Colorful Painted Gourds for Fall

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Hi, everyone! First off, thank you SO much for all of the love yesterday on my picture ledges. It’s great when a project comes together like that. I think the ledges will be a fun space to keep fresh and change up throughout the seasons.

A few of you made note of my turquoise gourds both on the blog and Instragram. On Monday, I spent most of the afternoon spray painting ten dried gourds. As I mentioned, I’m trying to find a way to make fall decorating really fresh and colorful to tie in with my contemporary decor. At least, that was my intent. When I finished painting the gourds, I was a bit disappointed with the results and thought the idea was a fail.

However, when I was putting together my shelves yesterday, I needed a pop of color and all of the sudden my painted gourds had purpose. They totally complemented the look. I love when that happens. So, today I thought I’d just quickly (because it’s really simple) show you how I painted them.

I found all of the gourds on eBay. They are real gourds that have been dried. I also purchased a few cans of spray paint in colors that I thought would go well with my decor and still look like fall. I also picked up a can of gloss spray paint because I wanted the gourds to have a shiny finish.

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

I decided to keep the stems natural, so I covered them with painter’s tape. I then tied a string to the stems and hung the gourds from a tree. First, I painted them all with the color (about three coats); then, I sprayed them with the gloss.

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

Once the gourds were dry, I was ready to decorate. Initially I had the idea of grouping them together. However, when I set them all on my mantel, the whole look was a bit much.

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

An aha moment came when I was setting up my ledges yesterday. Just using one color in a display seemed to work best.

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

I haven’t decided how I will use the rest of gourds in my fall decor, but I ran around the house today trying out different vignettes. I’m definitely seeing some potential. So, I guess this little project wasn’t a total fail after all.

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

As I mentioned, next week I’m doing a fall house tour. Hopefully, by then I will have figured out the details of where the gourds will go. Fingers crossed!

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

Colorful Painted Gourds | Inspired by Charm

What do you think? What fun new ways have you incorporated fall into your home?

Inspired By Charm

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41 Comments

  1. What a heartfelt story! I am so sorry about Mrs Keller’s recent loss! How she must be missing him…. I love gourds, their texture, shape and color, so much fun playing with them:) Thanks for sharing the website…love the birdhouse one in her website, will also make a cute planter:) Loving your collection of painted gourds:) Have a lovely weekend! Hugs, Poppy

  2. Will the insides of these dry to be used year to year? I have one large gourd I have kept for 6 years. Never thought of painting them this just adds the right “pop” to jazz up the decor. Thanks for sharing!

  3. I love this, I love this, I love this. This is my first time reading your blog, that I found through Pinterest . I immediately signed on to follow you. I look forward to seeing and reading more of your creativity. You ROCK 🙂

  4. Hi Michael,

    I love your gourds styled both ways: in the vignettes and grouped together on the mantle. What a creative take on the season! So much perkier than the norm. Adorable!

  5. I love these so much and I want to do some too! I can’t quit thinking about them. I will use traditional orange, gold and green in my living room, but I think the bathroom and bedroom need some turquoise gourds. Thanks for inspiring us!

  6. Michael, just found out about your blog from LiveLoveDIY. And I absolutely love it. I think your decorating ideas are amazing. Of course I have subscribed to get your blog daily. Can’t wait.

  7. These are great! You never cease to amaze me! The ledges yesterday were awesome and then you follow that up with this incredible idea! I love your blog and can’t wait to see what you do next!!

  8. I decorated my mantle for fall last weekend and was wanting a little more gold. After seeing your gourds in yesterday’s post, I spray painted a little fake pumpkin, set it on top of a candlestick, and voila! Thank you again for the inspiration! Your blog is one of my favorites!

    1. That’s perfect!! A little paint goes a long way. Speaking of gold, I actually planned to paint some of my gourds gold, but I totally forgot! However, I have enough gold accessories, so I think it was a blessing in disguise. Ha!

      xo Michael