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DIY Heirloom Pumpkin Tutorial

Halloween· Paint/Wax/Stain

This is my tutorial on DIY heirloom plastic pumpkin painting.

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial - So Much Better With Age

Painting your own pumpkins to resemble those beautiful heirloom pumpkins will save you time and money when you save them for the fall season each year. These pumpkins are hard to find and often expensive so I thought why not paint my own!

I have never painted so many pumpkins before in my life! I tried numerous color combinations to find the right color match and I finally achieved it.

Get the directions on how to paint your own heirloom pumpkins below.

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial / pumpkins on mantel - So Much Better With Age

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Here is a before shot of the dollar store pumpkin.  I practiced a lot on these ones that looked more like gourds but stuck with the more round ones for the final product.

DIY Heirloom Pumpkin Tutorial / Before photo of plastic pumpkin/gourd - So Much Better With Age

Some Color Combinations I Tried

I used Fusion Mineral Paint as they have the dreamiest colors for this project.  I also had a ton of little sample pots from various conferences I’ve been to so it was the perfect time to try them out.

Here are just some of the color combinations I tried:

Heirloom + Ceramic = pretty but way too blue

Inglenook + Heirloom = too blue

Inglenook + Ceramic = too turquoise

Inglenook + Lilypond + Upper Canada dry brushed over top = too green

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /Painting pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

 

I practiced on mini pumpkins before testing them out on the big pumpkins but I still painted the big pumpkins many times over because they would dry so much differently.

But I finally came up with the best color combinations.

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /painting pumpkins sage green like heirloom pumpkins- So Much Better With Age

Supplies:

  1. Paint colors (see below for specific recipes)
  2. Paint brushes or sponge brushes
  3. Hot glue gun
  4. Drywall filler
  5. Polyurethane semi-gloss spray (optional)

Directions:

  1. Take the tops off the plastic pumpkins with pliers.  Using a finger, fill holes with drywall filler before painting (I took the stems off after but I wish I took them off before!).

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /remove plastic stems on pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

2. Paint a coat of primer or paint you have lying around for first coat.  I used sample pots leftover from my house renovation.

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /Prime plastic pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

Pumpkin #1 Recipe (Light sage green pumpkin)

Mix equal parts Inglenook + Upper Canada together and paint on pumpkin.  May need two coats.  Let dry.

Dry brush Upper Canada over the high parts of the pumpkin

Splatter a bit of Bedford on top (see tutorial below)

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /painting pumpkins to look like heirloom pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

Pumpkin #2 Recipe (Dark sage green pumpkin)

Mix equal parts Inglenook + Algonquin together and paint 1-2 coats on plastic pumpkin

Paint Algonquin in grooves while paint still wait

Mix Inglenook + Upper Canada together with just a bit of Algonquin and paint over the high parts of the pumpkin while still wet

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /painting pumpkins with Fusion Mineral Paint - So Much Better With Age

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /Painting pumpkins with Fusion Mineral Paint - So Much Better With Age

Splatter texture:

Many heirloom pumpkins have dots of lighter color on their surface.

To achieve this effect, splatter Bedford over top and with a wet paper towel or wipe, dab the paint spots all over while wet.

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /splatter painted pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

3. Once dry, spray entire pumpkin with a semi-gloss varathane. This step is optional as some pumpkins can give off a shine so if you’d like that effect, then you can spray them. If you’d like them to have a matte look, ignore this step.

4. Hot glue real pumpkin stems to plastic pumpkin.

Guess Which Pumpkins Are Real

Pumpkin #2 are on the top step and on the floor and pumpkin #1 are on middle step.  The two largest pumpkins are real heirloom pumpkins.
-DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /DIY sage green painted pumpkins - So Much Better With Age DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /sage green painted pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /heirloom pumpkins with seeded eucalyptus - So Much Better With Age

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /heirloom painted pumpkins on stepladder - So Much Better With Age

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /Heirloom pumpkins and seeded eucalyptus on mantel - So Much Better With Age

Adding real stems is the perfect touch to making them look real.  DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /Mantel with heirloom pumpkins and bronze wall sconce - So Much Better With Age DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /rustic mirror, wall sconce and heirloom pumpkins on mantel - So Much Better With Age

DIY Heirloom Pumpkin Tutorial / heirloom-pumpkins-eucalyptus-on-mantel-102 - So Much Better With Age

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /heirloom pumpkins on mantel with seeded eucalyptus and beaded chandelier - So Much Better With Age
Here are just the painted ones together.

My favourite green!

DIY heirloom pumpkin tutorial /pumpkins painted to look like heirloom pumpkins - So Much Better With Age

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to paint your own heirloom pumpkins.

You can download a free PDF of my other pumpkin tutorial, Painting Pumpkins in Muted Colors, by subscribing to my newsletter below.

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DIY Heirloom Pumpkin Tutorial - So Much Better With Age

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Comments

  1. The green color results are lovely! The mantel arrangement is so elegant. Being able to pile and arrange lots is a great benefit for us who watch our seasonal decorating dollars. Have a good day. Linda

    Reply

  7. They look fantastic ! I think when you mix a couple of the real ones in it’s hard to tell if they are faux or not. Thanks for the tutorial. I have been exprimenting with different paints to come up with a pleasing neutral tone and this is just perfect.

    Reply

  11. This is actually a great tutorial for those not familiar with color theory. Sometimes, subtle is the hardest to achieve. Amazing what $1 pumpkins can become. Sandi

    Reply

  12. Great job on these pumpkins! I would like to share on photo with a link back for a favorites post I am writing. If you do not want me to share, let me know and I will be happy to remove the image. xoxo

    Reply

  14. Oh boy do I love that specific green you created, so soft and pretty, very believable, you went to lot of trouble to get just the right color. Pretty sure I won’t go to that much trouble to get correct color but will look at acrylic paints or spray paint to find something close. Will be painting a few $ store pumpkins for my interior decorations. Some in very light green and white. Love how you combined the seeded eucalyptus with your pumpkins, perfect touch. Where do you get seeded eucalyptus?
    I won’t be buying any real pumpkins so will have to make do with sticks covered with jute string. Is just two of us so exact isn’t needed.
    Will be creating decorations for front porch but not til next week, hopefully our wind will go away. When we get wind it’s really strong, blows anything away. Always enjoy your wonderful posts. Happy rest of week

    Reply

    • Thanks so much! You definitely don’t have to go through all the trouble I went through. The key is using a couple of similar colors to get great dimension. I always find seeded eucalyptus in either Whole Foods or a local florist shop near my home. Once you find a place that carries them, they’ll probably always carry it. Mine was $6 CDN a bunch. Good luck!
      Hugs, Jamie

      Reply

  22. These are really cute, Jamie! Thanks for the tutorial and for sharing the exact colors you used. It’d be fun to try and recreate them!! Saving and sharing to my Crafts and Sewing ~ Fall board for you. <3

    Happy almost fall,
    Barb
    p.s. Stopping over from Waste Not Wednesday with Leanna at Faeries and Fauna. 🙂

    Reply

  26. Those pumpkins are so pretty, and what a long process you had to achieve that perfect color(colors), thanks for sharing this tutorial. I am pinning and planning to try it, hope my results are as gorgeous as yours!
    Pat

    Reply

  29. These are the most real-looking painted pumpkins I’ve ever seen! You hit it out of the park with these. Thank you for sharing them at the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace–I’m featuring you this week!

    Reply

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