Wood Pumpkin DIY for Fall Porch Decor

Pallet Pumpkins in Neutral Fall Colours

Have you seen the wood pumpkin made with pallets on Pinterest. We made some pallet pumpkins this year and I am very excited to show you how we did it. With more persistence than actual patience, Hubs agreed to work with me creating and building a wood pumpkin DIY project.

Last year my Fall theme was neutral greys and white.  This year I am repeating that theme but adding little pops of orange for interest.  I considered adding an orange leaf to the pallet pumpkins eventually deciding on grey corduroy instead. This year I added some orange Mums and another year I did a more elaborate arrangement with pink mums. The neutral colour of these wood pumpkins makes them very easy to coordinate with almost any colour you like.
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Making a Pallet Pumpkins Template

Create a template by cutting out a piece of paper a couple inches wider than you want your pallet pumpkins to be. For the short chubby wood pumpkin cut the paper 23″ square.  For the tall slim wood pumpkin cut the paper 27″ by 19″.

Creating a template prior to painting allows you to erase as needed while creating not only the outline for the pumpkin shaped wood cut but for the painting sections.   Here is a terrific  drawing how-to video .

Cut out your pumpkin template, lay it out on a 1/4″ piece of scrap plywood. Make sure the plywood is larger than the pumpkin template.

If using wood pallets dismantle and sand the wood pallet strips. Then cover the plywood with sanded pallet strips. For the short wood pumpkin I placed the pallet strips horizontally, for the tall wood pumpkin place them vertically.  Once the small piece of plywood is completely covered tack with small nails to hold the pallet strips in place.

Place your template on top of the pallet strips, mark out the outside edge.  With a jigsaw cut out the pumpkin shape.  Flip your project over and nail all the pallet pieces securely.

How to Paint the Wood Pumpkinsa

My painting images for the wood pumpkins were too dark to show the painting steps properly. This picture is from a cushion I painted using the same method and the paint shows better.

Paint the entire pumpkin surface lightly with white. Using carbon paper trace the outline of the pumpkin template onto your wood.

Outline the  pumpkin sections with dark grey paint.

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Fill the rest of the sections with a lighter grey.  Keeping in mind the round shape of a pumpkin, paint long C shaped strokes that match the curvature.  Fill your pumpkin in by section.h

As you complete each section, use a small brush and Burnt Umber to paint along the inside of the pumpkin section outlines. The colours will blend.

If you put on too much dark paint even it out by adding more white. If your shading is too light add some more burnt umber.

To paint the stem. Fill in with grey, outline with burnt umber and add a few extra strokes for texture.

As the pumpkins are for curb appeal, I left the outlines a bit more vivid.  Of course, you can blend the colours more if you want to.  Once finished, apply a matte coat of Varathane .

Let the pallet pumpkins dry thoroughly then add embellishments.

Add some rope or raffia,  cut some leaves out of grey corduroy and add a grey metal plate or something similar, this plate is a leftover from another project.

Tie a pretty rope bow, tie the center with raffia, leave streamers to hang down.

Wrap and glue rope around the stem, making sure the front is left unglued, leave long rope tails to hang down.

Thread a button with raffia and attach the rope bow by threading the raffia under the rope on the front of the stem.  Tie in a knot under the button where it doesn’t show.  Let the tails hang down.

Repeat this process for the other pumpkin.  Then glue any other embellishments you like to the pumpkin.

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The wood pumpkins are a great backdrop to other decorations, or you can use them simply with a Fall sign. I have used them a couple of years now and love 0having them in my Fall front porch stash.

Did you notice our Great Pyrenees guarding me?  It’s exactly what you would see if you came to our door.

Enjoy your Fall decorating and thanks for reading.