DIY Of The Week: Paint Chip Chandelier

If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive way to add color to a room, try this paint chip chandelier DIY. However, with this easy, at-home DIY project you must be crafty enough to get away with nabbing a few handfuls of paint chips from your local hardware store. If not, a few trips may be needed to avoid the Big-Brother-like stares from the employees in the paint department.

Without condoning the “borrowing” of paint chips, this simple, DIY paint chip chandelier can serve as a light above a table or desk, a simple form of decoration, or a mobile in a nursery.

---

But first, here are the easy steps for creating this paint chip chandelier (thanks to the blogger of heygorg.com):

---

Tools and Materials:

Paint chips (40-60 in eight different shades)
Thread
Tape
Mini lamp shade
Ribbon (in a similar shade as paint chips)
Scissors
Paper punch

---

Directions:

First, you will want to choose the shade of color you want to make your chandelier. To create the ombre look of fading from light to dark, you will need about eight different shades. After deciding which color to use, you will need to nab about 40-60 swatches of varying colors.

1. Using your paper punch (in this case a scalloped circle was used) punch out about 40-60 swatches in desired shape. It’s helpful to keep colors separated in piles once punched.

2. With lamp shade in hand, remove any fabric with just the wire frame remaining.

3. Lay punched out swatches, colored side down in desired order. For this example, an order of lightest to darkest was used to creating the ombre effect.

4. With the swatches lined up, tape down a long piece of thread on the back of each swatch to create a string of swatches. To keep the back of the paint chip from showing, be sure to tape down the swatches where one meets the next. Trim any access tape that may stick out. Repeat this step until all the strands are taped together.

5. Flip your lamp shade upside down. To make this next step easier, you can hang the inverted lamp shade so that it hangs freely. With that, start tying on the strung together swatches to both the “top” and “bottom” of your shade. Continue all the around until the entire chandelier is covered.

6. Add ribbon, to where the light bulb would be placed in the lamp shade, and tie in a bow. And voilà, you are ready to hang your chandelier.

---