Paint Chip DIY Doorway or Window Curtain

For a room in my house that had no door, I came up with an idea to make a colorful paint chip DIY curtain for it along the lines of the kind that kids and teenagers like to have hanging in their rooms?  Now the doorway looks hip and happening in a very modern way and adds and energetic colorful vibe to the room.

How to Make a Paint Chip DIY Doorway Curtain

supplies needed for a 32-inch wide doorway with 13 hanging strands of paint chips:

• 450 paint chips or card stock in various colors (If using card stock, you will only need 225 pieces cut to size since they will not have to be glued back-to-back) Glidden paint chips measure: 3-1/2″ x 5″
• 1 skein of Issac Mizrahi “Lexington” multicolored thick yarn – sold at Michaels
• Tension rod to fit doorway width
• Paper hole punch
• Extra-hold glue stick
• Scissors
• Optional – paper cutter

1. You can use the entire 3-1/2″ x 5″paint chip as is or cut them to various sizes using a paper cutter. To add some variety to my doorway curtain, I used the full size paint chip and also cut some paint chips to make them 3-1/2″squares.

2. Using a glue stick, glue two of the same paint color chips together back-toback. Repeat process with all the paint chips.

3. Once the chips are glued back-to-back, punch a hole at the center of the top and bottom of each chip.

4. Place the chips in stacks of how you want the colors to fall in the curtain. I created my curtain using a random pattern of colors, but you can create an ombre effect, use all one color, or run the one color down each strand.

TIP: When gluing paint chips together production-line style, place the chips on a stack of scrap paper. As you glue, glue will get on the paper, not on the table surface. When the glue build-up makes the paper sticky, flip the paper over for a new clean surface to continue gluing. If you don’t do this, the glue build up will eventually get on the paint chips when you place a new one down to glue. 

5. Cut 13 strands of thick yarn each to the height of your doorway, plus 4 inches. Place a piece of tape around each strand’s end and twist it into a point. This will become your needle to thread the yarn through the paint chips. Threading the paint chips onto the yarn brought back fond childhood memories of playing with sewing cards. Did you ever play with them?

6. Run the yarn through the top hole in a paint chip and then out the bottom hole, repeat until you have enough chips on the strand. Each of my strands had 17 paint chips.

How To Attach the Paint Chip Strands to a Curtain Rod

You can hang the tension rod in the doorway to add the chips or…

… lay them out on the floor to arrange by color and then thread the cards onto the strands of yarn. Assembling the curtain is a good project to do when you are watching TV.

7. Each strand is simply knotted around the tension rod…

…and then again at the bottom of the last paint chip on each strand.

Don’t tie the knots of each strand of paint chips along the tension rod too tight. Looser knots will allow you to easily move the strands out of the way when needed.

Have you ever decorated with paint chips in your home or used them in a crafty DIY paint chip project?

I am always looking for creative ideas on how to use them. If you only have a few paint chips available, you can still add them to your decor. Check out this colorful organizer I made for my desk in my office.