Click the photo to go to a slideshow. (Photo credit: Theme Park Connection)Why trick out a haunted house for Halloween when you can just buy yourself a copy of Disney's Haunted Mansion?

This 10,000-plus-square-foot, four-story replica of the Disney Haunted Mansion is in Duluth, Georgia, in the Sweet Bottom Plantation gated community. Designed and built in 1996 by Disney contractor Mark Hurt, the Haunted Mansion is listed on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $873,000. Click the photo above to see a slide show of the mansion.

Hurt measured the real-life Disney Haunted Mansion at Disneyland to come up with a faithful copy; he employed the foundry that produced the original ironwork for his own detailing; he topped the roof with four fake smokestacks just like the Disney version; he built a matching playhouse ... and perhaps best of all, he installed a "haunted" bathroom with flickering lights and a ghostly mirror, which neighbors clamored to visit every Halloween:

Hurt lived with his wife and son in the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home for years, but now he's

I generally avoid writing about items that aren't in production yet. It's not a hard and fast rule; it's more a matter of wanting to spare readers the disappointment I've felt when I see a piece online and then realize that it's just -- let's put quotation marks around "just," because I do know ideas aren't meaningless -- but "just" an idea for now.

Then again, sometimes a design is impressive enough that I feel compelled to write about it anyway because it's simply. That. Cool.

You can guess how I'd categorize Mauricio Affonso's FAN Table.

The table you see here is made up of 400-plus slats that move in an accordion-like fashion to change dimensions and even shape altogether. "The surface can freely expand, contract and revolve in an effortless fan-like movement of the hand," his website says.

Affonso tells Yahoo! Homes that the table isn't for sale yet because he's exploring ways to have it manufactured, but "I do hope to have it in the market in the near future."Here's a short

(Photo credit: April Blankenship, aka Precious Roy on Flickr)

"Look. Pay attention," April Blankenship writes in her Flickr profile, under the moniker Precious Roy.

It's easy to forget about small details like shadows and the play of the light -- which makes them all the more affecting when a homeowner gives them thought. A homeowner like Blankenship almost has to: She and her husband live in a truly tiny house of less than 200 square feet that they built in Kamiah, Idaho. She calls this photo "prisms in bathroom," and the colors are cast by a glass crystal hanging outside the window -- a beautiful way to bring in a decorative element without taking up any space at all. (Homeowner Karin Karlsson used shadows similarly in the entry and sleeping alcove of her lovely 375-square-foot apartment in Sweden.)

You can read about Blankenship's tiny house on her blog, A Great Leap in the Dark, and follow her tiny-house inspiration board on Pinterest. (By the way, I'm hoping to write about her tiny house soon. Any questions you'd like me to ask her?)

We'd

Boo!

There, did I get your attention? I hope you're thinking about decorating for Halloween as much as I am these days!

It's never too early to begin planning which jack-o'-lantern designs you'll make this year as a spooky display for your front window, porch, yard or driveway.

Every autumn, my daughter and I begin dreaming up fresh pumpkin faces as soon as there's a hint of chill in the air. And we're getting more imaginative with our designs every year (some fun creative competition!).

And now's the best time for you to get a jump on the Halloween season, too, with a few handy pumpkin-carving tools and some popular jack-o'-lantern patterns.

After all, every would-be pumpkin Picasso can use a little help!

A tour of the Web provides a selection of some top-flight pumpkin-carving tools to do the trick (or treat):

From Williams-Sonoma comes a set of tools with everything you need to scoop out and carve your pumpkin, down to the last crooked tooth (shown).

Four tools made of stainless

Working off of Forbes' list of the hippest neighborhoods in America, your faithful bloggers at Yahoo! Homes have already taken a look at a few listings in the nation's hippest neighborhood, Los Angeles' Silver Lake. Now let's take a look at listings in the No. 2 neighborhood, San Francisco's Mission District.

If you don't want to look at all the photos we've provided for each property, you can scroll to the bottom and skip to the next property we've spotlighted in the neighborhood. (Conversely, you can click on each address to go to the property listing and, usually, even more photos.)

3011 20th St. #3, San Francisco Mission District, CA
$899,000, condo
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,176 square feet
Built in 2006; open floor plan; bay windows; "sunniest part of city"

1471 S. Van Ness Ave. #3, San Francisco Mission District, CA
$1,175,000, condo/townhouse
4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
2,953 square feet
Built in 2001; cathedral ceilings in great room and master bedroom; one

(Photo: Beasley and Henley Interior Design)
What's hot in home design changes year-to-year, but luckily the key to great home design is choosing what you love.

"Popular colors are fun, but ultimately it's what you like  - what you want to live with," says Stephanie Henley, principal, Beasly and Henley Design.

Henley also points out that almost any color can work well in any room  - it just depends on the vibe you're going for. Think soft, cool tones for the rooms you use to relax and vibrant, fun colors for the places you gather with friends and family.

Pantone, the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, says the fall 2012 color palette is all about balance.

"By playing to consumers' practical side with versatile neutrals, and boosting their confidence with bold, spirited hues, this skillfully balanced palette has something for everyone," says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.(Photo: Beasley and Henley Interior Design)

If you're a homeowner who loves bold, bright colors, try

Forbes recently released its list of the hippest neighborhood in America, and coming in at the top was Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. We culled some of the more interesting real estate listings in the neighborhood to give you an idea of how Silver Lake hipsters live (the ones of means, anyway).

We've got several photos of each property on a page; scroll down to the bottom of a page to get to the next property. To learn more about each property -- usually including quite a few more pictures -- click on the address.

2980 Waverly Drive
$729,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,942 square feet
Storybook Tudor style; 86 years old, with many original details

2280 Panorama Terrace
$1,068,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,600 square feet
Circa 1927 Spanish Revival

3611 Ellsworth St.
$799,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
1,790 square feet
Nine-foot ceilings, French oak floors, open layout

When it comes to 3-D wall art for home decor, well, I'm just not seeing it.

Oh, my home design blogger friends have tried (passionately) to convince me that 3-D wall art is not just a fad but a visionary form of wall decor.

We're long removed from the previous incarnation of this attempt at large-as-life wall art, or don't you recall going nearly blind trying to find the dinosaur hidden in those pop holographic pictures of the late '90s?

Today's high-end 3-D wall art takes many forms. There are framed and freefrom pieces with intricate papier-mache rosettes, sculpted items of painted-plaster flowers, and fancy wood fretwork designs, to name a few.

Of course, any parent who helps a child frame first-grade felt art also gets the value of 3-D for display at home.

Still, let me ask you, our trendy home-decorating Spaces readers, what you find remarkable in these samples of 3-D wall art.

Faux utensilsPottery Barn sells a pair of faux utensils suitable for wall hanging at about $120. Pricey for an