Most people we know are guilty of this one: You decide to paint a room. You go out and buy the amount of paint you think you're going to need. You end up with at least one extra gallon that you barely dipped your brush into ... Has it happened to you? It's happened to us. So the best thing to do with the leftover paint?
How To: Buy the Right Amount of Paint
How about not buying too much to begin with?
According to Treehugger, California alone generates 8 million gallons of leftover paint a year. Which is why San Joaquin County in California is going to be spending $400,000 to develop a program that teaches residents how to buy just the right amount of paint for their project, how to properly store their leftover paint, and how to recycle the paint if need be.
We've got 3/4 of a gallon sitting on our back steps right now. How much leftover paint do you have hidden in the garage?
If you don't live in San Joaquin County, here's a tool that can help you estimate more effectively the amount of paint you might need for your next project.
(Image: Flickr member DRB62 licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Or donating extra to Habitat for Humanity or a Rebuild project - they can ALWAYS use extra and then it will get used!!
view bagelpower's profile
Re-nest, as someone who has done a fair amount of painting in my life, I can assure you that "don't buy too much paint" is bad advice. If you make a mistake and buy *less* than you need, and have to go back and buy more, you run the very real risk of the second run not matching the first one perfectly, and then your walls look like crap. You are better off buying a little more than you think you need.
Bagelpower's advice of donating leftover paint is a very good one.
If I end up with a half gallon or so left over, I usually transfer some of the leftover into a quart can to use for touch-ups down the road. If there's still some left over, sometimes I hold onto it and then combine it with the leftover from the next job. A quick spin at the hardware store and I end up with a whole new color! One that (if I'm lucky) is complimentary to both of the source colors. Great for a transitional hallway or whatever.
I mean, you can "aim low" on paint purchase if you want, but you are takig a pretty big gamble. I've been burned by the "not quite matching" thing before.
view Cupajo's profile