Give home furnishings a new palette without lifting a brush. Paint chips from home improvement stores easily add colorful personality to small-scale accents.
By Sara Reimer, Midwest Living
Faux-texture tabletop
A side table gets artistic with a mix of large chips on top. For a sophisticated neutral scheme, choose shades of beige, brown and sand. Mix in samples of techniques (like Venetian plaster) for one-dimensional texture. Attach with double-sided tape, leaving space (ours is 1⁄2 inch) between chips. Cover with glass to protect.
Multishade photo display
Give photo mats a little flair with paint strips; they offer graduated shades of one color for a pretty ombre effect. Muted purples, for example, blend well with black-and-white scenes. Using double-sided tape, attach strips to mats. Trim to fit. For the narrow top and bottom borders, we cut out individual paint chips.
Color-block clock
Radiating swatches in wintry blues make for a mod geometric clock. To begin, lay out your design on a table. We started with a block of deep blue (note: most chips aren’t perfectly square) and continued asymmetrically with chips of gradually lighter shades; strips of white paper mark the quarter hours. Measure the final arrangement, and cut 1⁄4-inch plywood to fit. Glue or screw short wood pieces to the back so the unit hangs flush against a wall after the clock movement is installed. Attach paint chips to plywood with spray adhesive. When dry, drill a hole for the clock movement (find kits at crafts stores).
