10 ways to transform your home with just half a pot of paint
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After years of redecorating, you've likely found yourself with an abundance of leftover paint pots now collecting dust. Thankfully, half a pot of paint might actually be all you need to revamp your space. To help put your leftover paint to good use, we've spoken to four experts on all the creative ways you can completely transform the look of a room with minimal product, helping to reduce waste and save money in the process.
Paint doors and frames
'Painting the doors in your home actually goes a long way in setting the tone for your interiors, and introducing a consistent colour scheme throughout can create a huge statement without using up much paint,' Lucy Steele, paint and interiors expert at V&CO, tells House Beautiful.
Adding interest to any room, it's also a clever way to create the illusion of more space. 'If you have a narrow room with lots of doors, low ceilings, or a small room, painting the door and the door frame will blend the colours and help the room appear larger,' Lucy adds.
Soft Fern, Blue Danube, Coral Gables, Decorators White, all Benjamin Moore
Add colour to skirting boards and windows
Painting skirting boards and window frames other than white is a brilliant way to highlight architectural features, subtly introduce colour (especially in a neutral room), and add depth and interest to a space.
'Keeping the walls clean with white paint and adding in pops of colour will only require around one litre of paint for each surface,' explains Jon Mee, technical advisor at Earthborn.
'When painting skirting boards, windows, and door trims, a primer is recommended to help the paint adhere. However, if you apply the paint in thin, even coats, it will work just as well. To avoid uneven coverage, don't overload the brush or roller with paint and allow each coat to dry completely before applying the next one.'
Cedar green, Benjamin Moore
Revamp nooks and alcoves
Often underutilised areas in the home, nooks and alcoves can benefit from leftover paint too, as Michael Rolland, managing director at The Paint Shed, notes: 'Depending on the size of your pot of paint, a smaller accent wall can be a great way to utilise leftover paint, for example in alcoves, feature walls in home offices or walk-in wardrobes.'
Natural Hessian and Decadent Damson, both Dulux
Make it a colour block
Colour blocking is a great way to layer contrasting tones and highlight features like a gallery wall in a living room. 'Colour blocking can be a single stripe on the wall or something more substantial like halving the wall to create two tones,' says Jon.
Yellow Tone and Terra Bella, Benjamin Moore
Paint your own headboard
Give your bedroom a makeover and create a colourful new focal point with a DIY headboard.
'Furniture is a big expense and redecorating or refreshing your environment should not be unattainable,' says Stephanie King, creative lead at Dulux. 'This hack eliminates the need for extra furniture and lets you add a splash of colour with a DIY headboard using just a small amount of paint, creating an affordable and powerful focal point for the room.'
To achieve the look, simply use masking tape to carve out the shape you want and fill this with a comforting shade of your choice.
True Joy and Sapphire Splendour, Dulux
Create interest on bookshelves
Here's another often-overlooked idea. Painting the insides of bookshelves will give you maximum impact for minimal effort, and bring your well-loved reading nooks back to life.
Amazon Soil and Rosy Peach, Benjamin Moore
Upcycle furniture
'If you have leftover wood paint, refreshing your furniture is an affordable and simple way to completely transform a piece,' says Michael.
It will depend on the size of the furniture, but one litre should do the trick. 'Take your remaining pot of paint and give a healthy coating to your chairs, bedside tables, dining table legs or coffee tables,' suggests Jon. 'If you have oil-based paint to hand, this is the best for painting wooden furniture as it is known to be more durable.'
Still, it's recommended to save enough paint for two coats because painting over furniture can create streaks.
Chalk Paint cupboard by Maude Smith, walls: Carnaby Yellow by Annie Sloan
Create your own murals, shapes and patterns
Unleash your creativity with some freehand shapes to add interest to a room. Bold stripes, abstract swirls, geometric shapes or contrasting black line art can all be achieved with around one litre of paint. Having multiple colour pots will work in your favour here, but one colour can still create that intended wow factor.
'Wall paint patterns are currently having a bit of a moment,' says Lucy. 'Paint patterns will not only give your home interior a unique look, but they are also less permanent than wallpaper and require less paint.'
To get started, sketch out your desired shape or design with masking tape and paint in between the dimension. 'Leave the paint to dry completely, preferably for 24 hours, and peel off the masking tape to reveal the design,' explains Jon.
Vivid Peach, Blue Seafoam, Cool Blue, Persimmon, all Benjamin Moore
Zone it
Find yourself working from your bedroom or dining room most of the time?
'Even when it's not possible to work from a separate room, there are affordable ways to create a distinct working zone, even in smaller spaces, so you can separate work and play,' says Stephanie.
Use a combination of leftover paints to zone this area with colour and use masking tape to create a graphic focal point – extra points for using energising colours.
Blue Nova and Antique Pewter, Benjamin Moore
Get stenciling
Want a budget-friendly and creative way to enhance your space? Turn to stencils for a tile-effect makeover.
'New tiles can be quite expensive, but this hack allows you to achieve a similar look on a budget. By purchasing or creating a stencil and using leftover paint, you can easily refresh a fireplace surround or add a decorative touch to plain white kitchen tiles by mimicking a tile pattern on the wall,' says Steph.
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