Paint Preservation

You just got done painting and now you are ready to store the paint. There are a couple of things that you should do first before sealing the can to make it easy to identify.

Take a bit of paint and dab it onto the lid of the can.

With a permanent maker indicate where you bought the paint in case you need more.

Also write on the can what room or part of the house you used the paint on.

Finally take a look at the level of paint in the can. On the outside of the can indicate the fill level with a permanent marker.

Now when you need the paint you can tell at a glance where the paint goes and how much is left.

Dusting with Alcohol

You just got done sanding your project and you want to paint it.

Before you can paint it though you need to clean out the dust.

If you use water and soap you may have to wait a day before you paint.

An easy solution is to use some rubbing alcohol on a rag.

It will give you the moisture to pick up the pieces of dust, but it will dry quickly so that you can paint or stain the same day.

Shellac Paint Clean Up

You are painting with shellac based paint. Now that you are done, you are trying to figure out how you are going to clean the brush that you used.

You can easily clean your brushes by grabbing a container of rubbing alcohol.

The rubbing alcohol will actually dissolve the shellac making the cleaning a breeze.

Painted Door Knobs?

When you are painting around that house, what can you do to cover things like door knobs to keep them clean from spatters?

Grab some aluminum foil or plastic wrap. You can wrap it around the knobs easily, or even other places that are hard to tape.

Just don’t use aluminum foil near electrical outlets or light switches.

Painting Behind Toilets

I was painting the bathroom and found that I had a need to paint behind the toilet. Since I didn't have a special tool, I decided to create my own.

I found a sponge under the sink and cut it in half. I then stapled it to the end of a paint stick. I was able to paint behind the toilet with no problems!

Extending Painting

You are painting and your roller has a short little handle that is not reaching all the way up. You don't want to run to the store to get an extender as this is the only room that you are going to paint.

Never fear! Your solution is right in the house.

Wander into your closet and check out your broom or mop. Chances are that one of the handles will easily unscrew. Take that handle to your paint roller.

Unscrew the short handle and screw in your broom/mop handle. Now you can paint higher with ease.

Window Masking

You are painting your room and you have masked off just about everything and you notice the obvious.

You have not masked off the windows yet. You are almost out of tape and you are trying to figure out what you can use.

Just look in your recycling bin! Grab a handful of newspaper and separate the pages.

Cut the paper into stips and dunk them into some water and place on the windows around the edges.

The dampness of the paper will help it to stick to the windows with out leaving too much mess.

Paint as normal and when you are done, simply pull the paper off the windows and throw away.

Chalk Board Paint

The next time that you decide to remodel your family room or childs bedroom, check out the variety of paints at your local hardware store.

You can find chalkboard paint that you just paint on any surface.

When it dries your budding artists can create endless amounts of pictures and stories for the whole family to enjoy.

You can even have just a bit more fun and get some velvet or contrasting fabric and create movie style curtains around their stage.