any other time as it is Halloween year round for me.”

Don’t believe him?  Check out the photo below of Mr. Gaither just relaxing in his home sweet home.

Photo by John Nation

To check out more of Jeff Gaither’s wicked world visit his fan page on Facebook.   

 WARNING: Content is not for the faint of heart.

If you are looking more ideas for your Halloween festivities check Hillsdale's Halloween Pinterest board.

Spook City

All Hail All Hallow’s Eve! This year, leave no (head)stone unturned as you plan and perfect a spooky Halloween party that’s sure to cast a spell on even the most welcoming of spaces. 

1.       Start with a spooky invitation.

Photo credit:ohsobeautifulpaper.com

Whether heading the traditional snail mail route, or the electronic one, make a scary impression from the get-go. Purchase black envelopes and use chalk or a white marker to draw spider webs and ghosts on the packaging. Short on time? Download the RedStamp.com app on your smart phone and use their smartly designed e-invites to get the word out, fast.

2.       Décor to die for.

Turn the entrance of your “haunted” house into a clever cemetery setting. Install Styrofoam tombstones near the front door—preferably adorned with the names of party guests. Hang a canopy above the entrance for the full affect.

Photo credit: houzz.com

3.       Prepare a frightening feast.

Spooky snacks are a must at any Halloween get together. Think, cupcakes and cookies frosted and shaped to look like pumpkins, apples in a “witch’s cauldron,” or get your hands on a pack of disposable plastic gloves. Put a piece of candy corn at the tip of each finger (“the nail”), fill the rest with popcorn, tie at the end, and add a plastic spider ring on the finger of each “hand.”

4.       Initiate a ghoulish game.

Our favorite? Allowing your guests to get a feel of dead man’s “guts.” Turn off the lights, blindfold your visitors, then begin reciting Charles F. Smith’s circa-1930s “A Hallowe’en Post Mortem,” which he wrote for the Boy Scouts: “The truth it is, and not a myth/That once there lived a man named Smith,/And it became his mournful lot/To murdered be quite near this spot./ We now will pass out his remains,/You first will handle poor Smith’s brains....” At this point, “moist sponges are passed from guest to guest.” The verse continues, taking apart poor Smith bit by bit—his hair (corn silk), his windpipe (a length of uncut boiled macaroni), his hand (a glove stuffed with wet sand)—until there is nothing of him left.

However you choose to celebrate Halloween this year, we want to hear about it. Tell us about your favorite Halloween party ideas on our Facebook page. 

For more Halloween party ideas check out Hillsdale's Halloween Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/HillsdalePins/

Upping the Autumnal Ambience

The colors of fall—golden yellows, vibrant oranges, deep shades of purple and green, among many others—are warm, comforting and popular for everything from clothing to seasonal menu planning. Here are a few elegant ways to work them into your fall décor, including a few that will work well year round if the mood strikes you.

Red

Ruby-toned, bright shades of red pop when used in moderation, immediately drawing the eye as one walks into the room. Paintings, especially when hung above a mantel, are a simple, temporary and fun way to add a punchy hue to dining and living rooms.  

Yellow

Bright, golden shades of yellow seem to set the Kentucky landscapes on fire (in a good way) every fall, and they can do the same for your home. Drapes and throws naturally lend themselves well to warming up a room, literally and figuratively.

Orange

It’s not just for pumpkins and Halloween candy. Purchase a few orange throw pillows or vases (without the witch and bat motifs), and an autumnal atmosphere can be enjoyed throughout the season. 

Brown

A neutral favorite year round, this hue’s at home in nearly every room of the house. Try out painting an accent wall in espresso or coffee tones, and if that’s too much of a commitment, graphic area rugs in chocolate brown are available in a wide variety of designs and sizes.

Purple

Deep plums and eggplants are very popular with clothing designers this time of the year, but try out the darker tones in your bedroom décor as well. Pillow shams and comforters are great tools for seasonally updating your style, and purple can be a calming color for the most relaxed space in the home.

The Hillsdale Team hopes everyone is enjoying some leaf peeping, hot apple cider and sweater weather wherever you are. Fall is definitely one of our favorites. 

For more information, find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hillsdalefurniture 

Headed for High Point!

The Hillsdale Furniture team is gearing up for one of our favorite events—the High Point Furniture Market. Old and new favorites have been loaded on the trucks are headed due east to our North Carolina showroom, where they can mix and mingle with the rest of the industry’s best and brightest. Here’s a sample of what we’ll be showing off this month:

Solid Wood Dining

Arback Dining with trestle table

Arback dining chair

This year our design team has been especially focused on the classics, particularly in our new solid wood dining rooms sets. The Arback Dining Collection, in a darker finish, includes a large, trestle-style dining table, multipurpose wine stand, kitchen island and a variety of china cabinets that are just begging to be dressed up for a Thanksgiving meal. 

Arback dining accents

Hamptons Dining with dark finish

Our Hamptons Dining Room Table is similar, but with a few whimsical touches in the chair backs to make it more the star of its own holiday special. 

Compact Dining

Harrods Creek Dining

Not everyone has a grand, old fashioned dining room space to fill, however. Tables for 8, 10, 12 people just aren’t doable for everyone, but comfortable dining and entertaining most certainly is.  The adjustable Harrods Creek Dining Room Collection has foldable leaves that make it a petite enough to feed four easily in even the tightest of spaces, but expandable to six should the occasion call for it.

Harrods Creek Dining with leaves open

Sarasota Counter Height Dining

 

The Sarasota Dining Room Table has a similar fit, though at a trendy counter height with wood and metal features to make it a stylish standout.

Industrial Stools 

Aryssa Stool

Also new to Hillsdale this year is a line of industrial-grade bar and counter height stools that can be used both at home, as well as in a restaurant, bar, club or commercial setting. The Aryssa Stool boasts a silver metallic finish and a 360 degree swivel stool covered in dark faux-leather that adds a touch of old-fashioned, soda fountain glamour to a piece that is durable and ready to support greater capacity and frequency of use.

 The Hyde Park is similar in style, but is backless for a more compact feel. Finally, the Dundee has a dark coffee, metallic finish and chocolate brown wood top that borders an Old World-inspired linear design sure to grab attention.

Dundee Stool

Hyde Park Stool

       

Come visit us at the High Point Furniture Market October 12-18. We’re at 401 South Hamilton, Spaces 112 and 113. Hope to see everyone there!

The Family Table

  As the technology age continues to encompass every aspect of our lives and the lives of our children, a resurgence of the “Family Table” has emerged. The call to unplug and engage has begun to echo through many homes, and nowhere more than at the dinner table.

  Growing up I remember arriving home from school and being greeted by wonderful aromas of pot roast, fried chicken, or joy of joys taco night! I would change out of my school clothes, wash up, and migrate to the kitchen to help or as mom said, “hover”. Once dinner was ready we’d fill our plates and gather around the table. It was during that time when we all talked the most as a family, unloading the stresses of our day or sharing funny stories. We laughed a lot during our family dinners so when we left the table we had not only nourished our bodies but also our souls. That is the magic of the family table.

  Even now, though my brother and I are grown with children of our own, we still love gathering around that same table. Though its years of use are showing, that old table still stands always making more room as the family grows. It’s the memories of those family meals that we hope to pass down to our own children and what better way to start than with the perfect dining table.

  Quickly becoming a tried and true favorite for Hillsdale Furniture is the Hamptons dining table. Made of solid pine, this table will stand the test of time giving your family years of joyous dining. The round top pedestal table will comfortably fit six with the leaf and four without. With a classic, weathered pine finish this table will transition through years of family dinners.

So let's slow down, unplug, and gather together at the family table.

To see more great dining collections visit www.hillsdalefurniture.com.