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Easy To Make Faux Cement Pumpkins

In: DECORATING, DIY Decorating Projects, Fall Decorating Ideas & Projects

Do you have any old, beat-up foam pumpkins left over from past Falls? Today I have an easy way to make them look like cement using a couple of faux finish ideas.

Great Idea For Your Old Foam Pumpkins!

When I was going through my Fall bins last week, one thing was for sure…I have so many pumpkins from over the years! I don’t know how I ended up with so many.

So many of them had already been painted once or were starting to look a little dingy and I knew that I wouldn’t be using them this Fall so I put them aside.

Then I saw a set of terracotta pumpkins on the Pottery Barn website and got a great idea for how to utilize them so I would actually use them!

This post may include affiliate links; you can read my disclosure policy here.

Here’s my inspiration for these faux cement pumpkins:


Find Foam Pumpkins

painted foam pumpkins

The first thing I did was sort through my old foam pumpkins to find 3 different sizes to transform. These were originally from Walmart and I think they still sell similar ones ( cream with the gold crackle). Just about every discount and dollar store sells fake pumpkins so if you don’t have any on hand they won’t be hard to find right now,

Coat With Joint Compound

pumpkins being covered with joint compound to create faux cement pumpkins

Next, I grabbed truly my favorite DIY product…my tub of joint compound! Note…joint compound and spackle are NOT the same and perform differently,

This is my secret product to transform pieces into faux pottery and cement.

To spread the joint compound over the pumpkins I used a plastic paint knife. But any plastic knife will work and probably even the back of a plastic spoon.

Don’t forget to cover the stems with the joint compound too!

foam pumpkins covered with joint compound

The joint compound needs to completely dry out before I could go on to paint them so I let them dry overnight.

It will really depend on your climate and temperature as to how long the pumpkins will take to dry, if you coated them in the morning they might be ready to paint by later in the day.

Paint the Foam Pumpkins

painting a small pumpkin

To try and achieve the faux cement look I painted the pumpkins with a slightly grayish white chalk paint.(Nimbus by Waverly).

pumpkin painted white

The chalk paint has nice coverage and one coat was enough to cover the joint compound.

Don’t forget the stems!!

Creating Faux Cement Look

Make Speckles

plate of gray paint

The first thing I did to create a faux cement look was to squeeze a small amount of dark gray paint onto a small plastic plate and then add a few drops of water to thin it out.

Next, I dipped the bristles of an old toothbrush into the paint.

painting a foam pumpkin to look like cement

There are a couple of different ways to create paint speckles. One way is to run the toothbrush across the top of a plastic knife pulling the toothbrush towards you (don’t run the toothbrush away from you because the paint splatters will get all over you!), That is the technique that I used when I made my paint-speckled egg project.

The other technique for getting the paint speckles is to just tap the toothbrush over the pumpkin using the handle of a paintbrush.

making speckles on a pumpkin with paint

Add Cement Colored Details

cement colored paints on a plate

To add more detail and create that cement look like my inspiration pumpkins I squirted a dollop of both a putty shade and dark ashy gray paint onto my plate.

dry brushing cement colored paint

Then I alternated between the 2 colors.

I only added a teeny amount of paint to the end of my paintbrush and tapped most of the paint off onto a paper towel.

The secret is to make sure your brush has almost no paint on it, this is called dry brushing.

Then I made some criss-cross shapes and ran my brush back and forth…I didn’t want the pumpkins to all have the same uniform look.

final touch

faux cement colored pumpkins

Now, you can stop here and your pumpkins will look great! For one last final touch, I sprinkled crushed chalk dust onto the pumpkins and rubbed it over the surface with my fingertips. This creates a super matte look.

I had crushed chalk on hand from a couple of other projects last week, my Pottery Barn terracotta pumpkin dupe, and my fake pottery jug vase.


Finished Faux Cement Pumpkins

set of faux cement pumpkins

It’s easier to see all the texture that the joint compound added to these pumpkins now that they are on display.

DIY Cement Pumpkin

So instead of tossing those beat-up old fake pumpkins try to upcycle them into something new to use in your Fall decorating this year.

fake cement pumpkin display

Here are a few more pumpkin ideas to check out!

Pottery Barn

knock-off pumpkins

clay pumpkin diy
DIY Pine cone jpumpkin

Pine Cone

pumpkins

see how to make
yarn pumpkins

Easy to Make

yarn pumpkins

yarn pumpkins

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Jennifer Howard

cottage on bunker hill

Thanks for stopping by today! Being able to share my projects, DIYs, and decorating ideas with you is amazing. Leave a comment below; I love hearing from you! Feel free to drop me a note here if you have any questions.

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By: Jennifer Howard · In: DECORATING, DIY Decorating Projects, Fall Decorating Ideas & Projects · Tagged: diy decor, fall decor

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Comments

  1. Rachel Harper says

    September 18, 2022 at 11:00 am

    Jennifer,
    These look great. Love the texture.

    Reply
    • Jennifer Howard says

      September 19, 2022 at 7:26 am

      Thanks, Rachel!! I couldn’t believe how many pumpkins I’ve accumulated over the years…

      Reply
  2. stacy says

    September 17, 2022 at 7:55 am

    These turned out amazing!!! I want them!

    Reply
    • Jennifer Howard says

      September 19, 2022 at 7:25 am

      I’d send them down to you if it didn’t cost 5 zillion dollars to ship anything now!!

      Reply

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Hey friends, I'm so glad you are here! I'm a life-long New England gal who started Cottage On Bunker Hill as a hub to share all my DIYs, decorating ideas, budget shopping ideas and so much more!!

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