Storing Paint

In the midst of our latest 30 Day Challenge there was quite a bit of painting to do. The flood in the house necessitated some of it: the touch up around the baseboard and painting the new trim. In my opinion, however, there's no better time than the present to fix up all the rest. I mean, while the house is a mess already, and the room is completely empty, why not touch up all the things that need to be done. No more noticing that nick in the wall where the kids dropped the dining room chair backwards, or the random screw and nail holes that have been left open as decor changed.

The last time this room was painted was in 2007. Of course we had some paint left over. I thought I was being clever by writing on the top of the paint can where that particular paint was used.

But despite my efforts the paint can labels start falling off, the lids got rusty and the labels begin to fade. Myko laughed as I got progressively more irritated trying to pry off the old rusty lid. (Note the fraying of the edges of this paint can lid!)

Years ago I was surfing Pinterest and saw the idea of keeping the remnants of paint in a glass jar. Not only can you see the paint color easily, they are easy to shake to mix and take up much smaller space to store.

While I don't consider myself to be a hoarder, I do save useful things; things that I always pledge to do some project with (i.e. 10,0000 corks.....wtf do I have those for again?!?). As we near completion on the June 30-Day Challenge I have had to open a number of these old paint cans. What an opportunity to finally enact my plan to store my paint in glass containers.

Just so happens I have been stockpiling old Ragu jars. (No, I do not usually make my own spaghetti sauce. Why start from scratch when you can doctor up ol' Ragu with such ease).

I have removed (most) of the label from these jars as we've used them and run them through the dishwasher so they are sanitized. Next step, pour in the paint.

Now, because you are going to throw away the original paint cans (I hope. What else are you going to do with them? Wait, don't tell me, I might start keeping those for some future project too....) you need to devise some way of identifying the paint you have in the jar. While you could easily scribble with a Sharpie marker on the existing lid, if you're going to the effort to organize and make your paint supplies look nice, why not print a label? Not only does it cover up the remaining glue and/or pieces of the label that was difficult to remove, you can add much more information than you could fit on the lid.

I used to co-own a wedding planning business and had these labels around the house. You can find them at Onlinelabels.com. This particular label is intended for a wine bottle sized label, but I just trimmed them down to fit my Ragu jars. I included on the label where I used the paint, the type of paint it was (information on the can) and the color. I went one step beyond and looked up the online paint chip so that I could add the number of the paint color. Valspar paint has an online paint chip menu that is searchable.

Once I had the labels printed, I trimmed them down to fit on the jar where the label had once been. This covered all of the leftover glue and pieces of label I didn't take the time to scrub off. Affixing them was a breeze (although being a perfectionist I'm a little disturbed by the wrinkles that are inevitable when you are placing a sticker over an uneven surface). I'm also tempted to apply a layer of clear contact paper or packing tape over the labels to avoid any staining, discoloration, or other damage to the label (the whole reason why I went this route in the first place).

Since the lids advertise for Ragu, and thus are not in line with the jars new purpose, I had to figure out what I was going to do to cover them up and make them useful. I had a can of chalkboard paint in the garage and decided that I would give them a coat.

The paint went on quick and the coverage was excellent. It was very hot out when I spray painted them so they dried quickly. However, upon trying to write on them with chalk they were easily scratched. I would wait a full day or two before marking them so that the paint can really cure.

I'm not exactly sure what I would write on the lid. Perhaps the last date that I used the paint just so that I would know how long ago the paint was still good.

I'm inspired to continue to store the paint this way. It may be some time before I have all of the paint cans converted in the garage but certainly I will start doing this can by can from here on out.