True Life: I Pilfer Paint Chips

I have a confession to make, my friends.  I've been known to... well, on occasion... go to Lowes, stealthily approach the paint department, look left then right then left again... walk up to the magnificent array of vibrant paint chips... and then... guiltless help myself to one or two of every single paint chip.  Every. Single. One. And then I make a mad dash out the door with my half-foot thick pile of paint chips in hand.

OH, THE SHAME!

I can't help it.  I love paint chips.  I've been obsessed with them since I was seven or eight.  And for a few years, my dream job was to become the person who gets to pick the paint names.  (That didn't make an impressive "When I grow up, I want to be..." report for elementary school, though.)

I used to just have paint chips for the sake of having them.  I kept them in a tin box and pulled them out every once in a while to flip through them in satisfaction.  Sometimes I'd go all crazy and use one as a bookmark.  Maybe it's because of the recent design trend of Pantone-inspired products... but I'm seeing paint chips popping up everywhere in decor and diy projects.

In fact... check out this nifty diy project that I thought up all by myself!  Basically I had an old gaudy antique frame laying around.  And, of course, stuffed in another drawer I had some paint chips.  I folded the long paint chip strips down to size and framed them with the picture frame.  Not only is it a unique piece of art--I like the contrast of the fancy-schmancy frame against stark, modern paint chips.  But it is also a functional dry erase board for my desk at work!  I write notes on it with a dry-erase pen and the words wipe right off the glass just as they would a typical dry erase board.

Funny enough... Melissa, one of the interns I carpool with and have become friends with, shares my over-enthusiasm for paint chips.  In fact, she decked out her apartment kitchen and bedroom and was kind enough to send some pics my way for you all to see and get inspired by:

 Paint chips in hues of blue and green add fun color and pattern to the wall space above the cupboards in Melissa's kitchen.

 She used blue painter's tape to adhere all these paint chips to the wall!

 And in her bedroom, black and shades of beige take the place of a headboard.  Isn't the design, great?

Melissa's a crafty design student at Iowa State and fellow intern.  She also bakes goodies and has a blog!  Check out Twenty Going on Eighty!

So now I'm on a kick about these free, fun, colorful paint chips that are available at Wal-Mart, Lowes, Menards, Home Depot, and many other places... (so you can spread out your paint chip pilfering if you're afraid dirty looks from clerks.)