Is there a word for when you’re window-shopping skips? I was skip-gazing (?) around the corner the other day and as well as having a mighty fine looking pallet in there (yoiiiiink), there were several old paint roller trays flung on top.

Compared to rollers, paint trays are super easy to clean (especially if you line them with a carrier bag first) so I don’t know why they were thrown out. There were a couple of emulsion ones and a couple of smaller gloss ones.

We’ve got plenty of trays for painting ourselves but I guess I could rinse them off and offer them on Freecycle or something.

As for reuses, in the past, I’ve used old roller trays as drip trays under seedlings (the deep part is more useful if you’re carrying them around, they have a tendency to wobble off the shelf bit – but that’s fine catching run off if it’s in one place). What else can be done with them?

We had a water week – a week of water themed posts – in honour of World Water Day back in March but I’ve had a run of water-related questions recently so I thought we’d have another wet week. “Water Week 2: This time it’s personal damp.”

A couple of weeks ago, Tyler asked a question on a random old post:

What should I do with the water I use to wash of my paint brushes?

It’s a good question because it uses a surprisingly large amount of water to get paintbrushes clean – and even more if you’ve been using a roller for large scale decorating.

Can anything be done with the very, very watered down paint – particularly the first rinse which is really quite paint-y?

Do you have any tips for reducing the amount of water used to clean them? I try to squeeze out as much paint as possible before washing – old newspaper works well as a wrapping material but quickly gets soaked, plastic bags is less absorbent but you’ll be able to squeeze it for longer.

(Picture by basheertome)

We’ve had an email from Sharon:

We’ve got a ton of old paintbrushes. They’ve gone stiff and hard. Any suggestions?

If the brushes have gone hard because they weren’t cleaned properly, you might still be able to revive them by giving them a good clean with turps or the like. Failing that, or if they were clean to start with, apparently a ten minute soak in some hot white vinegar can revive ones used for water-based paints (soak it then wash it out with soap and warm water and leave to air dry).

Even if you don’t get them back to perfect softness needed for a nice, smooth paint job, once clean, they can be used for cleaning hard-to-reach areas around the house or on a car’s dashboard – in fact a little stiffness might help them getting into tiny nooks and crannies easier.

Charities that collect leftover paint for redistribution in the community also might be interested in them.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Sandi asking:

What can I do with old paint charts, the colour reference ones? I know I can just throw them in with cardboard recycling but I wondered if anyone had any creative ideas for things to do with them instead.

I’ve heard that home style experts recommend keeping a swatch of colours and material samples for your key rooms in your bag when you’re out shopping – so that you can check if things match/work together easily – but I guess that only uses up the tiny square or two of paint that you used, and not the rest.

It’s not quite the same but my dad had a colour chart for his stamp collection when I was a kid and I used to love playing with that – looking at the different shades of each colour and how they gradually turn from one shade to another – and I guess paint charts could be a limited version for that — ideal if you want to raise kids like me who, when asked for their favourite colour, will reply “a matt grey-blue with a subtle hint of green” or “purple-tinged charcoal”. (I would probably jump for OCD-joy if someone gave me a pantone reference guide for my birthday on Sunday. :) )

Other suggestions though? I don’t scrapbook so don’t know but could they be useful for that?

(By the way Sandi, if you’ve got some leftover paint from your DIY work, you may want to check out our post on that very subject and see how it can be redistributed to good causes.)

Posting the paint tins entry last week made me wonder what about paint itself.

I know there are a lot of worthwhile causes out there that collect the half-cans of paint sat around in everyone’s cellar/shed/store-cupboard and put them to good uses – like painting murals, bit of furniture or when there is enough left, decorating interiors of community projects and the like.

These things tend to be local but does anyone know of any national schemes? If not, how about local ones in your area? If you do, leave the details in a comment – including which area it is if it’s a local one.

And aside from that, any crafty craft-y reuse ideas for old emulsion/gloss paint?