We are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year. Since I’m not great in the kitchen, I decided my painted gourds and leaves table decor needed to be a pretty distraction from the food. (Last week I shared my newly updated chalk-painted dining room table. To see more, click HERE.) If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I will paint (and love to paint!) anything. I selected three pretty paint neutrals – a shiny gold, a matte cream, and brushed platinum. And I went to work painting gourds and leaves.
I picked up beautiful leaves from my friend’s yard. I know they are amazing as-is. But two things:
- They won’t keep their vibrant color long.
- Yellow wasn’t part of my Thanksgiving decor vision.
I found a bunch of gourds from Walmart pretty inexpensively. My hope was to find some fake ones that I could continue to use year after year, but I struck out.
I tend to stay away from the gourds with the bumps all over them. They freak me out.
I gave the leaves and gourds a couple of thin coats of paint (allowed them to dry in-between coats) and that was it!
This really is an easy paint project!
I spent around $15 on my painted gourds and leaves. I added candles and candlestick holders I found at the dollar store (candlesticks were $1 each and candles were 2/$1), and I had a beautiful but really inexpensive centerpiece which cost me around $20! Happy Fall! Go create something!
**Update – Don’t use spray paint on the gourds. It can actually cause them to explode. Use chalk paint instead.
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Really pretty! Did any of these explode? I heard pumpkins can explode from the gases if you spray paint them, so I’m trying to decide on real or fake ones.
Hi Katie – Go fake! Yes, they did explode! I need to update this post and warn people to not spray paint real pumpkins. Here’s some pumpkin decorating I did this year with fake pumpkins: https://sincerelysarad.com/unique-ways-to-decorate-pumpkins/