Quick Tip - Disposable Paint Funnel

This week I'm going to go a bit low key, in that what I am building doesn't require batteries or the creation of sawdust, it's just a simple little solution for a little pet peeve of mine. Rest assured, the soldering iron and miter saw will be back in action again soon!

Recently we gave the family room in the house a long overdue face lift. As with any remodeling job, that also entailed applying many, many coats of paint on the walls.

While I try to make sure I have the right amount of paint on hand, invariably I always seem to have a little bit left over in the paint can once the job is done.

Now I always consider having a little bit a paint left over to be a bit of a good thing, since I can always use some paint to touch any scuffs that may happen in the future. What isn't a good thing is having a little bit of paint left over in the bottom of a large paint can, since that will guarantee that the paint will eventually turn into a hard mass at the bottom of the can even if you do securely put the lid back on.

So the best way to preserve your left over paint is to put it in a smaller container, but that does present its own challenges.

The biggest challenge is that without fail, pouring paint straight from a large can into a smaller one can create a bit of a mess (especially if you tend to be clumsy like me!)

To combat the mess potential, I use a "throwaway" funnel from a 2 liter soda bottle to transfer paint from one can to another.
Granted, perhaps not the most original solution in the world - but it works well in eliminating the mess potential, it's easy to make and like I said, you can just toss it in the recycle once you're finished with it.

To make the funnel, you just need a (preferably empty) 2 liter soda bottle and a pair of scissors

Two liter soda bottle and scissors

To create the funnel, take the scissors and punch a hole at the bottom of the bottle with one of the scissor blades.  Cut out the bottom of the bottle with the scissors

Cutting out the bottom of the soda bottle

Two liter soda bottle with bottom removed

And that is it - you've made one paint funnel, ready for use.

Using the funnel is no different than you would any other funnel, just put the small end of funnel into the container that you want to put the paint in and pour the paint into the big end of the funnel.

Paint ready to be transferred with the funnel

Funnel in the container to be transferred

Pouring the paint

No mess!

Of course, once you've got the paint in its new container, don't forget to put a lid on it and label what room the paint is for - trust me, it will come in handy a few years from now when you have to do that quick touch up job.

Don't forget to label what the paint is for 

And there you have it, a simple little tip, but one that has saved me from making quite a few messes over the years.