Creative paint storage solutions

Posted on June 15, 2017 by

2 Comments

One of the best parts of my new laundry room / DIY studio is that I finally have ALL of my paint in one glorious, organized colour-coded spot!

Before the studio, when the room looked like hell, I was storing our large paint cans in the utility room (a.k.a. hellhole), my acrylic paints and oil paints in my office, and my “fancy” paints (Fusion Mineral Paint and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint) in a closet under the basement stairs. 

Now? It’s all here … 
Remember what this wall used to look like???
Yikes.
After I freecycled the deep freeze, tore down the random shelves, and drywalled/primed the walls, I had a blank canvas with lots of potential.
I bought basic 8′ boards in a few different thicknesses (no need to have a wide shelf just for skinny acrylic paint bottles, I reasoned) based on the size of the paint containers. 
Then I stained them (no need to make any cuts) and hung them with L-brackets — just like I did with these faux-floating shelves and photo ledges. I love L-brackets.

The very top shelf is for displaying canvases, but it can hold more paint if I need the room down the road.

For now, I have …

  • a shelf for acrylic bottles — which I only really use in projects with the kids because they’re cheap
  • a shelf for spray paint
  • a shelf for sample tubs and “proppers” (extra tiles I use to keep things off the ground while I’m painting them, and these genius plastic painting pyramids)
  • a shelf for my Fusion Mineral Paint and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint
  • a shelf filled with recycled cans to store my gloves, sponge brushes and screws 
  • a shelf for in-progress pieces (and large can overflow)
  • a shelf for storing and charging my Ryobi batteries
  • a shelf for stain and small cans of paint (and the tinfoil I use sometimes while painting)
  • a shelf that rests on the floor for most of the large paint cans (and my Ryobi jigsaw and circular saw, so I don’t have to worry about them falling onto the floor)

Looking at these shelves just FILLS me with excitement for new projects!

 

I always have a bunch of blank canvases lying around, and I used to shove them in the closet of my office. But sometimes they’d get ripped by something heavy falling onto them, and it was SO frustrating.
Now I store them on the wall of the studio on these plastic rain gutters — yup, the ones we used as bookshelves and took out of C’s room when we redecorated and built her loft bed and makeup table. 
My paint brushes used to be stored in the closet under the basement stairs, and now I have them right where I can see them. 
I just stained two lengths of 2×2 board and drilled them into the wall, and then added a bunch of screws to hang the brushes on. (Two different thicknesses, because the original screws I used were too big to fit through the holes of some of the brushes.)
The brushes are now directly above the gorgeous new laundry sink from Kent, so I can wash them out and just hang them to fully dry.
I used to keep my good arcrylic paints and my oil paints in plastic tubs in my office closet, and it was fine. They didn’t get damaged, BUT it was hard to see all of the colours.
So I took a piece of plywood, trimmed it to size with my jigsaw, painted it a light grey (Fusion Mineral Paint’s “Putty”) and used tiny screws to add a ton of binder clips — these ones from Staples. 
They were perfect for pinching the ends of the paint tubes.

I filled one whole board with my Liquitex acrylics and ran out of room, so I had to make a second board.

The second board holds the acrylic overflow and any special mediums, plus my oil paints.

I just leaned both boards up against the (newly-painted) oil tank, and they have yet to fall over. They make it much easier to paint because I can see all of the colours at once, and they’re just pretty to look at, too.
Is there anything more soothing than colours arranged in rainbow order? 
(Like my thread next-door in the office?)
(And my ribbon and embroidery thread?)
Ahhhhh …

Category: DIY, House of Dreams, Organization

2 Comments on “Creative paint storage solutions”

So what do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

I’m Heather Laura Clarke. I’m journalist and blogger in beautiful Nova Scotia, I have an 9-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter, I married my high school sweetheart, and this is the story of my handmade life.

I have depression and anxiety, and I fight like hell every day to keep it from taking over my life. Making things isn’t just a hobby — it’s part of what keeps me alive.

Whether I’m decorating a room, busting out my power tools to build furniture, getting muddy in the pottery studio, sewing clothes for my kids, or cross-stitching a swear word, I’m all about using my creativity to craft a life I love.

@HFXHeather on Instagram
Fun fact about me: I always try to keep a stash of fresh 1x2s, 2x2s, 1x3s, and 1x4s in my studio. There’s always a ton of OTHER wood, of course, but nothing sparks my creativity like seeing a couple of fresh new boards and deciding to turn them into something new. . . . #DIY #woodworking #girlswhobuild #sneakpeek We’ve been in deck HELL lately, and today’s post is all about (A) what went wrong, (B) what we’re doing about it, (C) what you can do to prevent our horrific deck/porch reality to becoming your own problem. 😭😭😭 . . . #linkinbio #DIY #porch #stain #theworst #DIYdisaster This was my bedroom when I was 13. I was obsessed with New York City so my mom let me paint murals of the skyline, Central Park, Long Island etc. and it was awesome. . (Swipe for all pics) . This room is super cheerful and happy, but what went on inside it sometimes was anything but. I was hit hard with the first waves of depression and anxiety, even though I didn’t understand it at the time. . When this room was finished, things got bad. I didn’t yet understand the connection between creating + my mental health. More on this over on the blog. . (HeathersHandmadeLife.com) . #linkinbio #mentalhealth #mentalillness #depression #anxiety #creativity #13yearsold I guess there was a big sale on pale blue fabric! 😂 . . . #sewing #handmade #throwback I painted out front door so that our new #gifted @schlagecanada Schlage Connect Smart Deadbolt could really pop, and OH, HOW I DO LOVE IT! . . . The colour is bright and fun, and coordinates really well with our beige siding. Best of all, it cost me about $12.50 and a couple of hours of my time, including drying time — and zero priming required. . . . Full details on the blog today! . . . #linkinbio #schlage #curbappeal #DIY #myhandmadehome #frontdoor #easyproject #coral #brightforspring It’s been a crazy few days of dance rehearsals and the big recital, but I’m hoping to steal an hour or two later to work on one of my MANY half-finished projects — like this colourful one I’m making with scrap wood blocks. Sundays are for rest, and nothing is more restful to me than slowly, quietly, making something. . . . #handmade #painting #wood #somethingfromnothing #creative #quietsunday #rest
@HFXHeather on Twitter
*** This sidebar contains ads and affiliate links ***

© Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life, 2009-2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

%d bloggers like this: