5 Tips to Organizing Leftover Paint
If you do any kind of DIY or home projects, you probably have a ton of leftover paint laying around. It keeps building up because you don’t know what to do with it. Here are some great ways to store all of that paint so it is more organized.
Having way too many partially used paint cans in your garage. I am so happy to have Hilda from the blog
From Overwhelmed to Organized stop by and share her professional organizing tips with us.
You will love her …
Hi everyone!
I’m so excited to be here with you, to help Barb out, and to share one of my favorite topics with you… decluttering!
First, let me introduce myself. I’m Hilda and I blog over at From Overwhelmed To Organized. I love sharing decluttering and organizing tips, to help people who are overwhelmed take back control of their homes, and live the life they dream of! I know how it feels to live with clutter because I’ve been there. I’m still there sometimes! But I’m here to tell you that a clutter-free home is possible! One step at a time.
{For more on that you can check out the 365 Items in 365 Days decluttering challenge!}
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite decluttering projects I’ve ever done. Leftover paint! I’m going to jump right in and show you the before and after pictures of this one because the difference just makes me smile 🙂
See that shelf unit on the left up there? That’s the before picture with all our cans of leftover paint. And on the right are 2 full cans of paint and 8 mason jars with all our leftover paint in them. We went from 4 overflowing shelves (there was a can on the floor that didn’t fit!) to 2 small shelves with room to spare! And doesn’t that after picture look so much prettier than the before?!
I’m willing to bet that most of you have a pile of paint cans in your basement or garage that are left over after painting rooms or furniture or even from craft projects. You know, those cans of leftover paint that you keep for touch-ups or maybe to use some day in other rooms or for other projects? Even if you aren’t sure you’ll use it, it seems like such a waste to get rid of it. After all, paint isn’t cheap! Well, I had been keeping our cans of leftover paint for years and when we started purging and organizing our basement I realized theywere starting to build up. I knew I had to do something about it when I counted how many cans we had…
We had sixteen cans of leftover paint! It took up this whole old shelving unit under our basement stairs, plus 1 can on the floor (not shown) that didn’t even fit on the shelves. So messy! It was getting overwhelming and I needed a better organizational system for them.
When I started going through these cans, some of them were nearly empty or getting rusty so I purged them. That still left me with 10 cans of usable paint. We actually have 2 unopened cans of paint that were left over when our basement was redone after a fire a few years ago. I’ll keep those for now since the cans still seem to be in good condition. So, that leaves 8 other cans. What to do with them? I found some ideas online that showed people storing leftover paint in plastic containers or glass jars or new small paint cans. Any of those options sounded better! I decided to get a case of mason jars and store our leftover paint in them since we needed to buy a few more before the end of the school year anyway (our kids always make “gifts-in-a-jar” mixes for their teachers). This was more cost effective than buying individually priced jars.
Here’s what they look like now:
So much better than before!
Before I rinsed and recycled the empty paint cans, I noted all the key information so I could make labels.
The colors look a bit different in the jars than they do on the walls, so I also made small labels for the lids to remind me which room each paint was from.
There was so little paint in two of the cans that it seemed a waste to use a whole mason jar for each of them. I found two empty jam jars left over from a few years ago when I made jam so I used them. I made smaller labels for these jars; unfortunately, the outside of the jars is textured so the labels wrinkled. {Get jars with a smooth surface on the outside or at least one smooth side if you can.}
So I removed the labels. Those Avery labels really stick well to glass!
A little Goo Gone and they were clean. I love Goo Gone!
I created a special label for the lids of these two jars that contains the information that was on the original side labels so I didn’t have to worry about the bumpy side and crumpled labels.
Aren’t they cute?!
There’s plenty of paint in each of the jars to do touch-ups and even enough to use as accents on other items if I got crafty 🙂 But it now takes up much less space!
I’m storing these 8 jars and the 2 new cans of paint in a small cupboard in our basement kitchen that was otherwise underutilized.
Doesn’t that look a lot better than those overflowing shelves of big ugly paint cans? And now I have a whole empty set of shelves that can be used for something else! I haven’t decided what yet… but we’re still working on organizing our basement so I’m sure I’ll find some use for it. Right now it holds our cat’s litter, grooming items, and cleaning supplies. It needs a coat of paint, but now that I know exactly what paint I have, it will be no problem to find what I need when I’m ready to paint.
One more look at the before and after:
5 Tips to Help You Purge & Store Your Leftover Paint
- Purge any cans that are rusty or more than a few years old.
- Be realistic about what you will actually use. Unless you’re a frequent DIYer or big-time crafter, don’t keep a lot of paint “just in case” or for “someday”. It’s just taking up space, which could be used for something else to help make the rest of your home less overwhelming. If you don’t have projects in mind then purge most of the leftover paint (just keep some for touch-ups).
- Choose a container size based on the amount of paint you are going to keep (small container for touch-ups, medium sized container for future projects).
- Label every container with all the details from the original paint can that you may need to reference later.
- Check your local waste collection guidelines for the proper disposal method of the empty cans in your area. And enjoy your new less-cluttered space 🙂
Note: Apparently light can cause the paint to change color over time, so if you’re storing your paint in clear jars, you should store it in a dark place.
I’m so happy my leftover paint went from overwhelming to organized!
Resources to Help You With This Project:
- Goo Gone (Glue/Adhesive Remover)
- Glass Jars
- Asst Glass Jar Lid Labels
- Permanent Markers
Other Organizing Tips and Ideas:
- 15 Must Have Pantry Organizing Tips
- DIY Laundry Organizing Caddy
- 10 Ways to Organize Your Laundry Room
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KATHYSUE says
What a great tip and one that is so useful. We all have left over paint and this is a solution. Definitely a keeper, Thank you,
View CommentKathysue
Hilda @ From Overwhelmed To Organized says
You’ll LOVE the extra space Kathysue! And how easy it is to use leftover paint instead of fighting with stuck on lids and messy cans.
View CommentJen @ The Light Laughed says
What a tidy looking closet, and now there is even more room for craft supplies. Great idea. I like the idea of using glass jars since paint in tins can give off gases and that’s not good for our indoor air.
Love the soft tones shining through the glass.
Jen
View CommentDanielle says
What a pretty way to store paint. The cans are so ugly and even if they are minimized and stored orderly, they are not visually pleasing. I love the idea of glass jars.
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