Pottery Barn Viral Terra Cotta Pumpkin Dupe

Using budget pumpkins and some crafty techniques I just made a dupe set of the Pottery Barn terra cotta pumpkins that are going viral for Fall.

How To Make a Dupe of the Pottery Barn Terracotta Pumpkins

When I first saw the Pottery Barn Fall Lookbook last month and I set my eyes on these cute little pumpkins I fell in love!! I also immediately knew that they were going to be super hot this Fall…and I started figuring out a way that I could make a good dupe for them to share with you all!!

Oh yeah, they start at 50 bucks…and go up from there!!! Another reason that I had to come up with a look-alike!!

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POTTERY BARN PUMPKINS

Finding Pumpkins

The first thing that I had to do was to figure out what would be the best kind of pumpkin to use for this DIY project.

I had thought about using the foam craft pumpkins…but 1) they were really expensive! and 2) I am a disaster trying to carve those and knew cutting out the face of the jack-o’ lantern would be a challenge for me (I can do alot of crafty things but this one isn’t on the list…right up there with sewing!)

My next thought was to find some inexpensive ceramic pumpkins. On my last Savers thrift store haul, I found a little ceramic pumpkin for $2. Then I found a couple of pumpkins online at Walmart…a shorter, rounder pumpkin and a tall one (that light’s up too!) .

I was on the search for pumpkins a little too early so my stores didn’t have Fall merchandise in yet, I think you will probably be able to find all kinds of ceramic pumpkins out now!

• Walmart Ceramic Pumpkin
• Walmart Light Up Pumpkin

The original plan was to make 3 of the rounder pumpkins for my shelf and use the other 2 elsewhere.

But in super sad news this is how they arrived, I knew the jiggle when I picked up the box wasn’t good!!

But one of them somehow survived!!! Thankfully, the biggest pumpkin was packaged separately really well,

Steps to Make Ceramic Pumpkins Look Like Terra Cotta

To transform my pumpkins into dupes for the Pottery Barn terra cotta ones I decided to go with my old favorite for making things look more like pottery… joint compound! If you have been around here for a while then you know it’s one of my fave tricks and I’ve used it in quite a few projects.

Spread Joint Compound Over Pumpkins

Joint compound spreads similar to canned frosting; it’s really easy to apply. I found a plastic offset paint knife and spread it over the entire pumpkin.

All I did was coat all the pumpkins with the joint compound making sure to get in the face holes and the stem so that they all will have the same texture when they are done.

You could smooth out the joint compound more than I did if you would like a different look but I was going for a rustic old terracotta feel.

Once all the pumpkins were slathered in the joint compound I had to let them dry overnight.

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Painting the Pumpkins

My goal was to try and get as close as possible to the color of the Pottery Barn terra cotta pumpkins. The closest paint that I could find in stock was Folk Art Terra Cotta matte acrylic paint.

When I did a test spot on the bottom of one of the pumpkins it was a little bit too orange-y for me so I stirred in an oatmeal shade of paint to take it down a notch.

Yes, I think it is going to be the perfect shade now! I was using a big paintbrush but a sponge tip brush will work well too (I had a new paintbrush that I was dying to try!),

I used a sponge tip to get inside the eyes, nose and mouth and the paint spread so easily over the rough surface.

Getting the Chalky Pumpkin Finish

When I was talking to my friend Amy of Amy Sadler Designs about doing this project I was trying to figure out what I wanted to use on the pumpkins to get that dusty terracotta finish like the Pottery Barn ones.

I had originally thought about using baking soda but my genius friend asked me if I had any calcium carbonate around…nope, but I did have a box of chalk!!

I threw a couple of sticks of chalk into a ziploc and used my meat mallet to crush it into dust.

Then I sprinkled the chalk dust onto the pumpkins.

And used my fingers to wipe it all over the pumpkin. Afterward, I used a dry paintbrush to sweep the extra chalk off the pumpkins. If I missed a spot or wanted to add a little more chalky finish I just sprinkled a little more of the chalk dust on and wiped it in.

It was easy and if you happen to overdo it just use the dry paintbrush and you can sweep it all off!!

Seriously, how cute are these???? One thing I love is that they all have different little Jack O’Lantern faces!

Pottery Barn Dupe Terra Cotta Pumpkins

Now my favorite part of any project, getting to decorate with it!! These cute little guys sparked my creativity and I had fun decorating my living room bookcase this morning.

Last week I got a couple of the new Fall items from Target so I also used those on my bookcase.

There are also a couple of DIYs on the shelves! I made these pinecone pumpkins last Fall and used them in my kitchen.

This antique brass planter was a dupe of a planter from Magnolia that I absolutely loved…but this was made out of a thrift store find.

In conclusion, making your own Pottery Barn terracotta pumpkin dupe is a great way to save money but still get that designer catalog look for your home. The process of making your own terracotta pumpkin dupe is relatively simple, you just need to wait a day to let the joint compound dry. I think you will love making this project! If you do make your own version from this tutorial I would love for you to send me a photo! Drop me a message here and I’ll email you.

xo, Jennifer

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xo, Jennifer