Turn Your Old Halloween Decor Into Beautifully Aged Terracotta Pieces


If you’re like me, I am sure you have tacky fall or Halloween decor shoved in a closet that you never pull out anymore. I love a little pop of colour around a holiday, but I’m just not a fan of the bright oranges.

As I was going through my fall decor this year, I thought giving a few of the pieces a little makeover would be fun. This DIY was so easy and made the pieces look so much better.

old tacky jack-o-lantern

I started with these four pieces. The jack-o-lantern is ceramic, the basket is tin, and the pumpkins are plastic. I absolutely love that I can do this to any surface and make them look old.

bright orange fall bucket and pumpkins

The Paint

To create the faux terracotta look that I was going for, I used Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Primer Red. It is the perfect terracotta colour and made a great base colour for each piece.

pumpkin painted with Annie Sloan Primer Red

Once the Primer Red was dry, I brushed on bits of Fusion Damask to add a little dimension.

ceramic pumpkin painted a terracotta colour

Aging the Faux Terracotta

To create a worn and weathered look to the pieces they just needed a little white paint over top of the red and pink.

Before adding the white, the little basket got a jack-o-lantern face added. Low-tack painter’s tape did the trick.

metal pumpkin with a taped jack-o-lantern face

Then it was time to add the white. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure making sure to push it into all of the lines and crevices of each piece.

adding white paint over the terracotta colour

With a damp cloth, I lightly wiped it off of the high areas leaving it to setting in the cracks and lines.

wiping paint to make it look aged

I did the same to the basket turned jack-o-lantern and the small pumpkins.

adding white paint to make a pumpkin look old

How cute is that little face once the tape is peeled up?

jack-o-lantern face

The combo of red, pink, and white completely transformed each of the pieces into something that looks weathered, worn, and old.

paint used to make a ceramic pumpkin look old

The possibilities are endless with this painting technique and you can turn anything (for any season) into aged terracotta.

metal fall basket painted to look like a jack-o-lantern

The softness of the faux terracotta is so much prettier and definitely gives off those farmhouse vibes.

tacky Halloween decor painted to look like aged terracotta

It’s not too late to transform those fall or Halloween pieces you still have stuffed away. Grab a little paint and have some fun!

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