How to keep track of paint colors

This is a simple and inexpensive way to keep track of paint colors in your home – so you can shop with confidence, touch-up with ease and give an accurate colour name to friends that comment “I love your walls!”

I’m switching back and forth between the Canadian/English “colour” and the American “color” so that everyone that wants to keep track of paint colours can Google this page.

If you are a fan of this blog, then you are probably a lot like me in that you love colour.
You love to change things up and wish you had the budget to do so more often.

Every time I see a home magazine, I find a new color that I want to try out on a piece of furniture or a room.  I can envision my home suddenly turning into the model on the glossy pages – no mess, perfectly staged with stain-free furniture.

Maybe it’s not the paint I’m really pining for?

I used to keep a pile of paint chips in my purse.  Some are colours in my home already, some are colors I’d like to try, some are just colours I’d like to find in an accent pillow or something.

At this point you’ve seen my purse – you know that keeping a bunch of colour chips in there just creates further chaos – so I came up with a way to keep track of paint colors:

Enter my micro-binder!

I picked mine up at Staples, but I know that they aren’t always in stock so I’m including an affiliate link to the ones I found on Amazon:

These micro binders are 4″ tall and about ¾” thick – so small and compact and perfect for tucking into your purse.

I pulled out all of the paint chips I had floating around, punched holes in each chip and tucked them into my micro binder to keep track of paint colors.

I did have to cut off a section of each chip, and labelled each colour so I could remember which room was which (I have a lot of greige in my house).

All the information that the paint store needs is right on the chip, or if you go with another brand, there is a large enough sample for them to colour-match.

Now you just have to remember the colors you painted your home in order to start your color binder. lol

I’ve had this tucked in my purse for a few years now and it’s been fantastic.  I can confidently shop HomeSense/HomeGoods and know what colour bedding will coordinate or which curtains will contrast nicely.

I was at the paint store today, getting ready for a board and batten project I’m about to try and I was able to just bring out my little colour binder and get the exact paint I’d need to match the walls in the rest of my room.

So easy!

I think this is the absolute best way to keep track of paint colors – small, inexpensive and easy to maintain.

You gotta try it!

Have a great one!