Our Hopeful Home: How To Paint Faux Pumpkins With Rust-oleum Chalked Paint and Milk Paint Finish

Painted faux pumpkins are a fun and easy DIY fall décor project you can put together pretty quickly. And painted faux pumpkins made into succulent containers are even more awesome! Watch how I use painted, styrofoam pumpkins filled with mini faux succulents as fabulous fall décor – all done with a little help from my friends at Rust-oleum.

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Rust-oleum Chalked Paint and Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish have some similarities and some differences. Thanks to my friends at Rust-oleum, I was provided with one quart of each to try and then share my honest opinion regarding both products. I was asked to paint two of the same items, each one of them with a different paint. This being fall, of course I chose to paint some styrofoam pumpkins!

Supplies For Painting Your Faux Styrofoam Pumpkins

1. Rus-toleum Chalked Paint in Linen White

2. Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish in Classic White

3. Styrofoam pumpkin(s)

4. Mini faux succulents (or other fall flowers of your choice)

5. Synthetic paint brush

6. pumpkin carving knife

7. pencil

Can of Rust-oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White

quart can Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish for decor and furniture in Classic White

Rust-oleum Chalked Paint Milk Paint sty rofoam pumpkins succulents

pumpkin carver Craftsmart synthetic paint brush pencil

DIY Painted Faux Pumpkin With Succulents Tutorial

styrofoam pumpkin cut out lid stem toothpick

1. Remove the faux pumpkin stem by gently pulling on it. This should dislodge the toothpick that's holding it in place. Discard. Here you see the stem and toothpick next to the "lid" that was cut out of the pumpkin.

mini succulent pot styrofoam pumpkin pencil

2. Place your succulent pot centered in the middle on top of the pumpkin and trace around the widest area of the pot with a pencil.

3. Using a serrated pumpkin carving knife, cut out the top opening, following the lines you just drew. Remove the piece you cut out and discard.

carveable faux pumpkin cut out hole succulent pot

4. Place the succulent into the opening to make sure it fits properly. It's not a bad idea to fill the pumpkin with some filler (I used newspaper -- but put it in a plastic bag since newsprint can stain white paint) so that you don't lose the succulent inside the pumpkin should it fall all the way through the hole. That could leave it permanently stuck in the bottom of the pumpkin, requiring you to cut out a hole in the bottom as well just it get it out.

5. Paint the pumpkin with one coat of either Rust-oleum Chalked Paint or Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish, using a synthetic brush per the can instructions.

6. Let dry, approximately 1/2 - 3/4 hour.

faux painted pumpkin Rust-oleum Chalked Paint Linen White

7. Paint a second coat. Here is pumpkin number one after two coats of Rust-oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White.

white painted faux pumpkin orange styrofoam pumpkin

What a difference between the really bright orange and the matte white. I love it.

8. Repeat on pumpkin number two with Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish, making sure to use three coats this time.

Rust-oleum Milk Paint Finish Classic White pumpkin

Here's the second pumpkin after only two coats of the Milk Paint Finish. You can still see some of the orange peeking through.

But after three coats of the Milk Paint Finish it looked just as thick as the Chalked Paint, providing basically the same coverage.

And here they are side by side. At a glance they look the same. However, if you look really closely, the Chalked Paint is a brighter white than the Milk Paint. But they both still look awesome. So besides the brightness, how else are the two paints different? Both paints give you a matte finish, but the Milk Paint is thinner than the Chalked Paint and requires an extra coat (three coats versus two coats) to get that nice matte finish. I can't attest to how they distress, since I was afraid to try it with styrofoam! For my next project I am planning to paint a floor-to-ceiling cabinet with Rust-oleum Chalked Paint and I will definitely be distressing it so time will tell.

Rust-oleum Chalked and Milk Paint white painted pumpkins

Here you can see the subtle difference in color.

orange ceramic pumpkin fall flowers white pumpkins succulent

white painted pumpkins orange ceramic pumpkin plant holders

And here they are. A modern day twist on an old favorite: painted faux pumpkins filled with faux succulents. I've always wanted to fill a real pumpkin with flowers but always stopped short of completing the project for fear of the mess, the time involved, etc. and the fact that both the flowers and the pumpkin will eventually (too soon) rot and have to be thrown away. This project, however, left me with no regrets! I can pack away the pumpkins and succulents and bring them out again next year. It's a real win-win. Do you decorate with pumpkins this time of year?

Well, that's it until next time, friends!

I hope you enjoyed reading How To Paint Faux Pumpkins With Rust-oleum Chalked Paint and that I've inspired you in some way.

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