We recently painted our living room white. Previously it was a sage green color, painted by the former resident. It was a pretty color and I felt like we made it work well with a gallery wall of paintings above the couch, but it didn’t feel 100% like us. We wanted the space to feel more open and a bit more modern. I really wanted to embrace the clear thinking/blank slate feeling white offers with more minimal decor, so once it was painted, l didn't want to hang the gallery wall again, but I knew it still needed some kind of texture or art so that it wouldn’t feel completely empty!

Large art is usually pretty pricey, but very luckily we happened to have a huge bulletin board that used to be in little guy's room (little guy is bigger now and enjoyed tearing things off of it so we removed it haha) that was the perfect size to hang over the couch. I had the idea to add paint chips (free!) in a grid to make something that felt modern, had a little texture, a little color variation, but still kept that minimal blank slate feeling.

I was planning to make a perfect evenly spaced grid of white paint chips, but when my toddler wanted to help me, I decided that would be even more special!

Over the course of a few weeks, we slowly add enough paint chips to cover it, just glueing them on with Elmers glue (and some are actually just taped on with scotch tape!)

I love having art that’s actually meaningful, so I loved that this ended up feeling like a great metaphor for parenting — I was kind of trying to keep the clean organization around his chaotic but precious free flow placements. I’m also hoping it becomes a fun conversation piece to look for all of the color names on the paint chips!

I finished it off by painting the frame with leftover wall paint! Eventually I’m planning to add a sconce light on each side for the final touch.

I love color in a home, but don't underestimate a good white wall for a calming atmosphere too! I love that it can feel so bright during the day and still extremely cozy at night with the right lighting. I’m excited to get that set up more in here, but for now we have the IKEA cheapo paper floor lamp and some battery candles and it's already soooo nice at night as is. I also love that we can have some bright, colorful toys around and it’s not too overstimulating since the rest of the room is neutral and calm. White walls have their perks!

Here is some other white wall decor I love in case you don’t want to DIY (and keep scrolling for the rest of our living room):

Paint Chip Wall Art