It's Interesting. I would rather see an amazing painting or textile. I would feel like I was reaaaalllly indecisive about what color to paint my wall.

Wow, what a great idea Kristen! Hopefully it catches on so hoards of people go into their local paint store and decimate the paint chip stocks.

Then when said stores start charging people for paint chips because of the "it's free woot!" abuse we'll all know who to thank. I mean Jesus there must be over 100 chips in that picture!

If you like the look, get yourself a craft store 50% off coupon (they're everywhere) and pony up for a big ass canvas, or buy 4 to hang together. Purchase one of those painter starter kits, they are usually under $20 and come with 10 or more colors.

Use said paint tubes to create your 100 shades.
Paint in square blocks.
Hang on wall.
Feel better about yourself.

Lol...I was thinking the same thing - sorry Kristen, but that's a horrible idea - for the exact reasons Jess said.

This is a great idea. I have tons of paint chips lying around-- I always use them to look for color palette inspiration for all my projects.

I even gave paint chips to the designer of my website and shopping bags. It's a great way to be clear about what you want and ensure consistency.

-Bruce, @DecorNYC

I did this in two matted frames. I got a chip book online for about $12. You kind of have to use a sample book or something or else they probably won't all be the same size (also, you know, don't take all the samples). I love mine but it took forever to do.

I don't hate it....

@jess13--thank you! The plethora of paint chip crafts I see everywhere drive me crazy! These things aren't just free for the taking. Do these people really walk up to the display and leave with 500 paint sample cards?

Not a bad idea. I bet it'd look really good framed so that the squares don't flap around.

I have seen this on perhaps 4 or 5 home blogs this summer...so no, I won't be doing this. Nor will I be hanging a "Keep Calm" poster.

I like it, and think the architecture of the space makes it work. Gives a playful feeling to the room.

Yes, it's free when you steal the materials ...

You can't steal something that's free.

@ littlecat: Ha! I will make an exception for this one.

Maybe you can't "steal" something that's free, but you can sure abuse it.

I imagine this is one of those things that looks like a total mess in real life. Looks ok here on a design blog with nice photography. In person though, it would look like trash...pinned to a wall.

Not a bad idea, especially if you're repurposing/recycing/upcycling old paint chips. But most of us have paint chips on hand left over from when we were actually considering BUYING paint. The chips are probably in several shades of the same colour, and maybe by different manufacturer's which could make it quite tough to lay out in an orderly fashion.

In other words, unless you deliberately set out to do this sort of thing, you might end up with a hot mess instead of cool art.

LOL at the people who are worried about "stealing" paint chips or that someone doing this could wipe out the supply... I have a 6'x8' section of wall that I covered in paint chips as a temporary thing while I decide what I want to do with it for the longer term, and I didn't even make a dent at the store I got the paint chips from. Nor did staff care how many I took -- in fact, one of them offered me a small bag to carry them in.

My first thought was having to dust all those flapping little chips. I like the look, though.

As far as taking advantage of Home Depot goes, I have the following thoughts:

1. Really, there won't be all *that* many people running to the paint aisle to hoard chips.

2. Personally, when I try to pick out a paint color I have to take a ton of samples. I'm indecisive.

3. It's not stealing - they give them away, and I've never seen a sign that stipulates how you have to use the chips.

4. Still, I'd feel funny just grabbing stacks and stacks of them.

5. To get the uniform shape and plethora of colors, I'd bet these chips didn't come straight from the racks at the store. I would not be surprised if they were from a sample book.

6. Chill out. :-)

we constantly have old color decks hanging around the office so, it's a great way to RECYCLE them....I agree, don't send people to the stores to overtake all of the samples - folk already take them too freely - they cost money!...However, check with your paint stores, painting companies, and local architects and design offices....we've got books to be recycled !! ...I took some in to my daughter's school and we used them to make artwork too!

"Use Paint Chips to Create Wall Art"

No, please don't.

This does have a cool effect; however, I have to agree with jess13 that you can get the same effect by painting the colored squares. You can also buy those little packs of assorted scrapbook papers (like this: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat2676&PRODID=prd25243) (or this: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat2676&PRODID=prd29324) and cut them into squares.

I think I will probably never like paint chip wall art.

Such a fun and playful idea. Its especially great if love COLOR:)...I especially like the texture added by them not all being pinned down and how the molding frames the whole thing! I thought of using the molding to showcase some vintage wallpaper but this idea may have given me a new direction!

Over protective of paint chips much?

First off. You can get paint chip books for FREE from the rep. So even though the paint companies pay to have these made, they are usually happy to give you a chip book for free. Imagine that.

Second off. Do you realize how many chip samples they get in? So many that they typically toss them out when the new colors come in.

Pretty sure the only thing that will happen by grabbing enough to use as art, is some odd looks.

And using them is recycling them btw. What do you people do with all the ones you grab? Off to the dump, I'm sure. At least a tree didn't die in vain for this wall art idea.

I'm so over paint chips. It's done. Let's move on to the next great thing.

I LOVE IT! :-) Colourful and fun, and student-budget-friendly!

This is far prettier than I expected. However, it helps that it's in a room with marvelous architectural detail.

@ Bsquared: LOL, I love this logic! All the people that want to protect their right to take an unreasonable amount of something and call it "recycling": how many trees will have to die to replace all the paint chips you took so that the sample racks will stay full? Or to make another paint chip book (an entire goddamn book) to give to someone else? It's only recycling if it's already on it's way to the dumpster.
Every action = reaction.

Try thinking more than a foot in front of your face.

I cannot believe someone thinks this is a great idea. It only shows that the homeowners are indecisiveness and totally non committal to something more permanent. At least put a wonderful, fun frame around it.

I didnt know paint chips were such a hot art item these days. I guess that boat sailed right past me unnoticed, as I myself would prefer a painted version for color exploration. Or maybey something inspired by rothko.

if you have a place that takes "trash" from building supply companies, private individuals, paper companies, etc in your city (SCRAP in sf - many other cities have similar places) they often have paint chips. the colors are no longer available, so the chips are no longer of use to the paint companies, thus it IS recycling...

Paint chips...again? Really? How many times must we be subjected to this article and the big debate about whether paint chips are free or not yada yada yada...

When I was a kid my mom yelled at me for trying to take home a few big stacks of paint chips from the store... I wanted to wallpaper my dollhouse with them.

I think it could have been executed a little better. I looks more like "paint chips on the wall" than art work. Also...

Woah. The paint chip police need to calm down. For starters, there are plenty of ways to come across large quantities of paint chips with out walking in and grabbing handfuls.

And secondly, from the moment they are manufactured those poor innocent little paint chips are intended for the trash can or the down-cycling bin. It's naive to think otherwise. Sure they make a quick pit stop while you decide if you want "Golden Leaf" or "Retro Avocado" in your living room, but ultimately it doesn't matter because their purpose is to be disposable. And while we're being completely honest, let's acknowledge that there are going to be tons (literally) of chips and sample books that never saw the warm glow of a hardware store display because they became outdated before they were used up.

So, lets recap. An item that is made to be thrown away and has no value to consumers is taken and given a new purpose and value... yup. That's recycling.

Oh boy, you know the paint chip posts will bring out all the legal eagles worried about the ethical, ecological, and existential crises which may arise from promoting such projects. Oy. Having recently repainted our home exterior, multiple rooms, and various household objects, I happen to "legitimately" have a large variety of paint chips on hand. The examples shown here don't necessarily float my boat, but I'm generally glad for ideas of ways to reuse these otherwise wasted objects (currently I keep a stock of them in my house so I don't have to run to the store and get *more* chips every time I'm trying to decide what color to paint something, but I do foresee a time when most of these paint projects will be behind me).

Hello everyone and thank you so much for the kind words! I'm responsible for the second photo. It's my old dining room in a past rental (hence why it's temporary).

To answer a few of your concerns about the morality of helping yourself to a store's paintchips, that isn't the case for my project. To quote my own words from another post (not the finished project one that AT linked to): "About three years ago I was given a complete set of a certain paint company's paint chips. Not a fan book (I was given that, too), but samples that came in a carry case and were larger than a paint chip. They're great, but some of them have been discontinued and blah blah blah the case is really heavy I just use the fan book most of the time. So I had this giant case of paint chips in my tiny apartment, just taking up space and not being used. I decided to put them to good use!"

In short, these chips were all given to me by a certain paint chip manufacturer because I use their paint so frequently.

We just recently completed a redesign of a client's home using the BenJamin Moore large (18x18) chips, framed in IKEA RIBBA frames for a wonderful (inexpensive!) punch of color. Not free, but pretty darn close!

http://shuffleinteriors.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/add-colorful-modern-art-for-under-25-a-pop/

That dining area is stunning with the moldings, windows and arches......what would you go and desecrate it with something so unbelievably tacky?? Nothing on the wall would have been 100% better.

I used to get a lot of leather samples when I had a craft business. Wish I hadn't sold all of them prior to a move!

I don't see this as stealing at all. I've been to paint stores and Home Depot where lots and lots of these are thrown in the trash because they aren't put back in their proper slots or they are simply lying on counters. Why not put something that is likely to be tossed put to someone's use?

I've seen the bottom picture (the framed one) else where and for her paint chips she was given a book/box of paint chips from a paint store. She did not go and choose each of those paint chips from local stores. Just saying.

aaaand I just read where she has already responded...sorry.

I say that just because it's been shown before doesn't mean that it isn't new to some people. Give me a break! I can't stand when somebody says, 'Didn't you just post this recently?' As for the paint chips, yeah, they're there for the taking. You don't have to take them all at once. And who knows? You might become so attached to a particular color that you'll actually use it to paint a whole room! So quit the bickering and the holier-than-thou talk and leave the chips fall where they may. Sure beats the $150+ lamps, etc., that populate this site. Chips, anyone? And no, don't wear them on your shoulders!

@ Jess13... It's funny, because you told me not to do what you just did.

Do you regularly see the paint chips gone from the rack besides perhaps one color on a new release? Hearing the mumblings of the workers "There was this HUGE stampede of folks crazily grabbing them in the hundreds and running off."

When you ask a rep for a book, are you often told "I have had to get bodyguards due to the crazy people following me asking me for our paint chip books"

Do you really truly believe that people are going to rush the paint chip stands and reps to do this?? Get real. I mean come on now... what is with extremists anymore.

Just saw some paint chip art on The Good Wife last night, in Julianna Margulies' character's office.

I'm going to try something like this in my living room. I'm an interior designer and I just got replacement sets for 2 of my totally picked over paint chip boxes. I didn't want to toss what was left in the boxes so I'm going to see what I can do with them, art wise, and what's left I'll save for our local IIDA ZeroLandfill event next year. I think they gave away something like 16 tons of unwanted samples etc this year. If you have one of those events in your area, it's a great place to pick up free artsy crafty supplies.

Oh people, you are so funny. A few things I have to add to the mix....1) If you don't like paint chip art, then don't do it. You probably have things in your house that other people don't like but they don't take the time to bash it with such public venom. 2) I get the whole "it's free but not THAT free" argument but honestly, in the whole scheme of things, this amounts to very little waste compared to the vast amounts of items discarded in the design industry. Can we all just promise to recycle the paint chips when we move on to the "next great thing" a previous poster was wishing for? And 3) Some folks are broke and just want to add a little color to their lives. A painted canvas with all of those colors can be a very expensive endeavor or at the very least, a little too challenging for those of us who haven't quite mastered the art of mixing primary colors into the rainbow (myself included). Perhaps we should all just take a step back and let those chips fall where they may.