Day 11 – Easy Clean Up Paint Tray Liner
I love to paint rooms! It’s one of those meditative tasks that leaves you with instant gratification when you are done. But, I don’t like the clean up afterwards. Several years ago I came up with an Easy Clean Up Paint Tray Liner that costs next to nothing!
All you need are two plastic grocery bags and two strips of painter’s tape.
Day 11: Easy Clean Up Paint Tray Liner
Make sure your grocery bags are clean and don’t have any holes in them. Turn the bags inside out if there is printing on them. (Sometimes the ink is water soluble and can mix with the paint.) Observe as my sister gives her best Vanna White impression and shows you how to invert that bag:
Slip the first bag on from the top of the tray and tape it at the bottom.
Slip the second bag over the bottom this time:
Tape the opening of the bag across the entire paint tray width.
You’re ready to rock and roll, errr roll and paint!
When you are done, carefully remove the plastic bags and throw them away. If you are pitching your roller, you can grab the roller through the bags and pitch it too.
No need to clean the tray (unless some paint seeped inside.) Unfortunately, you’ll probably still need to wash your paint brushes. But, if you clean your paint brushes correctly, they should last you a decade or more!
Pin for later!
Thanks so much…I hate to paint cause of the cleanup.
Another great why-didn’t-I-think-of-this-tip! This is the best 31-day series – I learn something new every day!
Your month of fixes is AMAZING!! Finally glad I can say I do this. 🙂
Awww, thanks Jen. Ha, great minds think alike!
I just leave the tray out to dry…if you’ve used latex paint, it will peel off completely. I’m so cheap, I even do that with the “throw-away” plastic paint tray liners. Spent too much time at the landfill to throw stuff away I can clean and re-use. Here in CA we’re hoarding our plastic bags ’cause our idiot Governor banned them.
Nancy, great idea. Do you know if this works on metal trays? I had heard that CA is going to start banning plastic bags. I know in Europe they discouraged using them by charging per plastic bag.
Hi, Brittany…it should work on metal trays as well. Thanks for all your great tips. I work part time at the Home Depot and am in charge of store workshops. I started a facebook page: Rohnert Park Home Depot Do it Herself Workshop and have posted several of your projects over the past few months–always giving your blog credit, of course. So keep up the good work…love this month’s theme of fix-its.
Now that’s pretty darn clever & why in the world did I not think of this! Oh a KEEPER for sure! Thanks so much for this!
Thanks Colleen.