The thing about Halloween is this: We’re all in on the game. We know the front yard is not really a cemetery, the skeleton on the front porch is plastic, the eyeballs in the bowl are peeled grapes and the punch-bowl fog is caused by dry ice.

Yet, we play along, because illusion is fun and Halloween still reminds us of plastic buckets full of candy and all that jumpy frivolity.

Any stage director knows that lighting is half the battle. If you can create a foreboding darkness sprinkled with flickering light, all those ghoulies and ghosties seem twice as real. Begin by preying on your guests’ scary-movie memories: Hang a lighted Bates Motel sign in the yard, preferably creaking in an autumn breeze, advertising that there’s always a vacancy inside ($30, above left). Drape orange icicle lights from Amazon in the upstairs windows for an otherworldly glow ($6), and nestle an electric spider web (above, right) in one of your trees, preferably in a branch that bows down close to people’s heads.

Wrap a lighted string of pirate heads, skulls and tombstones (both above) or creepy crawlies from Halloween Effects around the front porch posts and you’ll make some of those trick or treaters think twice about charging up to your door ($10-$13).

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No, there’s no deadly mercury in these soft, shimmering pieces of art glass. Sure, back in the 19th century, when they were created, “mercury glass” contained that dangerous element, but now shiny silver nitrate rests between two thin layers of glass and shimmers like liquid gold (or other precious metals).

You can still find mercury glass in antique stores, but better to go for the versions popping up in trendy home décor boutiques and stores. Go for standard silver or try other colors (like these luscious pears and pomegranates for $22, below).

Feeling mercurial about your autumn decor statement? Here’s a sampling of our favorites for fall:

Rian Rae’s lamp ($312)

Spheres (on sale for $30)

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Pink is suddenly the color in kitchens. It all started in 2001 with a pink KitchenAid stand mixer ($300; right). Each purchase included a donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, launching KitchenAid’s Cook for the Cure initiative, which has raised more than $5 million. Now there’s a whole line of Cook for the Cure products, including:

• a five-speed blender ($130)
• a pair of silicone-tipped tongs ($10)
• a mixing-bowl set ($25)
• a can opener ($15)
• a five-piece knife set ($50)

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With fall now officially here, it’s time to transition your home from that breezy summer look to something more mellow and golden. The simplest way to make the seasonal switch is to swap out accessories. Oh sure, you can break out the pumpkins, autumn leaves, wheat stalks and scarecrows and scatter them across every available surface. But do you really need a look that screams, “AUTUMN LEAVES EQUAL FALL! TIME TO PULL OUT THE PUMPKINS!” We’re more intrigued by the challenge of implementing a stealth harvest theme.

Go for the golden with a subtler nod to the season with some of these delectable accessories:

• This elegant feathers bouquet with pheasant and guinea hen feathers would look divine on a coffee table, mantel, or even on a wall as art ($55; below).
• For tabletop storage or to hold autumn fruit or potpourri, consider  Shaker-style circular wood banded boxes ($89)
• Add a scent of the great outdoors with lovely aroma cone arrangements from the Home Decorators Collection. We liked the simplicity of the Door County arrangement in a willow basket ($24) and the Hampton arrangement (above) in a patina-finish metal basket ($129).

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In honor of Labor Day, and all the hard work you do, we offer a few items that will save your energy for important tasks. Enough with all this pesky touching of things: The touchless trash can ($105) allows you to waggle a finger and it opens, while a $70 touchless dispenser will produce paper towels with a wave of the hand. That exhausting faucet and soap dispenser (pictured), too, can be made effortless ($60 each.) Sit down to dinner with automatic salt and pepper mills: no more grinding! Brush your teeth with the amazing Oral B Triumph with Smart Guide: a wireless screen that will tell you when you brush poorly, for $140. Then take your seat upon the TOTO Neorest 600 toilet, which will automatically flush, rinse you, blow your bottom dry, warm your rear if it’s chilly and deodorize all on its own, for $3,600. Elsewhere in the house, the latest state-of-the-art Roomba vacuum will clean without you ($430), and the Logitec Harmony 1000 advanced universal remote with touchscreen will operate all of your audio/visual equipment for $430. No more fumbling for keys at the front door with your fingerprint door lock, and with a wave of the handheld zapper ($23), irritating bugs that dare come near you will fry. For the car, use a keyless entry ($100), and a multi-function remote starter ($180). Does the cat want attention? Entertain it with a remote-controlled mouse ($20). And, to make the remaining tasks you must endure a bit easier, put the “to-do tattoo” on your palm and write away: No more wearisome lists on paper. You look more relaxed already.

It’s like Craigslist, except there’s a panel of judges waiting to disqualify the bad impersonation of a Mies van der Rohe chair you once found cool enough to buy and are now hoping desperately to sell. We’re talking about Feel More Human’s Modern Flea Market, the classified advertising section of a site devoted to modern design goods. Here you can buy and sell (with no fee to list items) previously owned gems such as a trio of Nuevo white and chrome Opener barstools, which are said to be “like new,” for just $125 (plus $85 shipping). To give you some context, we found a pair of the same barstools, new, for $340 (shipping free). That makes them $170 each new. Now that’s a flea market! The judges must be very picky, though, or else the items are flying off the site. We only found five things for sale on our most recent visit. (That’s a very small flea market.) There were two pieces by the Canadian design firm, Hot House: a modern coffee table ($150, plus $65 shipping) and a modern side table (same price), with the set going for a mere $225 ( plus $70 shipping). Buying an item is as simple as e-mailing the seller. The idea is a good one, we think, providing more sellers discover the site, but it’s the brand-spanking-new section of the eco-friendly store that gets most of the action. We were impressed by the solar LED house numbers ($20 each), which take around one hour to charge on sunny days (2-3 hours otherwise), and by the Rekindle coffee table ($360, pictured), which uses just three pieces of environmentally friendly SmartWood.

Gardens are magical places. Sit in one long enough and you’ll see nature at work, in the form of birds, bugs, reptiles and rodents, not to mention your pets and the neighbor’s pets. But there’s another kind of critter that enhances any garden, one that’s always there when you want it. Consider the life-size English hare ($40) from Plow & Hearth. Alert and ready to scamper away, this all-weather resin statue isn’t going anywhere. Its only job is to lend charm and beauty to your surroundings. Not to be outdone, the resin mossy frog ($33) has the added benefit of green coloring and spots. But there’s more to lifelike garden accents than cast resin. Cast Iron Cabin sells all manner of cast iron creatures, like this lovely turtle ($7) and adorable hedge hog ($12). The cottage meadow accent birds (three for $13) at Tender Heart are made of terra cotta and manage to capture the fragility and plumpness of actual chicks. The site also features luck-be-a-ladybug yard art that won’t be mistaken for the real thing. Made of ceramic and metal wire, a two-piece set is $21. Speaking of unreal, check out George Carruth’s Sid Fish ($35) and Splash Fish ($20) garden statues at Yardiac. They’ve got human faces and fish bodies. To further humanize your garden (and make the neighbors wonder about you), the site also sells “forest faces” that can be nailed into your trees to make them “come alive.” There’s a smiley face (pictured), kissy face, sheepish face and more ($14, small; $20, large). You can even hide a spare house key in this yellow finch ($8) or cat ($25). They’re not going to squeal.

You can’t buy love. But you sure can surround yourself with beauty that is good for the heart and soul. That notion would seem to be the organizing principle behind the eclectic offerings at Rian Rae Interiors & Gifts, which specializes in unique but comfy home décor pieces that make use of elements found in nature and are, quite simply, beautiful to behold. They’re also so sensually and texturally alluring that you might just long to reach out and touch them, like these geometrically shaped hand-crocheted pendant lamps ($224; pictured) or this French crinkle pendant made of white glass ($379). The Bamboo Cloud chandelier was designed by a Thai artist using traditional bamboo-weaving techniques in a nontraditional way ($690). The roof of this handcrafted lantern ($1,898) is covered with oyster shells. Cuddle up on the couch with this crocheted wool throw ($148), and put a cup of hot tea on this coffee table made from an antique Fench pigeon basket ($1,385). (more…)