Loving Color: 5 Ways to Decorate With Paint Chips

Jamie Jay Don't think I have that many 'leftover' paint chip samples laying around the house.

TanCalGal C'mon! I do not think *anyone* has this many samples of paint chips around the house. The paint companies are generous with their free chips. If everyone takes the chips and uses them for art items that have nothing to do with choosing paint, the paint companies will have to limit the store display supply in some way. It's always a few, who ruin it for others.

Vanessa Brunner Hey @j22b: Actually, you don't need that many paint chip samples to do most of the artwork DIYs in the piece above! Even if you have just a few on hand from a leftover home improvement project, you can make a mini version of any of the artwork, or a few coasters. Sally's adorable wall does require quite a few paint chips, but like I mentioned, she had a ton on hand since she was an interior designer and often was sent free samples.

mncolorist I work at a retail paint store, and these chips are never free. There is no such thing as a free lunch (paint chip). We're already seeing the price of paint go up exponentially, please don't add this to the cost of business by being greedy with your stealing.

lbaldazo I like the idea for the calendar and you could use scrapbook paper instead.

mich9441 Just not attractive...my opinion.

kgallion This reminded me of a wall display at Stanford that takes this theme to another amazing level. Every time I walk buy this "monument to change" I stop and enjoy what new pattern is being created. Enjoy

sherryt I am an interior designer and previous paint store owner . It takes
many man hours to restock the paint chips which equates to expense. Here's an idea: Try paint for your projects. :-O

pcchanson sherryt, paint is bad on the environment. Why doesn't one try scraps of fabric from old clothes? I've just made needlepoint cushions for my children using my grandmother's, mother's and my old strings of wool in random, multiple colours. Worked fabulously & the children have a wonderful piece of history attached to them, not to mention three generations of sewers in the family.

Joanne Fairmont Yinger I think sherryt and mncolorist comments should be taken seriously. I know I have lots of paint samples leftover from painting samples for clients. While there are recycling paint options, I wonder what DIY projects Houzz folks could some up with.

dbartley Whoa, easy guys! I have painted every surface (including the interior of the cabinets) in my previous condo, and now my current house, at least twice over 10 years. Also I have been refinishing furniture for almost 15 years now. That represents a LOT of paint - easily $1000++ spent on paint, primer, samples, brushes, roller covers, drop cloths, tape, and other equipment over that time. I always pick up paint chips for each project in my quest for the perfect color, and I too make a habit of hanging on to them. I found this post very inspiring and would like to try to re-use some of my paint chips in this way. I and others like me are most certainly NOT stealing - in fact, we are the paint industry's very best customers!

Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel I like the calendar idea, but the wall installation in the dining room, YIKES! I want to relax and forget about work when I have guests.
I've seen even experienced designers make mistakes, when choosing wall colors from a small paint chip. If you find a color is way too bright, you don't have to repaint, you can tone it down with one or two layers of transparent glaze. Email me if you don't know how. laurelmurals@yahoo.com
Life after red walls: if you need to change from a red wall, you'll need to paint it black, then primer and start over. Otherwise, that red will always show through.

hotandcold I decorated an old chair with paint samples (what I call them) by cutting them into small pieces and making patterns many geometric designs and then varnished over the top looks great.

Mona Lisset I like the coaster and caledar idea. Thanks Houzz for sharing your creativity!

calsterrr love these, what great ideas!

Sonja Hilliard, DVM I have a drawer (I can barely close) full of "left over" paint chips...it happens. Now I know what to do with them. Thanks!

Cheri I agree with comments above .... use scrapbook paper. Taking paint chips is stealing --- and I don't own a paint store!

N_Megan Kim_Hoerl I take my old paint chips and make them into coasters. I cut them into circles and they are a great way to add color to the event. No use wasting the chips after you are done decorating.

Francesca Azzara Some great ideas but I agree with Sherry. Try paint. I just finished building a house with my husband and had to pick colors for every room. Large swatched painted on the wall gave me a better sense of how the color would react as the day changed and the sun moved in the sky. I even painted the colors onto large sheets of heavy weight water color paper. This way I had a "wall" to carry around as I picked out carpeting and fabrics. I am an artist so the remainer of the paint...in these small sample containers will be used in my art work.

Luis Great ideas!

RAJ For those who might have kids... I made this countdown calendar for our Disney trip using Disney paint chips from the Home Depot. It was simple and fun. *Excuse the quality of this photo. It was taken 5 years ago on a cell phone.

Kristie Barnett, The Decorologist look what i did for valentines last year: http://thedecorologist.com/wp/paint-chip-valentines

Mary Kozma I like the projects to use up the old paint chip fan decks I bought. I just didn't want to throw them out when the new ones came in.

sandie23 It's a great creative idea for those who have enough paint chips left over. I don't think anyone is promoting an idea of going into a store and grabbing as many samples as possible, for the sole purpose of creating a collage.
As for using actual paint....I'll do that when I get closer to the hue. I'd rather toss chips than cans.

freespiritkelli Instead of paint chips I used a paint selection book that was out of date.

Elinor Angel For those who are offended by the idea of someone "stealing" paint samples - I work at an architecture office and we are constantly given samples like this by product reps and as samples for individual projects. Things like paint chips, flooring, carpet, bricks, tiles, baseboard, etc, all in various sizes and colors. There was even a whole track lighting system hiding in our back room. We have to actively purge or the office turns into a stockroom full of old samples. We recently (March 2013) donated a van full of samples to a local craft store, so if you're near Durham, NC check out the Scrap Exchange and use that stuff.