Eight Tricks to Less Painless Painting
A guy by the name of Bill Gates was credited with the following quote: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Pretty brilliant stuff when you think about it. While painting will never be anyone’s favorite household chore, there are plenty of tricks to make the project less painful. Here are our top picks!
Minimize Dripping: Cut a slit in a sour cream or cottage cheese container top and slide it onto a paintbrush handle. This will allow you to catch drips that would otherwise end up in areas you don’t want them.
Pie Tin Trick: It’s super rare to not have paint dripping down the side of the can, which in turn, can end up creating a mess on your floor. Dodge this hassle by placing a disposable pie tin underneath the paint can to act as a paint catching coaster.
Eliminate Odors: Amazon.com has over 200 million items for sale. Of these items, none include paint scented candles. Shocker, right? That’s because paint reeks! Make your paint project less smelly by mixing in a few drops of vanilla extract right into the paint. This, however, does not mean that you should skip running fans and opening windows to ventilate your home.
Paint Tray Perfection: If you’ve ever tried to clean a paint tray so that it can be reused, you know what a pain it is. It’s a race against the clock to get the tray cleaned before the paint dries and if you miss any of the paint and reuse the tray, you can end up unintentionally mixing colors. Avoid all of this by lining your paint tray with aluminum foil which can be peeled off and discarded at the end of the project.
Petroleum Jelly to the Rescue: Painter’s tape works great for blocking off areas that you don’t want painted. However, sometimes there are very small areas that painter’s tape simply isn’t practical. Forego painters tape and apply petroleum jelly to the area. Because of its consistency, paint won’t stick.
Ditch the Drop Cloth: Drop cloths made of canvas gets a little pricey. Take the cheap route and opt for a shower curtain liner from your area dollar store.
Spray Painting Studio: It’s no secret that spray paint rarely only covers the object it’s intended for. Skip the discolored grass, walls and siding by placing the object you need spray painted into a cardboard box. Any excess paint will hit the inside of the box, which can be discarded after your project is complete.
Laundry Detergent Trick: One of the biggest pains with reopening and closing paint cans is the splatter that almost always ensues. Bypass this by using a funnel. Pour your paint into an empty, washed out, laundry detergent container.
