Fall Decor – DIY Painted Pumpkins

Fall is officially here and if you haven’t already, it’s time to start decorating your home for the season.  I was never really much of a fall decor kind of person.  I love fall but never really did a lot of decorating outside of a few random things here and there and maybe some pumpkins thrown in.

I felt inspired this year to put in a little extra effort and add some simple fall decor around the house that would carry into early winter when we start decorating for the holidays.  I’ve been pinning inspiration for weeks but it wasn’t until this past weekend that I finally had the time to take that inspiration and make it happen.

I love real pumpkins but they don’t last.  I decided to buy some faux, craft pumpkins from Amazon.  I bought a few different sets to give myself some variety in shapes and sizes.  Large Set (currently available in orange only), Small Set (available in three colors), Gourds Set (I bought the white).

The pumpkins from these sets are all a creamy white which I loved, but I wanted to incorporate a little bit of a minty / sage green to the palette to bring in some of that coastal feel that B and I love so much.  I decided to paint some of the pumpkins so I bought two different shades of green craft paint.

I painted the Eucalyptus Green onto a selection of my pumpkins.  I had two larger sized pumpkins so I painted one of those green and then selected a handful of the other, smaller sizes at random.  I wanted the green ones to be more of an accent than the main color. I ended up having to apply between 2 and 3 coats to get a consistent, full coverage allowing the paint to dry thoroughly between each coat.

 

Once I was satisfied with the paint coverage and my pumpkins were completely dry, I dry-brushed on the second color just on the rounded areas.  The color is subtly different from the base coat but just a bit more green which gives a more realistic look.

Once the final coat of paint was dry, I assembled my pumpkins mixing in the green ones as accents with the white ones.  I still plan to add some greenery and I have since started to add some complimentary pieces to the opposite side of the buffet that I will share soon.  Overall though, this was such a simple project that I’ll be able to enjoy for years to come.