Halloween has been our excuse for getting creative and indulging ourselves in a bit of colour fun. We’ve created a simple but impactful display, a homage to the Pumpkin and the colours of the season from one of our trend boards. Teal and Peacock shades are a huge colour trend for 2015 and we think it’s a hue that’s here to stay. We also used the Pantone 2015 colour of the year – ‘Marsala’, a sumptuous dusky colour that is more versatile that you might first think.

A Halloween display doesn’t have to be all cobwebs and beetlejuice to make an impact. We’ve opted for a simple, bold and dare we say it, quite grownup, take on Halloween that you can adapt to any interior. Here’s a peek at how we did it and tips that you can use to get the look at home. 

How we Did It: Our Colour Palette.

Wall Paint-

1. Fired Earth, ‘Top Hat’

Pumpkins-

2. Farrow & Ball, ‘Black Blue’ in Estate Eggshell
3. Craig & Rose, ‘Persian Rose’ in Chalky emulsion. This is the Marsala tone!
4. Dulux Bathroom Plus, ‘Teal Touch’ in Soft Sheen *Because this is a bathroom paint it had a great glossy look
5. Dulux Feature Wall, ‘Teal Tension’ in Matt 

1. First of all, you need to pick your pumpkins. Go for a range of sizes and shapes and don’t worry if they are imperfect. The paint will cover it and the natural texture is part of the beauty. We used tester pots which are more than enough. One pot will do about three good sized pumpkins . 

TOP TIP! Clear the surface if you can. The display will look more impactful and focussed if it’s uncluttered.

2. You’ll need the usual painting items but don’t worry too much about lots of brushes and washing the brushes. Tester pots often come with handy brushes in the lid and for the others we just used one brush and cleaned it really thoroughly on kitchen towel. The water from washing will stop the paint from sticking to the pumpkin and you actually get some quite nice hues if there’s a teeny bit of paint left on the brush. Obviously if you are very pale tones you might want to use more than one brush.

3. Put your Pumpkins in situ and decide which ones will be which colours. Don’t forget that you don’t have to paint them all. We left a few au naturel as they had such pretty natural colour. If you can get gourds these looks especially lovely left natural.

TOP TIP! Take a snap on your phone at this point, to make a note of the composition.

4. Now you’re ready to start painting. Turn the pumpkins upside down and paint the bases first. There’s no special technique here but try and use vertical brush strokes so that when the paint dries the brush strokes go in the line of the pumpkin grooves.

5. Once the base half is dry you can turn over and paint them right side up. Trying to paint anything round in one go will always result in mess and possibly a paint covered pumpkin rolling across the floor with wet paint covered fingers chasing it!

 6. Two coats will give you the best coverage, just make sure that the first coat is dry.

7. When you come to arranging the display it looks great if you use some props to give a little height and depth. Simple cake stands, cloches, even neatly stacked books would look nice. Just something to add a little more variation and drama.

8. Last thing to remember is to make sure that there is something between the painted pumpkin and the surface. If you use water based emulsion it will wash off but better to be safe than sorry. Sticky pads or a runner will protect the surface.

9. Finish your display with a few tea-light or candles. We placed some behind the pumpkins to give an eery glow and in front to highlight the colour. 

TOP TIP! – This display would also look great down the middle of a table. Make sure you choose the more squat pumpkins so that you can see over.

How to Choose your Colours and Maximise Impact:

When it comes to picking the colours, there really are no rules. Have fun and pick colours that you love. It’s an opportunity to bring in a colour that you’ve been thinking of trying or maybe to use a colour that you’re not brave enough for everyday. If you’re loving all the bright yellows on Instagram then why not give it a go, just for the weekend.

Here are a few hints to help you decide on colours and pick your scheme…

Choose a Focus: A good place to start is to build the palette around something in the room. We have chosen the Teal Gloss Sliding door on our Glide Sideboard but it could be anything; an object that you like or feature wall colour.

Limit the palette: This is the option we went for! Depending on the size of your display, it’s best to limit the colours or three or four colours and tones, for the most concise look. As a general rule, unless you are opting for muted tones, to get a well put together look you will need an accent of some sort – this should be a colour that is lighter, brighter or darker than the others. That’s what will give you the POP!

Focus for Texture: If you decide just opt for one colour, you could play with matte and shiny finishes, using a gloss and a matt in the same tone which would give a really subtle editorial look. If you can’t get the same colour in two finishes then a gloss varnish spray would do the same job.

Single Statement – Tonal and Interesting: If you have a feature wall you could choose a tone either a few shades darker or lighter. Keeping things tonal makes for a more subtle considered display. If you have left over paint from the wall you could even just add some white or black to achieve the tone. Even just all pure white would look fresh and lovely.

This was our real life final look but we couldn’t resist a little photoshop play to see what else we could come up with.

The only rule here is to have fun with it (we did). If you can bare the mess, it’s a great thing to do with children, and maybe even less messy than pumpkin carving!

If you feel inspired we’d live to see your creations. Tag us on Instagram @danetti_com and show us your skills. 

Published Date: October 2015