Paint chip art

I've had the itch to rearrange our living room for a while now. The way it was felt too spaced out and un-lived-in, and I had a couple concerns about exposed cables now that Annie is mobile.

So, I spent her naptime moving stuff around, and now we have a totally new setup! I love the furniture arrangement, and I managed to cover up all the hazards that had me worried. But, the new layout left a giant open wall that needed some love.

Enter, my $3 paint chip project.

The inspiration came from Pinterest, (duh), but I am happy to report I actually put my own spin on it to make it my own. Here's the original pin from Ellementary Home that turned me onto the idea:

Although I was totally in love with the herringbone pattern, I wanted to do something that wasn't a complete copy of someone else's work. Plus, I had a new circle punch that was practically demanding use for a project like this. 

One trip to Walmart later, I was armed with a stack of paint samples and a cheap-o $3 frame. Because why pay $20 for a frame that looks exactly the same? PS, who else feels like a thief walking away with free paint samples? I tried not to take too many, since I was in no way considering actually buying paint.

The samples with multiple colors actually weren't wide enough for my punch, but it was fine since I was planning to do a scalloped effect and the bottom half of the circles would be covered. 

After I had all my circles, I just layed them out on the floor and arranged them according to how light or dark they were. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, because once you have all the colors next to each other, they start to look less like blues and more like greys and purples.

Then, I just used a glue stick to attach the circles onto a piece of paper. In fact, I just used the paper with the sample photo that came with the frame. And here it is! 

I really love how it turned out, and its a really fun addition to the new gallery wall above the couch. However, all the other frames are still empty, so it's looking a little lonely :) But I have a painting project and some family photos I hope to add soon, so I'll share the whole shebang once it's finished!