After all this remodeling, we’ve accumulated quite a few partially filled paint cans. So many, in fact, that we were running out of space to store them. Not to mention, it’s always a hassle to dig them out to do paint touch-ups.

We wanted to find a solution that would keep the paint well sealed so that it didn’t dry out. That eliminated most of the plastic products out there. Buying smaller empty paint cans is fairly expensive too, as quart cans run about $3 a piece.

Then glass bottles came up as a viable option. That led us to a readily available solution for the touch-up dilemma: baby food jars. We’ve been keeping small touch-up jars for the past few years, but we realized that we could take that one step further with larger jars to store the remainder of the paint, so we could eliminate all the large gallon cans.

So last week, we picked up some wide-mouthed Kerr canning jars on-sale at our local Fred Meyer. We also picked up several jars of baby food to match the rest of our touch-up collection, but I’m sure that the smaller jam-sized canning jars would also do the trick.

We opened up each gallon can and stirred it up, and proceeded to fill each sized jar over a sink for easy clean-up. Some gallons had enough to fill 2 large jars, but that was still better than keeping the can around. We had a 5-gallon bucket of exterior paint that we opened as well, just to get samples out for future touch-ups.

Then we transcribed all the color data with our trusty label maker to mark each jar in case we ever needed to get more mixed.

In many cases, the store sticker would peel off from the paint can that we could affix to the jar that had the color codes to save on transcription time. We also labeled each with the room that the paint was used in, as some colors were similar.

Since some cans had enough paint to fill two jars, we ended up filling a couple of dozen all told. We’re keeping the baby food sized jars in each room with a small artist brush to do easy touch-ups. For a couple of hours worth of effort, we’ve saved a lot of storage space. Down from two full shelves to 1/3 of a shelf stacked.

Not to mention, we can still use the empty paint cans to dispose of stain rags on our wood refinishing project.

4 Responses to “Paint Can Redux Project”

1. Nicole says:

   August 3, 2010 at 7:09 am

   The jars are so pretty with all the colors in them – you could practically display them in your home! I love that since you purchased the big jars you’ve got the right size boxes to store them in :) Good thinking!
2. alan herrell - the remodgeek says:

   August 3, 2010 at 7:44 pm

   Actually hammering the lids tight and storing the cans upside down will keep the paint fresh for a long time. Also you can mark color, location and date on the bottom.
3. Dawn Peterson says:

   August 3, 2010 at 9:18 pm

   Except that the cans still take up a ton of space when most are half empty. :)
4. Stephanie says:

   August 13, 2010 at 9:43 am

   The colors are gorgeous – I agree with Nicole – they look pretty enough in those jars to display!