Creative Uses for Leftover Paint

What Should You Do with Leftover Paint?

Painting an Accent Wall

If you have enough paint left over from your project, you can choose to use it to paint a full accent wall in your living room or bedroom. An accent wall can be a powerful design choice. They break up the traditional look of four walls being painted the same color, and they can draw your eye to a particular part of the room. On top of that, they will give you a chance to play around with color in your house without making too big of a commitment. 

Freshen Wall Trim

You can update your Bay-area room and give it a new lease on life by painting your wall trim. By ditching the plain white trim and going for a more fun color, you can add tons of contrast and character to your room. This works especially well in kids rooms, home offices, and dining areas.

Repaint Old Furniture

Odds are you have a few pieces of furniture around the house that aren’t exactly photo-ready. Before you take it to a local thrift store to drop off, consider what you can do with your leftover paint. Furniture can be easily revamped with a coat of primer before you apply the paint. With a quick fix like this, your furniture can look brand new and will be a perfect re-addition to your living spaces.

Garage Door Paint

If your garage has an entrance on the side or back of the building, you have the chance to experiment with any fun color you can think of. Since your neighbors and house guests can’t actually see the door, you can even add a dash of color to your entrance in an HOA neighborhood that restricts exterior door colors.

Add Color to Kitchen Cabinets

If you have leftover paint from your interior doors or other projects, you can update your kitchen with a cool contrasting look. By removing your cabinet doors and painting the inside of the space, you can make your dishes really stand out. This adds some very nice contrast to what could otherwise be a fairly drab area. You could even paint the inside of bookshelves for a similar look in a study or office.

Frame a Mirror

This one might take a little more work. You can add a lot of character to your bathroom by framing the mirror with a trim that matches the rest of your home. This creates a piece of custom art at a much lower price than you’d spend buying something similar in the store. You can attach the trim with building adhesive, or you can use velcro command strips if the trim is light enough. Paint this new addition to your home in a nice contrasting color to your bathroom walls, and it’ll really pop!