diy | paint swatch art

I first came across this wall art idea from Katie at Bower Power,  and I knew I wanted to try it.  Then Sherry from Young House Love made one just a few months ago, and it got me started on a hunt for paint swatches!  We had some left over, but I needed A LOT more than what we had.  So I went to four different Home Depots and took a bunch at a time, trying not to be too obvious.  This requires some skills, so be prepared!

Supplies

- paint swatches (colors of your choice)

- cardboard

- tape

- scissors (paper cutter recommended)

- picture frame (I used the Ribba frames from  Ikea)

1.  Take the swatches and cut them so they're all about the same size with straight edges.  This is where the paper cutter comes in handy, and after using scissors the first time around, it really makes a difference.  I used the Behr paint swatches, and cut off the names, but Katie left them on.  It's your preference.

2.  Arrange the swatches either from dark to light, light to dark, making sure to stay in the same color family.  I recommend doing this in natural light.  I did my first attempt at night and when I looked at it during the day, some swatches looked a little off. 

3.  When you're satified with your layout, start taping them onto your cardboard.  I put tape on either side of the swatch so it doesn't lift on the edges (although some of them still did).  I suggest taping them instead of gluing them down so you can easily take it out and move them if you need to.  I overlapped the swatches slightly, making sure there are no gaps where you can see the cardboard.   It's good to take a step back every now and then and see if there are any adjustments needed.

Put it in a frame and you're done.  Now the fun part - hanging them up.  Thank God for Paul for volunteering to do this. 

I cut some newspaper to use as templates before nailing anything, but since we had a flat paint finish on our walls, the newspaper left some marks.  So we did away with it, and I left Paul in charge.  And he did well!  Look at him using that level!  He's in mid-sentence saying, "hell ya!"  And here are the finished frames. 

This one doesn't really feature the frames too well, but wanted to show you how much of a difference it is having art on that wall.  It looked like this when it was bare.

This was the day after our wedding, and we had family from out of town come over for lunch.

And here they are at night. 

They're nowhere near perfect.  Some colors are a bit off, and some of the edges do stick out.  But all in all, I'm happy with how they turned out.  And if I get sick of them, I can easily replace them, possibly with another DIY art!