Mason Jar Paint Storage (with printable label template!)

Over the weekend I spent quite a bit of time organizing all of my leftover house paint. I’m sure we all have the ugly corner of our basement or garage, filled with gallon paint cans holding less than a pint of paint… right? Well, after some digging on the internet I found some great paint storage solutions, and I’m going to show you how I used mason jars to store my paint more efficiently and beautifully.

Ok, fess up! Whose paint storage looks something like this?

Trust me, there’s a better way, which I like to call “The Mason Jar Paint Storage Solution.” I’m going to show you how! I even designed some beautiful labels to help you.

Why Should You Complete “The Mason Jar Paint Storage Solution”

• It’s a lot easier to see how MUCH paint you have left of each color
• The mason jar paint storage takes up a lot less space on your shelves than storing all your old paint gallon cans.
• Mason jars make your leftover paint much prettier to look at (bonus!)

 

What You Need:

• Leftover paint 🙂
• Mason jars: I purchased mine at Walmart & Ace Hardware. I got pint and a half, and half-gallon jars.
• Sticker printer paper: I got this at Walmart. Look for the printer paper for mailing labels (where the entire sheet has sticky paper on the back). Otherwise you can use regular printer paper and just glue or tape the labels on.
• My printable label template  [paiddownloads id=”2″]
  This is a fillable PDF so you can type everything in nice and neat, then print it out at home. It’s only $2, too!

  

  [paiddownloads id=”2″]

• I’ve also seen some examples online using round sticker labels on the TOP of the mason jars. Then, you can put the paint in a drawer and read the colors from above.
• funnel (I used a 2 liter bottle of soda cut near the top as a funnel)

The label template will give you all the information you need. Feel free to fill in all the fields or just the ones you want to. I think it’s pretty useful to have the name of the paint, and the sheen of the paint (flat, eggshell, stain, semi-gloss, etc).  All of the brand information will make it easier to get more paint if you run out, too. As I poured the paint in through the funnel, I filled out the printable label template with the details of that paint. I chose the size of the mason jars based on how much paint I had left in the can.

I read a lot online about options for storing leftover house paint. Another great idea I saw was to use old laundry detergent plastic containers to store paint. You could use my labels for this type of storage as well!  Detergent containers would make it really easy to shake the paint up, and pour it out of the spout. It even comes with a little paint cup (the lid of the detergent container). I think I’m going to try this for my “uglier” paints, like concrete floor paint and primers, etc. Give it a try and let me know how it comes out!