Paint Decanting: The Tool Kit
Our favorite project? Paint decanting. Something we see across all homes is a giant, dusty, rusty, musty smattering of paint cans. Some of the nicest homes in the world have this hidden somewhere. Enter: Tartan and the Touch Up Cups.
Do not attempt to DIY until you’ve read the tips below! This process took a while to perfect.
I first came across Touch Up Cups when they were on Shark Tank. Fast forward a few years, and we’re partnering with them to do mega projects where we “decant” house paint into these fabulous little cups, saving the paint and saving SO MUCH SPACE. It’s unreal.
First, the why (OK if you scroll to the tool kit, I get it):
Touch Up Cups keep your paint fresh for up to ten years. That’s way longer than paint cans (we’ve opened enough rotten ones to never want to experience that again…).
The cups come with little balls that keep the paint mixed. Just give it a good ol’ martini shake before opening, and you’re all set.
Tartan makes custom labels for ours, because we are extra, but they do already come with labels you can fill in.
Touch Up Cups are 13 oz increments. If you need more than that, you’re not touching up… you would be getting a new gallon anyway.
They are washable, reusable, and recyclable!
THE TOOL KIT
Below is what you’ll need to assemble your make-a-mess kit:
Touch Up Cups (obviously)
Use this link, and not only do we get credit (and this seriously makes our day), you get a 10% discount on your order. Use code TARTAN10 at checkout to be sure you get the discount.
Get the dog version because the base is scratch proof. If you’re only doing this project once—this may not make sense for you to buy. But for us? It’s a MVP item.
The tarp is a reusable (!!) anti-slip tarp that sticks to all types of flooring and is impermeable to liquids. I didn’t think we needed this until they sent us one, and it is worth every penny (only about $20). It’s 10’ x 5’, and we will probably get 2-3 for future projects so we can spread out the paint cans.
This is annoying thing to not have on hand. You only need one per participant, and you probably have them in your home already.
If you have more than 10 paint cans, splurge on the super sticky ones so they don’t fall off in the chaos. It’s worth it.
Paper Towels
However many you think you need, double that.
Molly used to bring plastic rulers so we could wipe them down and re-use them, but that was a lot of work and paper towels. This is simple, cheap, and again… you may already have some!
These are important for re-sealing your paint cans, if needed. Also: more paper towels.
The small size holds 12 Touch Up Cups perfectly. Pro tip: keep the cardboard inserts that come with the cups to make them a bit more stable in the bin.
The Touch-Up Cups come with labels, but I made too many mistakes (in Sharpie) to risk handwriting them. So at Tartan, we just use our trusty Brother P-Touch labeler (for other go-to Tartan supplies, click here).
Check out the behind-the-scenes reel of the process here:
