Paint Can Do's

I hate a messy paint can, but I don’t mind doing some painting of my own. It’s almost the only DIY I feel I can competently do and have professional looking results.

Here are a few tips for keeping your CAN from becoming a goopy mess:

• When you open your paint can, you can use a little plastic implement (about $3) to snap onto the lip of the paint can to help pour out the paint. If you use this, you don’t get runs down the can, and there is no paint in the lip of the can. It is easily washed and it can be used again and again. I've had mine for about 10 years - no kidding.
  

  

  image www.flexiproducts.com

• Closing the can is easy with a rubber mallet. Who has these? I don’t, but I used a hammer on my rubber garden slippers to properly close a paint can by gently tapping all around the lid. Closed well, I’ve used paint from 5-8 years after first buying it. And yes… you want to keep your paints for any scuffs or marks that may come in the years ahead. Even if you had the colour mixed again, there would be a slight difference in the batch.

• If you are painting with a brush, put a rubber band lengthwise around the can to be able to wipe excess paint when painting. It keeps the lip of the can paint and clump free. This is a Martha idea… and I tried it last week. It’s definitely a ‘good thing’ I will always use moving forward.

  

  image origin unknown - likely Martha

Here are a few more handy paint tips:

• If you need a lot of paint for a project, get all the cans mixed at one time – to avoid batch colour differences.
• To be extra careful for colour match, pour the multiple cans into a huge plastic bucket and stir fully so you blend them before painting your walls.
• Buy good quality rollers… cheap rollers often leave lint in the paint. What you can do is roll your roller with a pet-fur sticky roll before using it. This removes bits of lose ‘fluff’
• If you want a clean line, use the painter’s tape. (I don't know about you but my hand gets shaky and tired after a little while, so my free-hand lines are not acceptable.) Paint one stroke parallel along the tape edge before painting the wall to avoiding bleeding. That first little bit of paint on the tape edge ‘seals’ the edge.
• Keep a bowl of water and some paper towels always handy – almost everything is latex paint now and it’s easy to fix a mistake if you do it immediately with a damp paper towel
• Keeping a ‘wet edge’ really does work to give a streak-free, uniform, professional finish
• I don’t care how ‘good’ new paints are – I think a second coat is needed to give a flawless finish. I let my first coat dry for a day before I do the second… lots of drying and curing time and a lot less marking or scuffing. 
• Remember I said 'keep the paint'? Buy cheap little paint brushes from the dollar store and use them to stipple scuff marks that can't be cleaned with water and sponge. They are so inexpensive, you can just throw them out after each use. Another 'Martha gem' I remember from ages ago is to pour some of each of your paints in clean, dry baby food jars. You can see the colours easily and they are handy for small fixes. If your colours are similar, label the jars with a sharpie. To keep them from drying out, store them upside down so no air seeps in.  
• Store your paints in the basement - the garage gets too cold. The wide variance in temperatures and humidity experienced in the garage will  not be good for the paint longevity.

Spring-Cleaning the Kitchen

Today I cleaned my kitchen. Deep cleaning, spring cleaning, and organizing my kitchen.

If I am very honest I will have to say that this is a day-before-yesterday, yesterday, and today job. I haven't wanted to dedicate the entire day to cleaning, but I have put 2-3 productive hours each day into it and it's now done. It's not rocket-science, but it is a Big Job. And yes, it does deserve those capital letters. Every single thing in every single drawer or cupboard was taken out, assessed, cleaned, and put back. With a little re-organizing of course!

First I cleaned my normal kitchen-clean so that my surfaces were clean and ready to handle things coming out of the cupboards. I worked 'one at a time' (you won't believe how much fits in one!) and from left to right, top to bottom. I washed each cupboard as I went, and while one was drying, I'd begin to empty the next one.

My spouse does all the shopping and cooking so the kitchen is a bit of a battleground for us. Well, more like an uneasy peace. I do the cleaning in the house. And the organizing. And the decorating. So in the kitchen, two worlds collide. I've retained his placements of pots, pans, and implements. We are both strong-minded (two leos, both strong signs in the Chinese zodiac, and both smart-@sses). It took him visiting his parents for a few days for me to tackle this job.

Here are a few tips if you do yours:

• Use a cleaner without a residue, so you waste no time in re-washing things, surfaces etc
• Throw out anything broken. If it's not working, it's just clutter. If there is something you genuinely love and it's broken, get it fixed immediately so you can enjoy using it again. Don't put it away until it's fixed.
• Ditch any past-date foods, sauces, cans etc - this is the perfect time to check those things that get pushed to the back. Any foods you have bought and not used and don't need that are within date can surely be used by a food bank.
• If you never use something, maybe it needs to go. I am donating my bread-maker, napkin rings, big salad spinner, and one set of martini glasses - do I really need 3 sizes of martini? Do not feel bad about giving away gifts - these are guilt-anchors around your neck. Donate them to a cat-shelter garage sale or to a friend who will use it, and it will feel good. 
• Do you have multiples of things like kitchen scissors, wine bottle openers, serving sets? We tend to re-buy things we can't find or are unhappy with. Keep the one you like the most, throw out the broken ones, and donate the rest.
• Do things collect? I have a big ziplock full of soy-sauce from take-out. And a big ziplock full of unused freebie plastic utensils that also come with take-out. Why do I keep these?? Find places where this will be appreciated and just let these go. (Turns out my mom and aunt sometimes use soy for stir-fry's but don't often buy soy sauce. The office lunch room is always short of plastic utensils). Whatever your collections of excess are, let them go to be used.
• Keep a pen and pad convenient and list things you genuinely need to buy. Last time I did this, I went to the store for an armload of plastic trays and baskets. They have worked wonderfully to keep things neat and allow me to wash them so easily if there are spills etc.  This year my list was short... only about 4 small plastic trays and some rubber drawer-liners. It's tempting to buy all sorts of organizing tools, but if they don't get used, then they become part of the clutter problem.
• As you work, keep considering what can make your use of the space easier or more efficient. Keep your most used things close at hand and near where they are used. The biggest change for me was being able to finally put all my glassware together and in the cabinet closest to the table - this will absolutely make a difference. I'm going to put some thought into a built-in lazy-susan for the lower corner cupboard (you know which one!) It would require some construction and that space is not a real problem so I've got to think it through.

What's lazy about all this? It's lazy because I love creating a system that works. Time and effort up front means that for the next 2 years I will save a little time and frustration every single day because things just work. You know the system and placement of things work if things are exactly where you expect them to be, you spend no time searching, you don't have to constantly work to re-organize things. Lazy-smarts? I hope you think so!

Carpe Diem!

What wonderful thing did you recently shirk housekeeping for?