Earlier this year, I wrote a post all about my lazy way of cleaning paintbrushes. While I still use that technique, I have new information that I’d just feel really bad about keeping from you because, let’s face it, cleaning paintbrushes is terrible and we need to stick together and help each other out with things like this. And other things too, that are actually important, not just in my own little world. 🙂
I always get a lot of comments across all the different social media platforms whenever I share a little tip on the blog. If there’s one universal truth of tip blogging, it’s that whenever you tell a group your favorite new way of doing something, at least 97% of them will have a better way of doing it. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but people always like to add in their 2 cents. Sometimes, that’s all it’s worth is 2 cents, but some of the ideas I’ve learned from these commentors are pure gold! Gold, I tell you!
So I’ve tried a few out and added one particular golden tip to my recommendation for lazy brush cleaning permanently.
So I still don’t worry about cleaning my brush right away. I still leave it to soak for a few hours or days, or whatever I feel like in a container of water.
I still use a green scrubbie to break the seal of paint on the bristles and allow the paint to rinse away freely and quickly.
But now….
I put a little splash of THIS golden, wonderful stuff in the water while the brushes soak. The bristles come out so soft and the paint rinses out even easier. Seriously. The bristles are all shiny and pliable and flowing in the breeze like they’ve just been to the paintbrush hair salon. You need to do this.
I loved this other tip that someone shared as a follow up as well. If you have a nice big dedicated shop space with a sink in it (I don’t, but wouldn’t that be awesome?), then you can set up a dedicated brush cleaning station. All you need is a piece of wood, maybe screwed down onto a workbench and a metal bristled brush. After cleaning your paintbrush, lay it down on the wood and brush it out with the metal brush really good a few times to keep your brushes like new for years and years. Now wouldn’t that be a nice follow-up to the paintbrush hair salon we had going on earlier?
So there we go, we’re all one step closer to paintbrush cleaning perfection. In a world where the brushes don’t yet clean themselves, my easy lazy method is a pretty good alternative.
Happy Painting!
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.