Use these paint storage ideas to keep leftover paint organized and easy to reuse when you need touch-ups!
Y’all. This project has been on my radar for years. I knew organizing my paint and storing it better would help me out a ton, but it just seemed too daunting.
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I can’t recall exactly when I first got the idea. I think I was browsing Pinterest one night, like I usually do, and saw someone who had organized their house paints into fresh, clean quart-sized paint cans. I even printed out some labels and have held onto them all this time. When I went back to find the original post, I couldn’t locate it, so I had to make my own labels. So, lucky for you, I’m sharing them at the end of this post!
I have a lot of paint, at least I think so. I had all kinds of paint stashed under the utility sink in my laundry room. It was sticking out into the hallway that leads to our garage, and I stubbed my toe every time I needed to wash something in that sink. Then I had other gallons and random quarts tucked away in the back of my office/craft closet.
So, whenever I needed paint, I had to check both places. And nothing was labeled. I just had to guess sometimes to make sure I was using the right paint. Or I couldn’t find something and ended up buying another gallon. I’m pretty sure that’s how I wound up with 4 cans of primer.
I finally bit the bullet!
Supplies to Organize Your Paints
- Quart-sized paint cans. I’ve seen people use mason jars for storing paint, but I’m a little nervous about keeping paint in glass. I can just picture my 2-year-old getting into them somehow and dropping them on the floor. It’s worth it to me to spend the $3 on a new paint can.
- A different paint stirrer for every color you have (unless you plan to let them dry completely between uses)
- Printer
- Printable white sticker paper
How to Organize and Store Household Paints
- Gather all of your paints from around the house. I had two boxes of craft paints and paint supplies in my office closet, where I keep all my crafts and decor. I sorted through them, tossed several things, combined others and organized the lot. Then I put everything back in the closet. Most of the larger gallon cans weren’t full. I kept them, like most people do, in case I needed to touch something up later. I had a few full or nearly full cans. I kept some of them and donated the rest.
- Decide which paint to donate or throw away. If you do throw paint away, do it responsibly. Find out how to do that here. (P.S. That article says paint doesn’t last more than 2 years, but I disagree. Definitely check paint before using it, but some of mine is 5 years old and is just fine once I’ve stirred it.)
- Consolidate it. I found that most of the paint cans leftover from painting my house had a quarter of a gallon or less in them. So, that’s where my empty quart cans came into play. Not to mention most of the original cans had rusted around the rim and were just very dirty. It was good to clean them up!
- I stirred the paint really well and poured it into one of the new quart cans.
- Then I filled out all the information on the paint can labels I designed and printed on my white sticker paper. I added a dab of paint to the circle on the label, because, duh.
- I sealed them up, and look how pretty! They take up noticeably less space than before, and now I know exactly what’s in each one!
- I stirred the paint really well and poured it into one of the new quart cans.
- Organize Your Paints. Put the new paint cans and any others you chose to keep back in your storage spot. I kept some full gallons and some paint that was already in quart cans. I’m going to share my organized craft closet one of these days with awesome before-and-after shots. It’s hard to get good pictures in there, but I’ll do it and link back here!
Tip: Ask for extra paint info stickers when you get your paint mixed. Then stick one, along with a dab of paint, on a piece of cardstock or kraft paper in your Home Organization Binder. You can carry these cards when you shop for fabric or furniture so you can see how it coordinates with the wall color.
More Info About the Paint Colors in My Home
I get asked a lot about the paint colors in my home. I’ve shared all about them here in my Paint Colors post! Enjoy!
Free Paint Can Label Printable
The Messy Work: This project can be a big one if you have as much paint as I do. I suggest setting aside a couple of days on the calendar to get it done!
Messily yours, Laura
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