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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Continue the spider theme with spider tea lights, $16 for a set of two, introduced in recent years by Pottery Barn. (click to enlarge) Pottery Barn's spider hurricane candle holders, $7 to $14, are made of cast iron. (click to enlarge) Add eerie elegance to your Halloween party with this crow table runner from Pottery Barn, priced at $39 and made with linen and cotton and velvety black flocking. (click to enlarge) Nautica's new fall line includes Sloan Square black-banded stoneware that combines everyday white with sleek black, ideal for a Halloween party or year-round use ($29 per place setting).   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Classic Halloween symbols can be dressed up 10/4/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, October 4, 2007 Go Black: Keep Halloween decor sleek, stylish, ghoulish with timeless, basic hue By Sarah Jackson Herald Writer You want to have a Halloween party, but you can't bear to do the same tired orange-and-black color scheme. Even the classic fall foliage "harvest" theme isn't really doing it for you. You want sleek, stylish, hip even. Our advice? Go all black. With basic black making a strong resurgence in the world of home decor and runway fashion, you can easily find a bevy of jet-black accessories, dishware and seasonal accents for a ghoulish -- yet elegant -- Halloween. You're sure to have fun with black spiders, crows, rats, cats, caldrons and witches all at your disposal. Carve a white jack-o-lantern this year and dress it up with black spiders and other ebony Halloween garb. This year's crop of Pottery Barn home accents makes going black for Halloween easy. Sure, you'll find the usual pumpkin candles and fall leaf garlands. But you'll also find black lanterns, spider web candle holders and a delightful black crow table runner, a perfect touch in the Northwest where crows are ubiquitous icons. Nautica's new fall tabletop line, meanwhile, includes black-banded dishware as well as black floral dishware designs. Both feature white accents, the ultimate foil for black. When shopping for black accents, be on the lookout for all things albino, too, including white skulls, candles, ghost figurines and napkins for a dramatic contrast. If you have a collection of all-white dishes, now is the time to break them out and decorate place settings with black plastic spiders, witches' hats or even black masks. You'll see the black-and-white scheme played out in all kinds of interior design schemes now, including bedding, living room and dining combinations from retailers such as Ethan Allen, featuring a black-and-white checkered chair on its current catalog cover. If you avoid going overly seasonal with your Halloween choices, you can use many items -- such as black placemats, throws and dishware -- all year long in various contexts around the house after the spiders and rats come down. Because black is so neutral, it works with just about any color, including red and green at Christmastime as well as blues, greens, yellows and, of course, orange hues, too. "Look at design magazines, furniture catalogs and showroom displays today, and you're likely to see more than just a touch of black," Jackie Dishner wrote on HGTV.com. "Just like the 'little black dress' that's been decorating a woman's wardrobe since Coco Channel unveiled the first version in Vogue magazine 80 years ago, the color black never does seem to go out of style -- especially not in the home." Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com

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