How to Turn Plain Plastic Pumpkins Into Gorgeous Fall Indoor Décor

6 Materials
Easy

I have a confession! I love pumpkins! I love recipes made with pumpkins, I love their deep rich orange colour and I love using them in my fall décor. I even have a board on Pinterest and an Idea Box on Hometalk dedicated to anything to do with pumpkins. But I have another confession. I do not enjoy carving pumpkins. I never did as a child and even as an adult I always passed the task onto my husband to do with our daughters every Halloween. I dreaded having to scoop out the pulp because I did not like how it felt on my hands.

Instead I love to decorate pumpkins of all kinds that do not have to be cleaned out or carved. That is where the plastic option comes in handy. The problem with the plastic pumpkins is that they look very plastic. Fortunately, they are easy and fun to decorate! This is an idea you might like to try too!

I chose to coat the white pumpkin with a white chalky paint. You might be wondering why would I paint a pumpkin that is already white with a white coloured paint? But the chalky paint gives the pumpkin a very nice looking realistic texture and makes it look a lot less like it was made of plastic. Before applying the chalk paint I spray painted the entire pumpkin with a spray primer. This extra step gives the pumpkin a coating for the chalky paint to easily adhere to.

I knew I wanted to decorate the pumpkin with a metallic looking washi tape in a copper colour. If you are not familiar with washi tape it is a very easy to use self-adhesive tape that comes in all kinds of colours and patterns.

But after hunting through the craft stores in the city and looking online I found out that it does not come in a metallic copper colour. Not to be deterred I decided to make my own! I simply used a metallic copper spray paint and spray painted leftover washi tape that I used in another project!

I applied narrow washi tape spaced evenly around each pumpkin. Then I used a copper metallic acrylic paint to paint the stems.

I love how they turned out! I also love how easy it was to make. They are a great addition to my fall decorated mantel. The bonus in this project was that I discovered how simple it is to create your own colour of washi tape by just painting over it with spray paint!

I am also thrilled to share this idea was featured in 'Country Sampler's Autumn Decorating 2016' magazine!

I invite you to visit my blog for more photographs and details showing how to turn plastic pumpkins into gorgeous fall indoor décor! The link is just below.

Have an inspired day!

Thea

Suggested materials:
  • Plastic Pumpkins   (craft and thrift stores)
  • Kilz Spray Paint Primer   (building supply store)
  • White Chalk Paint - Martha Stewart   (craft store)
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Time With Thea
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  1 question
  • Lisa Pockat Bork Lisa Pockat Bork on Sep 11, 2016
    What did you put the washi tape on to spray paint it so that it was easily removed?
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  • Nancy DiFrancesco Nancy DiFrancesco on Nov 01, 2016
    Omg the pumpkins are beautiful. I've never been able to crafty, but this website might make me try.
    • Time With Thea Time With Thea on Nov 01, 2016
      Hometalk is pretty amazing with lots of great ideas! This one is pretty easy to create for even the non-crafty person. It may bring out the craftiness in you! Thanks for the positive feedback!
  • Chandra Chandra on Nov 04, 2016
    Wow! The pumpkins were awesome..I love it👍
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