Saturday, October 13, 2007

Pumpkin topiary trompe l'oeil

Our house sits far from the road. Last year, our paltry pumpkins went unnoticed. Inspired by Maryanne's topiaries, we designed a cardboard version to fool the eye.

Cost: $0, plus the effort of amusing the kids while my husband caulked windows.

Two leftover trim pieces form the topiary skeleton. I don't do power saws, so their length determined the total height.

We broke down a couple of boxes, scaling the bottom "pumpkin" to the width of our pot.
This project would have been prettier with deeper colors, but we were using what we had: leftover mandarin orange paint (armoire), leftover yellow paint (walls) and leftover red paint (front door) to add depth.
Oops! We made the bottom two pumpkins too tall. Since we didn't have room for a third, we painted a green-and-yellow gourd for the finial.
We stapled each shape to the stake, overlapping slightly between layers. The bottom pumpkin sits above the pot rim. We rooted some ivy in the soil to hide the gap.


Our trompe l'oeil topiaries won't last past October, but we enjoyed the project. At least now you can see something pumpkin-ish from the street!

24 comments:

Creative Life Studio said...

Woo hoo! Now THAT is a fantastic idea, Meredith! Creativity in action that involved the whole family. Wonderful, wonderful idea. :)

Amy said...

Wow! I am amazed at your talents and your son's talents (for that matter!) Awesome job and oh so inspiring!!

Rain said...

What a wonderful blog. You are VERY inspiring. I picked up some Barilla pasta today at Big Lots too.

I love the pumpkins. Th colors are great. What type of paint did you use?

Thanks for sharing your creativity with the rest of us. And from what I can see you are very organized;)

Rain

Katie said...

These are so *cute*! I have been enjoying your frugal autumn decorating ideas-- I look around my house and think, "Surely I could do something like that too?" but so far nothing has come to mind.

(Perhaps in the next week!)

Anonymous said...

Wow! They turned out great.

Anonymous said...

Those are precious. Your son and you show great talent really. I would never have thought of doing anything like that. I am sure it looks great from the street. Thanks for sharing the ideas. Your blog is wonderful. Roxie

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

Oh, so fun!!@! My husband and I love these! He says you could also make a really cute scarecrow this way. I'm going to have to link to your idea, because it's so cute!

Anonymous said...

HOw fun is that! See, each person has such a unique take. I could never even cut out the circle for a pumpkin, much less paint one. I love sharing resources, because as you said- making do is really MAKING. It all comes down to elbow grease and a spoonful of vision!

Anonymous said...

You are so smart and creative. I love reading your blog, because you come up with the greatest stuff. Wish I could copy this one, but I don't think I could do it justice. I do love to copy, though!

Elizabeth G.

Donna(mom24boyz) said...

YOu are soooooo creative --It looks great! I love your use of creative mixed with frugalness (leftover paint!) Great Job!

Anonymous said...

I wish I would have done something like this instead of buying pumpkins a few weeks ago! I did a cute fall scene on my porch...and then we had record-breaking hot temps for ALL of September. My pumpkins couldn't take the heat (literally!) and they promptly rotted!! They shriveled down onto the porch into a stinking rotting mess before I realized what was going on. Yuck!! Your painted pumpkins would have been a much better solution, and much cheaper, too!! They're darling, Meredith!
Susan

Goslyn said...

Meredith, you always come up with the most amazing (and frugal!) home decorating/art projects. You should get a book deal out of it and make a profit on your amazing creativity. I am so impressed. Love it!

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

Cute! Very creative idea, and even better that it cost nothing!

Anonymous said...

I wish I had your enthusiasm with decorating. We will probably get a couple of pumpkins at the last moment.

Niki said...

They are wonderful! Great idea!
blessings,

Anonymous said...

Excellent, love what you dod with family and for 0 dollars.

TracyMichele said...

In a word: FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Jane said...

So Great! I especially love this idea because I have no space to store decorations from year to year.

Toadzilla said...

Those are so cute. I love the different shades of orange. Very clever.

Anonymous said...

You are so creative Meredith! Once again, your blog inspires and boosts my spirits! Thank you. Alison

Cyndi Lewis said...

Beautiful! Come live with me!

Angela - Life w/ Two Busy Boys said...

Love them!!! So cute.

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

Those are so great! They look professional.

Unknown said...

I love to read your blog. You have a wonderful creative mind.