Today I've got a fall project that's fun for the whole family!
A couple of weeks ago, I took you on a tour of our living room and showed you our kid-friendly coffee table styling that includes a tic tac toe game I purchased at
Z Gallerie.
As I began making plans to bring some touches of fall to our living room, I originally assumed I would put the tic tac toe board away and replace it with some kind of fall decor. But then, as I was browsing the aisles of Hobby Lobby, I came across these inexpensive pumpkin picks and thought that they might make perfect replacements for the Xs and Os. Best of all, they were half price! So I picked up nine of them and brought them home, crossing my fingers that they weren't too big.
The size of the pumpkins turned out to be just perfect, so next up I had to decide how to paint them to make them distinguishable. I though about leaving some orange, and painting the remainders white. But since they would be sitting in the black game board, I thought this color scheme would look to Halloween specific. I wanted the pumpkin tic tac toe game to be part of our fall decor from September through Thanksgiving, so I instead decided to paint them in two different metallic tones to make them a bit classier, and less theme-y.
In order to use the pumpkins as tic tac toe pieces, I was going to need to remove the sticks from the bottom, but I knew they would be easier to paint with the sticks in place - so I opted not to remove them just yet.
I only wanted to paint the orange part of the pumpkins, leaving the stems their natural brown color, so I covered the stems in aluminum foil to keep the spray paint off of them.
I set up a spray paint station by turning a cardboard box upside down and pushing the pumpkin sticks through the bottom of the box.
This set up made it easy to spray paint the pumpkins {including the bottoms} without touching them.
I used two different brands of spray paint because that's what I had on hand, but I was much happier with the metallic finish of the silver paint {Montana Gold Acrylic brand of professional spray paint purchased from a specialty art supply store}.
Once the paint was dry, I removed the aluminum foil from the pumpkin stems, and then set about removing the sticks.
I though I might have to cut the sticks of with wire cutters, but I was pleasantly surprised that all it took was about 10 twists of the each stick and they pulled cleanly out of the pumpkins.
All that was left was to put the metallic painted pumpkins in to the tic tac toe game board and challenge someone to a game.
My new pumpkin tic tac toe makes a fun and unique addition to my coffee table, and best of all, it's fun for the whole family. Because the pumpkins are made from a light weight material, I don't have to worry about the kids dropping them.
Obviously not everyone has a tic tac toe board around the house, but there are plenty of ways that you can create your own. I think it would look fabulous for fall to simply stain a board and paint on the perpendicular lines in a color that matches your decor.
Of if you are interested in purchasing a tic tac toe game board, Z Gallerie currently sells two versions nearly identical to mine. They are a bit pricey {I bought mine on clearance}, but I can attest to the fact that they are well made and look very nice even in a more formal space. I also found a fantastic rustic modern, wooden tic tac toe board for sale on Etsy for only $10!
We are having so much fun with our pumpkin tic tac toe, and it looks so great on our coffee table, that I am already thinking of swapping the pumpkins out for something else come the Christmas season!
If you are looking for even more seasonal inspiration, you might be interested in these fall and Halloween projects, including our complete fall home tour:
Labels: autumn, crafts, decor, decorating, DIY, fall, Halloween, kids, paint, seasonal, Thanksgiving
