07 Nov DIY Faux Metal Painted Pumpkins for Fall Industrial Decor

For someone like me who loves to paint and craft, there is something deeply satisfying about taking a seemingly-ordinary object, covering my table in paint supplies, and spending an afternoon turning it into something that looks and feels completely different. It’s tactile; it’s analog. And perfect for when you just want to spend a quiet afternoon getting paint on your hands.

 

These pumpkins started out as simple white fall decor. With a little paint and a weathering technique I borrowed from my cosplay-self, I turned them into something that looks more like aged metal and feels much more at home with our industrial textures and slightly spooky details of our fall decor.

And the best part is that you don’t need to be an artist, cosplayer, or particularly experienced with paint to try it. You just need a pumpkin, a few supplies, and an afternoon you’re willing to spend making something with your hands.

Our fall decor has changed quite a bit over the years as Hubs and I figured out what autumn actually feels like in our home. Cooler colors, industrial textures, white pumpkins, gothic details, and just enough Nightmare Before Christmas whimsy eventually replaced the traditional fall decor I’d collected before.

These pumpkins came out of that transition.

Rather than buying another set, I wondered if I could use some of the painting and weathering techniques I’d learned through cosplay to turn a couple of the pumpkins we already had into something that looked like aged metal.

There’s just something about distressing a project that makes me feel complete. I know, it’s weird… but I love the detail work that gives a thing character.

But don’t worry, no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this fall home decor!

A Little Falloween Inspiration

The Nightmare Before Christmas has become part of the visual language of fall in our home – not because we recreate Halloween Town every year, but because its gothic whimsy fits naturally with the cooler colors and industrial textures we already love. And pumpkins give us an easy thread through the whole season. They can settle into our home at the beginning of fall, get a little stranger around Halloween, and stay long after October is over.

Or, as I apparently once tried to call this entire stretch of the calendar: Falloweenmas? Fallmas? Falloweeniday?

Never mind. We will toss that into the bucket for future us to contemplate…

For these pumpkins, I pulled from our muted palette and industrial textures rather than traditional orange. The result still feels unmistakably autumnal – just more like autumn in our home.

 

DIY Industrial Faux Metal Painted Pumpkins

Ready to make one? Grab a pumpkin, put on something good to listen to, and let’s paint.

What you will need to create your faux metal painted pumpkins:

White Pumpkins, (I found mine at Michaels)

Matte Spray Paint in a gray (or color of your choice)

Mod Podge Primer, matte

Craft brushes

Folkart Paints (by Plaid)

Mod Podge Sealant Spray

Sponge (optional)

Paper Towels

Glass Jars or containers to hold water

Gloves (also optional)

The Nightmare Before Christmas Spotify Soundtrack (a must-have for mood music)

 

The sidebar of this post will have the full list of the supplies and links to where you can find or purchase them with images. (If you’re on mobile, the ‘sidebar’ will appear at the bottom of this post.) A few of the links may be affiliate links and whenever you click a link and hit that purchase button, I receive a small amount to help with maintaining this blog. I am truly grateful to you! Not every link is affiliated, but if I use it and love it, I want to share it with you, either way. You can read more about my affiliate disclaimer, here.

How to Create Your DIY Faux Metal Painted Pumpkins

Cover your work surface before you begin. The stippling itself is fairly tidy, but acrylic paint has an impressive ability to travel further than expected – and spray paint should always be used outside.

Prime your pumpkin

For these pumpkins, I used matte Mod Podge as my primer. This ensures smooth paint application and just a nice overall finish. It allows me to use less paint, as well.

Let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Apply the base coat

You can either use spray paint or acrylic. This really depends on the size of your project and personal preference. I really love the act of applying paint. But if I’m in a time crunch I will use spray paint.

I used both methods for these pumpkins and found that the spray paint took a bit longer to dry in the humidity outside. But the finish was nice and smooth. Hand painting the base coat also dried smooth, but would show slight imperfections if you touched it while painting.

Let your base coat dry before moving on. Of course, if this is all you want to do then you can stop here and skip to sealing your pumpkin. If not, let’s get to the good part.

Distress your pumpkin

This is my favorite part. The base coat gives us the color, but the weathering is what starts making the pumpkin look like aged metal.

So quick story: When hubs and I were dating, he came over one Sunday while I was distressing my dining room table. I was obsessed with all things vintage at the time, so there I was in old clothes, hair tied up like Rosie the Riveter, surrounded by sandpaper and wood dust.
‘Is that a new table?’ he asked.
I explained that it was fairly new, but didn’t have the look I wanted. He watched for a while before asking, ‘So you’re taking a new table and making it look old?’
‘Yep.’
‘Oh. Okay, cool.’
Little did he know we’d eventually use those same techniques on costumes, home projects, and apparently pumpkins.
Full circle, right?

I use a dry, rolled-up paper towel dipped lightly into two or more colors, then stipple it across the surface. Don’t completely mix the colors first. I like letting one appear more strongly in some places than others—the irregularity is what keeps the finish from looking like a pattern.

I press the paper towel all over the surface of the pumpkin until the entire pumpkin has the textured look I’m going for. Personally, I find the dry paper towel to be easier, although you can use a sponge or dry stencil brush to get a similar look. Then I add subtle pops of more colors, but only if I think it’s needed. One coat of texture usually works for me.

Seal your faux metal painted pumpkin

Use the Mod Podge spray to seal your work and let it dry completely.

*Please remember that when using spray paints and sealants that you should work outside and wear a mask. Keep your kids, pets, and plants safe from the fumes!

Decorate with your new faux metal pumpkins

Once the sealant is completely dry, you’re done. Find your pumpkin a place on the mantel, tuck it onto a shelf, or add it to a table – wherever fall has settled into your home this year.

Mine have returned to our decor year after year, which may be my favorite part of projects like this. An ordinary pumpkin became something I made with my own hands, using techniques I picked up from another part of my creative life.

And now it has a story.

Not bad for an afternoon, a little paint, and a pumpkin.

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If you like seasonal DIY posts, read the entire collection: