Trash to Terra Cotta Painted DIY Concrete Pumpkin

I love the trash to terra cotta paint trend. Adding baking soda to acrylic craft paint really gives it a fun organic texture and a great way to mimic a cement or concrete look. With this Painted DIY Concrete Pumpkin project, we’re going to use the trash to terra cotta paint technique and a little faux finishing to create these fun, concrete looking pumpkins for indoor fall display.

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To create your faux concrete pumpkins, you are going to need faux pumpkins from the craft store, craft paint (I used DecoArt Slate Gray, Titanium White, Hauser Medium Green and Burnt Umber.), brushes, baking soda,water and paper towel.

Mix a 1:2 part ratio of craft paint to baking soda in a cup. Normally for a trash to terra cotta painted project you would use a 50/50 mixture, but for the concrete look we want it to be a little thicker and grittier, so more baking soda is needed. The end texture should resemble the texture of hummus  or floor grout when mixed.

Paint your faux pumpkins with a wide, soft brush, covering every surface including the stem at the end. Let the brush create some texture, this helps it look even more like cement. I set mine on an upside down cup rim to dry so there’s less surface area touching the bottom. After the top dries completely, it may then need to be placed on it’s side to let the rest of the underside dry.

These faux painted pumpkins really look like real concrete pumpkins when they are dry!

Once the terra cotta paint is dry, mix a 50/50 mixture of the Slate Gray and Burnt Umber paint. Brush this over the top of the pumpkin, but don’t cover the gray underneath completely. You want that to peek out to give it a more realistic cement look.

Let than paint layer dry. Take a damp paper towel and dip it in a little of the moss green paint to water it down slightly.Rub it over the surface o d the pumpkin to give it a mossy look. You can skip this step if you just want it to be straight concrete and  not look aged.

Finally, with a little white paint, dry brush the surface so the white paint picks up the highlighted areas ( a dry brush means to dip it in a little white paint, and remove most of it on a paper towel before putting it on the pumpkin.). This will give it that concrete “bloom”. Brush it over as much or as little as you like.

Let the pumpkins dry completely for 24 hours before using. This will give the terra cotta paint a chance to harden up, then display in your fall decor!

I personally am not ready for full on fall decor yet. I am always sad to see summer go, but I don’t mind bringing in little bits here and there, like these Painted DIY concrete pumpkins, or this easy acrylic sunflower painting. They are just enough of a touch without rushing the season!