DIY: Paint Chip Wall Art

Inspiration

Here's a super easy, and cheap way to fill up a big, empty wall space... lots of paint chips on a large piece of hardboard! I know it's not an original idea but I just really like the way they it looks. When I was re-decorating the basement (the theme was geek chic), back home in Calgary, I was looking for ideas to decorate the walls and came across this DIY wall art for my inspiration. There are countless ways to use / lay out the paint chips but I just kept it simple because I like that pixelated, water colour look. And since both my sister and I are in the graphics/new media industry, I thought it was a suitable piece for the space.

My first paint chip art for
the basement of my parents'
house back home in Calgary

I had made a poster size one for our basement, but for our place in Newcastle, Australia, I wanted something on a bigger scale. Living in a rental, on a 6 month lease, and not wanting to spend a lot of money on decorating, but still wanting to make the place feel more 'homey', it forces you to think of or find other, more affordable, ways of decorating! The colour of the walls in this rental is like an old, creamy-yellowy colour which I'm not very fond of so I wanted something big and affordable to fill the big wall space up.

So, I went to the local hardware store for the paint chips. Collected a whole bunch in blue, green, pale yellow hues as I wanted an ocean/beach feel because our place is a few kilometres from the beach. I loved how big these paint chips were too and conveniently already squared = no trimming necessary.

What You'll need:

• a large piece of hardboard, from your local hardware store
  (the one I found is about 48" x 36")
• a bunch of paint chips, free from your local hardware store
• double-sided tape
• paper cutter or x-acto knife to square the paint chips if needed

How to:

1. Once you've picked up your paint chips and hardboard, arrange the paint chips on the floor to your liking.

Note: You might have to do some measurements and calculations as to what size you want your final piece to be for the hardboard and how many chips you'll need because paint chips come in different sizes and shapes. Lucky for me I found squared chips and the perfect sized hardboard.

After laying out and arranging the paint chips to my liking, a bit of a diagonal gradient, I had to figure out what to use to stick the paint chips on. I didn't want to stick it straight on the wall and worry about taking it off when we move, so I went back to the hardware store and found a large piece of white hardboard (48" x 36") for $15 that was just the size I was looking for. It wasn't too heavy but firm enough to stay standing against a wall. A canvas that size would have been much more expensive so I opted out of that option. The size of the chips and the board were meant for each other because I was able to get an even boarder all the way around.

2. Use double-sided tape on each corner of the chips and stick them down onto the board. You can either over lap the chips so you cover the shade names or leave them showing.  I left them showing so align the chips as straight and as close to each other as you can.

I used double-sided tape on the corners of the back of the chip to make sure that it would stick and stay down on the board but you could use a good glue or a spray glue but I find double-sided tape is less messy. If you have a look at the first one I made, you can kind of see the edges of the chips are a bit lifted, that's because I used a glue stick. I think double-sided tape is your best bet. It might take a bit longer but the end result is cleaner looking so it's worth the extra time.

I asked my handy boyfriend if we should frame it (and if would want to make one heh heh) and hang it or just leave it leaning against the wall and we decided on the latter, the easier route. 

3. Time to show it off!

I placed mine on top of our console table so that it was eye level and it worked perfectly in that spot. There you have it, a simple, easy, $15 piece of 'art' to fill up some wall space and add some colour!