May 14, 2010
Make a Paint Chip/Fabric Swatch Idea Folder
Today’s post is a great way to wrap up Decorating Week. I love home decorating and re-decorating and have finally realized that it’s a process and not something that happens overnight. For me, it’s more fun to hunt down good deals and the perfect piece for a room rather than buying everything at once so that the room is decorated. Let me give you a real-life example: We have been in our home for over a year and we still don’t have a dining room set. Right now there’s a kid play kitchen and a hockey net in the dining room. And, I’m okay with it. We’re looking for a bargain and the perfect set for the room. If it takes 3 years to save up the money and find the set, so be it. My kids get to have a big run-around room for now and it’s worth it to find the right pieces. I also haven’t painted the entire house because we’re still deciding on paint colors and window treatments, etc. To keep all my ideas together, I started putting putting all of my collected swatches in a little mini photo album so I could toss my ideas into my purse and go looking for goods. I wrote a blog post about it a few months ago here.
Today, I’m going to show you how I’ve “decorated” my Paint and Fabric Swatch Folder.
For supplies, I used a 4×6 photo album (cheap), a paper cutter, white card stock, two-sided tape, and my label maker.
I cut the paper into 4×6 pieces and printed out labels for every room (printed vertically).
I trimmed the holes from my paint chip collection (but made sure that the color name and number remained).
Then I started to assemble each “room” on a separate 4×6 sheet.
Then I put the pages in the little book in the order of the rooms in the house – front door, living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, etc.
Here’s what they look like in the “book”. The front cover is a photograph of the front of our house and the back cover is looking out the back window.
I’m linking this post up to some parties – check them out!
Lara Says
Following from New Friend Friday!! Stop by some time!!
http://blogginmommadrama.blogspot.com
{All Thingz Related} Says
That is so smart! Thanks for sharing your idea!
Rebekah @ {All Thingz Related}
Melissa Says
That is so great. I don’t have a house right now, but when I do I would love to do something like this so I can remember all of my favorite colors and what material work with it. Thanks for sharing!
Kerri Says
Wow! How clever are you?! What a great idea!
Thanks for visiting my blog…so glad you did…so I could check your’s out! I love it! I’m going to go be a follower now and read some more of your posts!
Laurie Says
That is an awesome idea!!! I bet you could do lots of things with those little albums, informationally speaking! Thanks for the inspiration, now my ideas are rolling 🙂
Kim Says
That looks like a wonderful idea. Much too organized for me, however ;).
Kenzie Says
Great idea! I always seem to lose something when I am trying to put a room together. I could definitely use this!
Laura Ingalls Gunn Says
Such a clever and creative girl. My heart is going pitty pat.
Amanda @ Serenity Now Says
Ooo–the wannabe organized side of me LOVES this post. 😉 I love label makers! I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog the other day. I’ve been out of town and am just now having the chance to return the favor. 🙂 Have a great week!
Stephanie Lynn Says
Fabulous idea! I simply love this! If you could see my paint chips now you would chuckle! Thanks so much for joining The Sunday Showcase Party! I greatly appreciate it! ~ Stephanie Lynn
Stephanie Lynn Says
Hello. Just wanted to let you know I’ll be featuring your paint chip folder tomorrow! Stop by and grab a featured button if you like! Love this! Thanks for joining the Sunday Showcase! ~ Stephanie Lynn
Katherine @ Grass Stains Says
That is GREAT! I have a simple folder with home ideas (room inspiration) and an envelope inside it that holds all my paint chips. THIS is a marked improvement over THAT! Great idea. Yea for even more organization!
Katie Says
I could definitely use one of these!
Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions Says
Clever and creative! What a great idea and with it fitting right in your purse you always have it handy to check colors.
Delores Lyon Says
Thanks for sharing this advice on making a swatch deck folder. Right now I am planning a series of renovations in my home, and I want to start getting colors down. I’ll definitely be needing to go through magazines to find swatches I like. It might also help if I had a bunch of swatch decks. Do you happen to know where to get a bunch of swatches?