Another Way to Seal Your Paint Cans.

Do you have an empty oatmeal container?  

This is Trader Joe's Multigrain Hot Cereal, my favorite!

Do you also have a one-quart paint can, with the awful lid?  (Why hasn't anyone come up with a better design for paint cans?  The rim on these things gets all nasty, no matter how hard we try to keep it from happening.)

I realized the other day that the plastic lid from the oatmeal canister fits perfectly onto the paint can!

No more mashing paint all over the inside of the rim while pressing the old metal lid back into place.

My favorite lids are ones that I used to get from Annie Sloan stockists.  They were pricey ($5 each), but it was worth every penny to me for the convenience of painting straight from the can without messing up the rim.

Last year, though, that lid was discontinued in favor of one that has a screw-on top for pouring ... instead of the hinged lid that allows me to paint directly from the can.

photo source

Discovering this trick with the oatmeal canister lid has made me a very happy painter.  Hopefully it will help you, too.