Storing Paint Thinner

Hubby bought me some AMAZING Christmas gifts this year.

Granted he didn’t know he bought them for me until they arrived on the front porch, so he too was surprised with his brilliance.

Nope, no sparkly wishes over here…

When winter finally hits in my area (like yesterday at -20 celsius), nothing warms your heart (and hands and toes and dripping nose) like a space heater in your DIY area. This is just a Costco version, but between this new one and an old one I was previously using, I was able to get my garage up from -20 to 15 degrees celsius. This is the difference between a chunky, un-spreadable paint job and a smooth roll on with nice levelling – VERY important to a DIYer.

The best part of this one is that if you pick it up, or should it tip over, it automatically shuts itself off. On top of that, it has a timer on it so that you don’t leave it unattended and then later find your house burned down. I had seen it as a recommended purchase on another blogger’s site and I concur… at $60, this is a great buy.

Another gift he bought me was this paint brush washer (thinner / varsol container).

I came across this in a Lee Valley magazine and immediately had to order one.

I don’t use a lot of oil paint (mainly because of the tedious clean up), but you do need paint thinner for stain as well, and up to this point I was keeping it in an old flower pot and would dip brush after brush into the grimy gritty liquid to try to clean them.

Not any more! This container is sectioned so that the silt from your paint or stain sinks to the bottom of the container, making cleaning your brushes much more effective.

Just fill it with your mineral spirits / varsol / turpentine, put in the siv dish and clean your brushes!

On the side of the dish you see a metal bar – that’s for scraping off your paintbrush and the excess paint thinner.

When you’re done, all you have to do is put the lid back on the paint brush washer jar and store it until you need it next. No wasted paint thinner, no lingering fumes, no fire hazard (unless you put the container near a flame and it explodes). It’s just brilliant!