DIY Scrap Wood Pumpkins – Cute Fall Curb Appeal

These scrap wood pumpkins started out life as an old mailbox post that was left over when I gave our front mailbox a makeover this summer.

I love making home decor projects that either use supplies I have on hand or can be recycled from something else. 

My husband is a hoarder of old wood and has a lot of four-by-four timber. He uses it in all sorts or word working projects.

We used some of it to repurpose an old mailbox for my garden tool storage.

I had plenty left and decided to use some for these whimsical pumpkins.

I just love this time of the year.  It allows me to be a kid for a while. When our daughter Jess was a little girl, my husband called me the Christmas fairy, but truth be told, I was the fall fairy.

I cooked and decorated and crafted my way through those 3 or 4 months.  Even though Jess is grown, I still enjoy doing “young at heart” kinds of projects. 

But I also hate wasting money on something that will only be used for a few weeks and then discarded. 

I just keep all my bits and pieces and move them from one project to another.  And of course, the Dollar Store is my crafting friend!

Using reclaimed wood makes this project a thrifty one. This old mailbox post had definitely seen better days, hasn’t it?

Who would have thought that it was a bunch of pumpkins and a tool storage place just wanting to be reborn?

These adorable scrap wood pumpkins are easy to make and will add great curb appeal to your front steps.

To make this project you will need the following supplies. Be sure to check your local Dollar store too.  Many of these supplies are available this time of the year.)

• 3 pieces of 4 x 4 wood scraps.  I used a 4″, 6″ and 8″ piece.
• 3 pieces of tree branches for stems
• Raffia for hair
• Acrylic paint (I used two shades of orange, black and white)
• Brown pipe cleaner
• Artist paint brush
• Black paint pen
• Autumn floral picks

The wood from my mailbox post was in pretty bad shape, so I filled and sanded it to minimize the cracks in the area that I planned to paint.  

Once painted orange, I used a paint pen to outline the faces to have a pattern to paint.  I painted my faces free hand just by looking at the pattern, but if you are not comfortable doing that, you can use this free printable and some transfer paper to transfer the faces to your wood for painting. The next thing to do was to go out into my yard in search of the perfect pumpkin stems.

I had made my faces quite different – one girly, one funky, and one a bit puzzled, so I knew that I wanted different stems for each. 

As luck would have it, my backyard trees cooperated. I ended up with three quite different pumpkin stems. Now I pulled out my floral picks. I always keep a bunch of them on hand because I like to use pieces of them in crafts.

I decided my girly girl needed a sunflower and found a pretty one with burlap petals that were perfect for the job. 

Some pussy willow pieces matched my stem from my magnolia tree with attached buds and the little guy got a gumball-looking thingie. All that was needed now was to paint the faces with my acrylic paint and when it was dry to add the raffia hair. A black paint pen outlines any rough painting areas and gives the faces a finishing touch. 

I gave the guy a crew cut, the girly girl some long hair and my little funky guy just got a funky haircut.

Aren’t they cute? (although the girly girl needs a bit of eyebrow waxing but what are you gonna do when the paint is dried?)

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If you enjoyed this tutorial for making recycled wood pumpkins, be sure to share the project with a friend. Here is a tweet to get you started:

Recycled wood, some craft supplies, and some paint turn pieces of scrap wood into pumpkins for this fun fall decorating project. Find out how to make these fun wood pumpkins on The Gardening Cook. Share on X

Time to stage the scrap wood pumpkins on my steps. 

I used pine cones, some faux pumpkins, and a bit of moss, plus a couple of spiders, just because it’s close to Halloween. I’ll remove the spiders as we get closer to Thanksgiving. My favorite part of the scrap wood pumpkins is the teeth on the two larger ones. They look like little kids – all toothy and grinny. So much fun!

Have you ever used reclaimed wood in a decor project? Tell us about it in the comments below. I’d love to see your projects.

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