Okay, that title is a little too corny. Even for me. Moving on… Even though we’re in the middle of decorating the outside of the house for Christmas (more on that here and here), that doesn’t mean we’re going to totally skip out on fall. After all, aside from Christmas, it’s my favorite season to decorate for and I have a mad love for pumpkins.

We headed to our local pumpkin patch the other day and picked up a bounty of our favorite orange gourds. At this point I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with them, but I did know I was going to use them indoors and I wanted to paint a few of them. In light of that, when we got the pumpkins home, I put them in the sink to give them a good cleaning. Yet another advantage of having a large, single-basin sink. I washed them down with Dawn dish soap and water, then dried them off and let them sit on the counter for a while to make sure they were completely dry.

Once they were dry, it was time for some paint! I wanted to keep things super simple and classic, so I decided to paint a few of the pumpkins white. I got a tester of paint (Martha Stewart’s Popcorn in flat) for about $4. Yeah, I could have taped up the stems and just used spray paint. It would have been a lot easier and faster, but I actually wanted a “hand painted look” and a flat finish. Painting them by hand was actually very therapeutic, ha!

I’ve been holding on to a bottle of Martha Stewart’s Glitter Specialty Finish Paint for a few weeks looking for something to use it on, and these pumpkins were a great way test it out. Before I talk about how awesome this stuff is, I assure you this isn’t a sponsored post, and they didn’t gift it to us or ask us to use it. With that being said… This. Stuff. Is. Awesome. It has a great finish, and it’s super “glittery” looking – much more than I thought it would be. The main thing I love about it, though, is that you get the sparkly glitter look without getting glitter on everything you own.

For this baby pumpkin, I painted him white first, then did a super light “messy on purpose” coat of the glitter paint. After that coat was dry, I poured a bit of paint on the top of the pumpkin and just let it drip down the sides. An hour or two of good drying time later, I had cute little rustic glitter pumpkin. The pictures don’t really do the “sparkle factor” justice, but believe me, it’s sparkly. And I love it.

Once all of my pumpkins were spruced up with paint, I decided to use them around the living/dining room. First, the dining room buffet. I didn’t want to clutter up the entire buffet because we like to use the space for appetizers when we entertaining, or pizza when we’re having a game night (my favorite types of nights!). That being the case, I decided on doing just the left corner of the buffet. After a few minutes of arranging (and rearranging) the pumpkins along with some accessories we already had, here’s what I came up with…

I paired a large white pumpkin with a small “pie pumpkin” and a “rustic glitter pumpkin” and a few ceramic pieces we already had around the house. The two large canisters are from Pottery Barn back in 2008 (I found the receipt in the large one! haha) and the owl was a gift from my mom last year (from ZGallerie). Greg found the large branch on the roof when we was working on the gutters. I love it because it adds height without adding much weight. And it’s crazy perfect how it gradually leans over to the right – you’d think we made or bought it! I’m determined to find a way to preserve it. I also like the baby acorns on the ends of each limb…

Yay for free decor from our roof! As for the rest of our little pumpkin family, I took them over to the sofa table…

It’s one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door, so it’s nice to have a fall-like atmosphere when you walk in.

I found the tray at Target (on clearance for 14 bucks!). It’s probably one of my favorite things in the room now because the feather handles has a rustic touch but the overall design is modern and it’s functional. On the tray, we have another painted pumpkin, a large candle holder (which happens to be Greg’s favorite thing in the room) and a set of little “I’m Thankful For” cards.

I love these little “I’m Thankful for” cards from Paper Source. They come out with a few different designs each year and when they go on sale (normally near or right after Thanksgiving), I order a few packs for the next year. Greg and I’ve been doing these little cards almost every year since we’ve been married. A few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we each write what we’re thankful for on the card and seal it in the little matching envelopes (we end up doing about 5 or 6 each) and put it on the bottom of the pile. Then, on Thanksgiving morning, before the hustle and bustle of the day begins, we read them together. Yeah, so sappy, I know, haha! But that’s how we roll.

On the right side, I paired the large pumpkin with a little owl (which is actually a bank!) and another small “rustic glitter pumpkin”. I love this being the first thing you see when you walk in – especially since our foyer is currently completely bare.

All we need now are some hot, aromatic mugs of cranberry apple cider and we’re officially in Fall. Oh–and Bentley in his pumpkin outfit. Obviously.