27 Genius Painting Hacks that Really Work (Plus One that Doesn’t)

Over the years I have done A LOT of painting. I’ve painted just about everything that can be painted in a house including floors, walls, ceilings, doors, light fixtures, cabinets, countertops, windows, fireplaces, and more.

And with all of that painting, I’ve tried all kinds of hacks to make painting quicker and easier. Some weren’t all that helpful, but some were amazing and I use them every time I paint now. And while I’ve mentioned some of my favorite hacks here and there in various painting how-to posts, I’ve never shared a lot of these hacks before.

So I’ve put together a list of all my top painting tips and tricks that help make painting way easier, faster, and just generally more enjoyable. This list includes a combination of painting hacks I’ve found online over the years and tricks I’ve discovered on my own. Some are things I think absolutely every painter should know and others are just handy little tricks, but I’ve personally tried them all and they all really work.

Of course, I’ve also tried some painting hacks that didn’t work quite as well and at the end of this post I’ve included a popular paint brush hack that was a total bust when I tried it.

But first, the 27 painting hacks that are totally worth trying!

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Put nail holes in your paint can rim

When paint builds up along the rim of a paint can and dries, it can be really hard to properly seal the paint can to store it for later. To avoid all this build up, before you start painting, poke three or four holes around the inner rim of the paint can using a hammer and a nail. This lets any excess paint that pools here drip back into the paint can. You’ll waste a little less paint and be able to close your paint cans more easily.

Wrap a rubber band around your paint can

To keep your paint brush from getting too drippy as you paint, it really helps to wipe off the excess paint each time you dip your brush in the paint can. But wiping your brush against the edge of the can leads to paint build up all along the edges. Instead, you can wrap one large rubber band or several thin rubber bands around your paint can. Then you can wipe your paint brush against that instead.

Even though I’ve seen this shared a lot, I was skeptical of how well it would really work, but it really does work well for removing excess paint from your brush while keeping your paint can clean. Just be careful when removing your rubber bands afterward – if the paint hasn’t fully dried, it tends to splatter everywhere!

Add vanilla to cover the smell

Some paints are stinkier than others and some people are really sensitive to the smell of fresh paint drying. If you add a few drops of vanilla extract to your paint before you start painting, you can really diminish the harsh paint smell.

They also sell paint fragrance additives that serve the same purpose. They come in several scents including Fresh Air, Spring Rain, and Vanilla Bean. I haven’t tried these but some reviewers do note that fragrance can linger for months which may or may not be a good thing depending on how much you like the smell.

Defuzz new paint rollers with packing tape

You may have noticed that brand new paint rollers tend to shed quite a bit at first and can leave lots of little fuzzies in your fresh paint job. Before using a brand new roller cover, you can get rid of all the loose fuzz by pressing a piece of packing tape or painter’s tape along your roller. All the loose fibers will stick to the tape rather than your new paint. (If you are using a foam roller, you can skip this hack.)

Cover your paint tray with foil

You can buy disposable plastic paint tray liners, but a much cheaper, easier, and more environmentally-friendly option is simply to line your paint tray with aluminum foil. It works great and when you are finished painting, you can simply ball up the foil and throw it away.

Make your paint brush handle more comfy

Some days I do a lot of painting and after holding a paint brush for several hours, my painting hand can get really tired. In fact, some days if I hold a paint brush too long, my hand actually starts to go numb. I’ve tried out a lot of paint brushes, looking for the ones that both give a really smooth finish and are most comfortable in my hand and I’ve found that the Zibra palm pro is definitely my favorite. It is way more comfortable to hold than any other brush I’ve tried. But my husband came up with a quick hack to make it even better.

He wrapped a self-adhesive bandage wrap around the handle. This gives the handle extra cushion and makes it larger and easier to grasp which makes it way more comfortable when I’m doing lots of painting. This works to make any paint brush or paint roller way more comfortable to hold.

Seal the edges of painters tape

Painter’s tape is great for getting clean edges between two different paint colors, but if you want a really clean paint line, just rolling on some tape isn’t enough. When you want to get a really clean line between two contrasting paint colors, you need to seal the edges of your painter’s tape before you start painting. You do this by painting over the edge of your tape with the adjoining paint color.

If you are painting a colorful wall against a white ceiling, paint over the tape with the white ceiling paint. If you are painting a dark accent wall next to a neutral wall, paint over the tape with the neutral paint color. This will seal the edge of the tape and stop the new paint color from seeping underneath. Once this first layer of paint dries, you can paint the wall with your actual paint color without worrying about paint making it past the tape.

Remove painter’s tape before the paint dries

If you’ve ever pulled the painter’s tape off your wall only to have bits of paint peel right off with it, you know that removing tape isn’t as simple as it sounds. To avoid peeling paint problems, you want to remove your painter’s tape when your final coat of paint is still wet. Yes, this can be a bit messy but since the paint is still liquid, it hasn’t formed a seal over the tape yet. You can pull the tape right off without any peeling.

Check out all my tips for getting perfect paint lines with painter’s tape.

Easily removed paint from glass with a razor blade

If you are painting a window frame or mirror frame, sometimes it’s easier not to worry about taping off the glass before painting. Once the paint has dried, you can easily scrape any stray paint off the glass with a razor blade. Just be careful to run your razor blade smoothly along the glass rather than jabbing it straight down. It is possible to scratch the glass with a razor blade, but if you use a gentle touch and keep the blade at an angle, you should be fine.

In general, it’s really easy to scrape dried paint over glass, however, I don’t recommend doing this when painting with oil-based paints including spray paints. These paints dry a lot harder and it usually takes less work just to use tape or another protective layer to keep the paint from getting on the glass to begin with.

Use masking liquid to protect glass from paint

This is a great hack if you are painting French doors or multi-pane windows and don’t want to have to spend a ton of time cleaning up the glass after painting. Masking Liquid H20 makes it super easy to keep the paint off your glass. You just brush on a thick layer of the masking liquid before painting. Let it dry and then paint the window frame as usual. Once you are finished painting, score around each window pane with a utility knife and then you can peel the masking film off in a big sheet. It’s seriously like magic. It isn’t super cheap though, so if you only have a few windows or doors to do, I have a cheaper alternative below.

Use wrapping paper to protect glass

If you don’t want to spend the money to buy masking liquid, another much cheaper way to protect large panes of glass is to use painter’s tape and old wrapping paper. (Rolls of packing paper will also work.) This is what I did when I painted my sliding glass doors and while it took some time to get everything set up, it didn’t cost a dime and worked really well.

Protect door knobs with foil

When you are painting a door, an easy way to protect your doorknobs from paint is to wrap them with foil. Wrapping your doorknob with foil is way faster than covering it with painter’s tape. Just make sure that you shape the foil carefully so you get a clean paint line where the doorknob meets the door.

Cover areas you don’t want painted with Vaseline

Another way to keep paint off things you really don’t want it on is using good old Vaseline. Paint won’t stick to Vaseline, so before painting you can rub it on things like hinges or other hardware that can’t be removed. Once you’re finished painting, simply clean off the Vaseline.

Keep a damp paper towel nearby

Even when you try to be as careful as possible, sometimes paint gets somewhere you don’t want it. It helps to keep a damp paper towel close at hand to deal with mishaps. Wet paint can be easily cleaned off most surfaces including trim, hardwoods, and adjoining walls if you immediately wipe it up with a damp cloth.

Protect your carpet when painting trim

Painting baseboards is especially difficult when you are painting right over carpet. Because carpet fibers stick up, it can be hard to get a clean paint line without also getting paint on your carpet. To make it easier, use a wide putty knife, a drywall taping knife, or even a scrap of cardboard to press the carpet flat and create a nice, straight line as you paint along the baseboard. This should be enough to keep your paint out of the carpet, but if your carpet is extra high, you may also want to tape a plastic drop cloth along the edge to keep the carpet fibers from sticking as the paint dries.

Store your paint brushes and rollers in a plastic bag

Most painting projects require multiple coats of paint. You can save a lot of time by not cleaning your paint brushes and rollers between coats. Instead, you can keep them moist by wrapping them in plastic wrap or putting them in a plastic bag. To help them last even longer, you can pop the bag in the fridge. I can usually use the same paint brush for several days this way without the paint drying out in the brush.

Clean paint brushes with a paint brush cleaning tool

One way to keep your paint brushes smooth and soft is to use a paint brush cleaning tool to comb any dried paint from the bristles. I don’t do this every time, but any time my good paint brushes start feeling a bit stiff, I comb through the bristles when I clean them. These paint cleaning tools are only around five dollars and they also have a curved side you can use to scrape excess paint from your roller back into your paint tray when you are done with it.

Use cooking oil to clean oil based paint from hands

When I paint, my hands tend to get pretty messy. When I’m using water-based paints, this isn’t really a problem – it’s easy to wash off water-based products with regular hand soap and water. But soap and water won’t clean oil-based paints and stains. You can buy special soaps for cleaning oil-based paints from your skin, but I don’t always have these on hand. In a pinch, cooking oils like vegetable oil or olive oil work really well for removing oil-based products from skin. Just rub the oil of your choice into the stains; the oil on your skin will stick to the fresh oil you are rubbing in. Then wipe off the oily residue onto a paper towel and wash with water as usual.

If you use a lot of oil-based products, it’s probably more cost effective in the long-run to just buy a soap that removes oil and grease. Fast orange is a good alternative – it is often used by mechanics, is pretty affordable, and easily removes oil-based stains.

Label your paint cans by room

If you have paint left over at the end of a project, label the can with the name of the room or project you used it for. This will make paint touch ups so much easier.

Use nail polish remover to check for oil-based paint

When painting trim, cabinets, or doors, there is a chance they may have been previously painted with an oil-based paint. This is extremely important to know because you can’t just paint latex paint over oil-based paint.  If you do, the paint won’t stick. It may look okay at first, but it will soon begin scratching and peeling off any time it’s touched.

Unfortunately, you can’t tell what kind of paint you have just be looking. The easiest way to find out is to use nail polish remover. Put a little nail polish remover with acetone on a cotton ball and rub it on your painted surface. If paint rubs onto the cotton ball, it is latex paint. If it doesn’t, it is oil-based.

Get all the details on how to safely paint over oil-based paint.

Place small items in a cardboard box before spray painting

Any time you use spray paint, you need to protect the area around where you are painting from overspray. If you are painting something small, the easiest way to do this is simply to place the item you are painting inside a cardboard box. The box will contain all of the excess paint, even if you are painting outdoors on a windy day.

Spray paint screws in a cardboard box

It’s also easiest to paint screws using a cardboard box. Sometimes you need to paint screws to match the hardware or furniture they go to, but you don’t want the threads all gummed up with paint. The easiest way to cleanly paint screws is to poke holes in one of the bottom flaps of a cardboard box. Poke the screws into the holes so that only the tops are showing and then spray paint. The box sides will catch the overspray and the threaded end will be protected from paint.

Get more tips for spray painting furniture with a flawless finish.

Easy trick to touch up spray paint

Sometimes you don’t notice that you missed a spot spray painting until the very end. It isn’t always practical to give the whole thing another coat of paint. Instead, you can get a small paint brush and spray your spray paint onto the bristles. Be sure to do this over a drop cloth or a cardboard box to catch the overspray. Then you can touch up any missed spots using the paint brush.

Quickly fix spray paint drips

Even when you take your time and do multiple thin coats of spray paint, sometimes drips happen. If you notice drips in your spray paint finish, don’t touch them until the paint is fully dried – it will just lead to a smudgy mess. Once the paint has dried, you can lightly sand out the drip using 220 grit sandpaper. Then touch up the paint as described above.

Turn any paint into fabric paint

Painting fabric is an easy, inexpensive way to update your decor. And surprisingly, painted fabric doesn’t have to feel crunchy, stiff, or frankly, like paint at all. You can buy fabric paints, but it’s also super easy to make your own. The easiest way to create your own fabric paint is to mix fabric medium with acrylic craft paint. This is my favorite method for most painted fabric projects because you can use absolutely any color you want, it is inexpensive, and the painted fabric turns out very soft to the touch.

Check out lots more tips for painting fabric with beautiful (non-crunchy) results.

Paint outdoor furniture cushions

One of the more surprising things I’ve painted is outdoor furniture cushions. Outdoor cushions tend to get faded and sad looking pretty quickly, but they are really expensive to replace. Freshening them up with some paint is a great way to solve this. After one semi-failed attempt, I found this outdoor fabric spray paint and it works surprisingly well! It covers well and doesn’t leave the fabric super crunchy.

Check out my full review of painting cushions with this outdoor fabric paint.

Use Vaseline to create a distressed look

This is another fun Vaseline painting hack that I’ve used several times. Most people reach for the sandpaper when they want a distressed paint finish, but Vaseline is another easy way to get a distressed paint finish. Since Vaseline resists paint, you can apply Vaseline wherever you want the base layer to show and then paint right over it. Once the paint has dried, use a damp paper towel to wipe away the paint anywhere you applied Vaseline.

Check out my step-by-step tutorial for creating a distressed paint finish with Vaseline.

One Painting Hack That Really Didn’t Work

Along with sharing all my favorite painting hacks, it seems only fair to also share one I tried that didn’t work. I’ve seen this hack recommended all over the place, but when I tried it, it was a real dud.

Soaking paint brushes in vinegar is supposed to help loosen and soften dried paint that’s accumulated over time. I’ve seen this hack shared lots of places so I was excited to try it out. I tried this on a few paint brushes that were getting stiff but weren’t too far gone and sadly, didn’t really notice any difference. I even tried heating the vinegar first, but that also didn’t really make a difference.

I’ve also seen fabric softener recommended for removing dried paint, so I may have to give that one a try next.

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Those are all of my best painting hacks. I’m always on the lookout for new tips and tricks to try, so if you’ve seen or tried a painting hack I didn’t mention, let me know in the comments. I’d love to try it out!

And if you love a good hack, I’d recommend you check out the picture hanging hacks I tested next. Some of them worked super well!