My decorator showed me this painting trick to avoid the messy clean-up — and it’s so simple

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This simple trick has made painting a breeze

Woman painting wall with a rollerbrush
Woman painting wall with a rollerbrush (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Now that spring is finally here, it's the ideal time to refresh your home with a new coat of paint. And if, like me, you're looking to save money by tackling the painting jobs yourself, you’ll need to know how to paint a room like a pro.

While I enjoy painting (when I have time), I always dread the clean-up afterwards. Let’s face it, nobody likes cleaning out messy paint trays — especially if you quickly need to reuse them for the next room.

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Cover your paint tray with a plastic liner

Plastic bag on orange paint tray

Plastic bag on orange paint tray (Image credit: Shutterstock)

So what exactly is this top trick of the trade? A common yet effective painting tip is to line your paint tray with a plastic sheet or trash bag before pouring the paint. This completely covers the tray. When the painting is done, you just remove and dispose of the plastic liner. Essentially, this keeps your paint tray perfectly clean and ready for future use, saving you time and hassle.

After watching my decorator do this on a previous painting job, I thought this was a genius idea. Plus, each time the plastic liner had collected a fair amount of excess paint, he just carefully tied the corners of the liner together to pour it back into the paint tin — so nothing gets wasted.

Wrapped paint brush

Wrapped paint brush (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Another bonus tip he shared was to tightly wrap your wet paintbrushes with cling film between sessions, or even place them inside a sealable, plastic bag to prevent them from drying out. This is ideal if you want to store it away overnight, making it ready to go for the next day of painting.

Painting a room/s properly can easily take a few days, and honestly, scrubbing brushes after every session is an arduous, time-consuming task. So simply wrapping them is a much easier option.

Now that I’ve learned these tips of the trade, I look forward to revamping my home this spring — without the hassle of a big clean-up afterwards.

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Cynthia Lawrence
Cynthia Lawrence
Content Editor, Homes

As the Homes Content Editor, Cynthia Lawrence covers all things homes, interior decorating, and garden-related. She has a wealth of editorial experience testing the latest, ‘must-have’ home appliances, writing buying guides and the handy ‘how to’ features. 


Her work has been published in various titles including, T3, Top Ten Reviews, Ideal Home, Real Homes, Livingetc. and House Beautiful, amongst many.


With a rather unhealthy obsession for all things homes and interiors, she also has an interior design blog for style inspiration and savvy storage solutions (get rid of that clutter!). When she’s not testing cool products, she’ll be searching online for more decor ideas to spruce up her family home or looking for a great bargain!


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