These Buffalo Plaid Painted Pumpkins Add Cozy Charm to Your Porch

Use this simple technique to paint pumpkins with a buffalo check pattern for charming fall decor that's sweet instead of scary.

Project Overview
  • Working Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Skill Level: Kid-friendly

Add a touch of farmhouse style to your fall decor with a classic gingham print. We used two shades of gray acrylic paint on a white pumpkin for a neutral variation on the traditional plaid pattern. Use this technique to make colorful designs or simple black and white buffalo check pumpkins. These DIY gingham pumpkins are simple to make and will be a fabulous modern addition to your lineup of painted pumpkins. Paint buffalo check on a real pumpkin or opt to use a faux pumpkin so you can display it year after year. We'll show you how to make buffalo check Halloween pumpkins.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • 1 Pencil
  • 1 Paintbrush

Materials

  • 1 Newspaper or scrap paper
  • 1 White pumpkin
  • 1 Gray acrylic paint
  • 1 Disposable plate, for mixing paint
  • 1 Black acrylic paint

Instructions

  1. Draw a Guide

    Put down newspaper to protect your work surface before starting on your gingham painted pumpkin. Use a pencil to lightly draw guidelines for the horizontal sections. The guides will help you keep the lines straight as you paint around the pumpkin. Our sections were about one inch wide, but you can make yours larger or smaller depending on the size of your pumpkin. If you aren't happy with your line placement, just erase it and try again.

    Download our gingham painting guide.

  2. Paint Gray Grid

    Using the natural seams of the pumpkin as a guide, paint gray vertical strokes on every other segment. We used a set of foam brushes. Next, fill in the horizontal lines you marked earlier with the same gray paint. You should now have a grid of thick gray lines, with unpainted white squares in between.

  3. Paint Dark Gray Squares

    gingham pumpkin
    Carson Downing

    Mix a tiny amount of black paint into the gray paint to create a slightly darker shade. (Plain black will be too stark to make the overlapping illusion.) Paint the boxes created by the intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines with the dark gray paint. If desired, paint the stem dark gray to match your painted buffalo check pumpkin. Let the paint dry fully before displaying your creative Halloween pumpkin.

    Related: This Pumpkin-Packed Halloween Door Display is Simply Adorable

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