Always keep your paint can on a drop cloth or other surface you are okay with getting paint on it. Fortunately, I did not learn this the hard way.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I am renovating the storage and organization in our laundry room/garage entry way. Earlier this week, my husband and I dug through our paint storage and found that the original builders white from 7 years ago was looking a little iffy. We had portions of two 5 gallon containers left of our "base" color from when we had the rest of the house painted 5 years ago. The one container had less than a gallon in it and the other container had about 2 gallons in it.
Today was painting day, so I carried both containers up from the basement. My dad arrived to help me paint. We stacked the plastic 5 gallon container that we were starting with on top of the other one, opened it up and let my 4.5 year old stir the paint. As my dad lifted the container to pour into the pan, I noticed a puddle of paint on top of the other can. Our can was leaking. Somehow the bottom of the can cracked. I am so happy that it didn't start leaking as I was carrying it up from the basement across our carpets. The puddle was contained to the top of the other jar, onto the drop cloth and just 3 drops on the linoleum.
We have finished the paint in the can and will dispose of it. I hope the other can remains intact as well as my other plastic cans in storage. I guess we need to be more careful how we handle the plastic cans.
Since the blog is about life with a preschooler, I should add that my daughter was an excellent helper. In addition to stirring the paint, she helped me tape the molding. While painting, she used a small roller and helped me roll the walls. She also used a brush to do the corner cut in. However, it was still helpful to have my mom there on call to clean her up and entertain her when she had enough (and we had enough of her help).
