This Interior Designer Transformed His Home for Halloween Into an Extravagant Surrealist Landscape for the Ultimate Dinner Party Experience
Designer Marco Zamora invites us behind the scenes of his immersive Halloween dinner party, and how you can recreate the look in your own home
Halloween is arguably one of the hardest seasonal celebrations to decorate for at home. Easily tipping into the 'tacky' category, the key to curating a space that's hauntingly stylish and sophisticated, while still evoking the all-important emotional response, is to avoid anything overly gimmicky and lean into the 'story'.
All Hallow's Eve — Halloween's original name in medieval times — is a night of storytelling. Ghostly tales around the fire in the darkness, quietly inspiring fear. And I stumbled upon a designer-styled space curated for a Halloween dinner party that's like a folkloric tale brought to life.
Los Angeles-based interior designer Marco Zamora transformed his home into an extravagant surrealist landscape that invites guests not just to appreciate the visual masterpiece, but to experience it, too. From a floating, ethereal ghost in the entryway to a magnificent circus-like bar lounge, Marco shares the inspiration behind his Halloween decorating ideas for this year's dinner party and how you can recreate the look.
The Entryway
Talk about making an entrance — this curation perfectly masters eerie elegance.
With an impressive social media following of 2.3 million on Instagram and 1.5 million on TikTok, Marco is well known for his creativity — sharing elaborate DIY projects across his platforms, often using his own home as the foundation. This particular project piqued my interest from the first teaser.
'Surrealist Ball' was the theme for the Halloween dinner party he hosted this year, and was inspired by the first Halloween dinner party he hosted the year prior. "Someone commented on one of my posts saying the event looked like it was pulled straight from a dream. Ever since, I’ve wanted to create a fully immersive experience centered around that same otherworldly, dreamlike imagery," says Marco.
"I absolutely love curating extravagant experiences for my guests, and Halloween provides the perfect opportunity to lean into that creativity," he says. "It has quickly evolved into an annual tradition that my friends, my followers, and I all look forward to."
For his Halloween entryway, he bought 100 red roses to cover his entire spiral staircase — his favorite element to style in the dinner party scheme — making it look as though the staircase was completely overtaken by them. "The entrance to my home already feels dramatic in the best way, and I wanted a design to match that energy. Making it look as though the roses and branches were naturally growing out of the stairs delivered that exact drama and felt hauntingly romantic," Marco shares.
Marco also decided to add red velvet curtains to each doorway for added drama, and this pair of StangH Theater Red Velvet Curtains on Amazon would work perfectly with this Amazon Basics Extendable Curtain Pole to achieve the same look.
Of course, 100 roses is a lot, but even a slightly pared-back approach would be striking. You could even order artificial roses to reuse each year, repurposing them slightly differently each time, and this pack of 12 Laelfe Burgundy Roses on Amazon would do just the trick. You could also skip the roses entirely and forage some branches to cover your staircase with, for a less romantic but statement-making look.
The red lighting and fog Marco incorporated in his foyer are also highly impactful and "complete the haunting, dreamlike atmosphere," Marco explains. While technically a sleep aid, these Red Light Plug-In Wall Lights on Amazon are an easy way to recreate the vibe, or you could replace your existing lightbulbs with red varieties for the occasion — Amazon has a big selection of red lightbulbs to choose from depending on your fitting. Plus, this Littleboyny Fog Machine, also on Amazon, has a fog discharge distance of 3-5 meters plus a removable cable remote control for added versatility.
The pièce de résistance in the entryway? The ghost, of course. "I wanted guests to encounter an eerily beautiful moment the second they walked through the door. To achieve this, I sculpted a floating, dancing figure entirely out of chicken wire to resemble an ethereal ghost," says Marco. It was, however, by far the most challenging element of the project — "incredibly difficult, but such a fun challenge!" Marco says.
The disco ball making the ghost spin is the cherry on the cake of this creative endeavour.
Using something like this TOYPOPOR Chicken Wire on Amazon, Marco worked on the sculpture section by section, starting with the skirt, scrunching it into shape before using fishing line to attach it to a disco ball motor on his chandelier.
This Disco Ball Motor comes with a remote, and this Nylon Fishing Line would work well; both are available on Amazon — plus, you could also use a ceiling hook if you don't have anything else to attach the motor to, like this Pack of 5 Adhesive Ceiling Hooks on Amazon.
And when you're not spinning ghosts for Halloween, you can use the disco ball motor for an actual disco ball, too — disco interiors are still very much a thing.
The Dining Area
This Swan Statue by Hi-Line Gift Ltd on Wayfair is the actual piece Marco used for his table centerpiece.
Marco decided to use his living room as the dining area for the Halloween dinner party, which meant moving all his living room furniture elsewhere — though it was definitely worth the effort. The framed view of the red-lit trees in the garden defines the surrealist space and gives Martin Scorsese vibes, too.
"I wanted the dining area to evoke a dark, eerie setting grounded in surrealism," explains Marco. "The space was anchored by unexpected elements, including a swan centerpiece and custom ballerina candle holders that I handcrafted. For the backdrop, I draped sheer fabric and formed a central opening to frame my large window that overlooks the garden. To enhance the mood, I bathed the trees in red light, allowing a haunting glow to naturally creep into the dining area."
This Auraglow Garden Spike Light with a Red GU10 Bulb on Amazon is a great outdoor uplighter for your trees and walls to create an eerie scene — and if you don't have anywhere to stick a spike, you could try these LED Flood Lights instead, also available on Amazon.
Marco's Halloween tablescape also features one of this year's biggest tablescaping trends — outside of spooky season, too — which is calla lilies as tableware. From runways to restaurants, the calla lily is the flower to have on your table, and although Marco has incorporated real calla lilies into his table setting (cut and placed over thin black taper candle holders), you can also buy calla lily-shaped candle holders, like these Silver-Colored Candlesticks at H&M, or these Antique Brass Ninfea Candle Holders at OKA, which I'm completely obsessed with.
The gathered black sheer curtains add a hauntingly romantic look to the space.
Image credit: Marco Zamora
It's a simple but very effective addition — the gathered sheers frame the red-lit trees while allowing the red glow to diffuse through the remaining panels, too.
Image credit: Marco Zamora
Decorating with sheer curtains in this space adds to the sense of romance that's evident throughout the entire scheme, bringing softness, movement, and, of course, plenty of drama — these Black Voile Curtains on Amazon would be the ticket.
The result is a space that really does feel otherworldly — it keeps you guessing, thinking, and your eye dancing from one unexpected moment to the next.
The ruched tablecloth adds depth and tactility to the dining table, and the tulle fabric, 'ballerina-inspired' candle holders enhance the depth and drama. This White Tulle Fabric on Amazon is cuttable, washable, and reusable for recreating the look, and you can pair it with these Burgundy Velvet Bows, also on Amazon, which can also be used as Christmas decorations in the near future, too.
The Bar Lounge
Bring on the maximalism vibes with a circus-like fabric ceiling.
For the final room transformation, Marco turned his library into a cocktail bar lounge of dreams, featuring a tented ceiling that's to die for — pun intended. "I envisioned draping fabric across the ceiling to create a circus-like tent," says Marco. "My goal was for guests to feel as though they had just stepped into an extravagant, otherworldly spectacle."
To create the ceiling effect, Marco strung together red and white curtain panels, which he then tied together at the top, wrapping them around his ceiling light while nailing each panel's ends along the top edges of the room. You can get these Single Plain Voile Net Curtains in red and white, along with a variety of other colors, on Amazon, along with the Ceiling Hook I mentioned earlier.
"I also carried the red lighting into this space to maintain a cohesive, immersive ambiance throughout the entire home." The 'horror red light' is also echoed in the reds of the ceiling drapery, roses, bows, and velvet curtained doorways for a wonderfully considered scheme.
This closet bar idea is another great example of how to make a big impact in a small space.
https://www.livingetc.com/ideas/home-bar-ideas
Ruched fabric and a red light, and suddenly it's like a scene out of The Shining.
Image credit: Marco Zamora
I can just imagine the ghosts standing around the bar tables waiting for their turn to dance.
Image credit: Marco Zamora
Part bar, part theater — it literally looks like a stage to me — let the cocktail performance begin. And Halloween or not, Marco's bar accessories are elegant additions that elevate any home bar setup, and I've found similar pieces to help you get the look in your own space.
I asked Marco if the project turned out to be quite expensive in the end, and he said it wasn't as much as he initially anticipated. "I repurposed a lot of décor, such as fabric from previous projects. For the elements I didn't already own, I was able to source them affordably from Facebook Marketplace, Wayfair, and Amazon. I love being resourceful and reusing items from past events to stay in budget," he says.
It boils down to creativity and working with what you've got as much as possible. Plus, if you're passionate about what you're creating, the results will always reflect it. "I remember hosting my very first Halloween dinner party and bringing my creative vision to life in a new way. It was an exciting experience that taught me the importance of trusting my instincts, embracing my creative perspective, and taking pride in the details I put into my work. The biggest lesson I took away from that first event is that people naturally gravitate toward what you put love into," says Marco.
When you're committed to telling a story, people want to listen.
If Marco's Halloween dinner party has inspired you to do some last-minute decorating, these Halloween door decor ideas will add spooky curb appeal, and some are DIY, too.
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