Use Up Leftover Paint with Dulux Tester Pot Projects

How many paint tester pots do you have lurking in the back of a cupboard? Here’s how that leftover paint can transform your home.

Dulux tester pots are your best friends in helping to decide which colours to use for your decorating projects. However, once you’ve painted your A4 colour swatches and chosen the best hue for your walls, chances are you’ll have some left over. Lucky you! Before you’re tempted to pop those pots away, take a good look at the items in your home. Are the dining room chairs looking a bit worse for wear? Could you jazz up your photo frames? Upcycling is a budget-friendly way to revamp everything from furniture to plant pots while using what you’ve already got.

Brushes ready? Here’s a look at some exciting projects to use up every last drop of paint while creating a stylish visual impact.
 

1. Dip your chairs

There’s nothing better than that feeling of making something old feel new again. Best of all, when it comes to upcycled furniture, it’s just so much cheaper to reinvent the larger pieces for a whole new look. Whether you’ve got mismatched wooden chairs you don’t quite know what to do with or it’s time to update your dining room, the dipped chair effect offers dazzling results.

The options for achieving this look are endless and it’s hard to go wrong with an easy process for painting, whereby you use masking tape to get that crisp line. Choose to dip the top of a chair and leave the bottom colour-free for a striking impact. Or, dip the chair legs in a shade that ties in with your colour scheme. Pluck a colour from your accessories or wall art and go as bright as you like! The lines don’t have to be the same height either, so play around to find a design to suit you.
 

2. Reinvigorate your baskets

Along with Dulux tester pots, do you have an array of baskets hiding in the cupboard or pushed into dark corners to cover up the overspill of clutter? Bring them out from the dark and proudly display your hoarding habits, encased in stylish design pieces to add character to your home. Use the dipping method to coat the lower half in a vibrant shade, add a stylish stripe around the top or transform an old basket by painting the entire surface. If you feel like getting really crafty, use stencils to create shapes, patterns and quotes to adorn your reinvigorated storage solutions.

3. Colour code your hangers

How often do you rummage through your wardrobe looking for the only thing you can’t find? It’s leftover paint to the rescue when you coat your coat hangers in your favourite shades. Colour code your hangers to organise everything in a way that makes sense to you while ensuring those seemingly invisible items stand out when you’re in a rush. It’s not all about organisation though, as you can do it for the sheer pleasure of painted hangers that beautify your space. Love polka dots, patterns or animal shapes for the kid’s rooms? There are no rules saying you can’t turn trusty old hangers into practical works of art.

4. Perk up your accessories: plant pots and photo frames

There’s no need to go out and buy pots for your plants when a lick of paint on the old ones is all it takes for an effective new look. Alternatively, this solves trying to find just the right colour, as you can buy whatever fits your plant best and paint it to suit your decor. Simple terracotta pots work well with leftover paint. Try paint dipping with a band of colour or line up a range of pots and create a colour explosion in the garden. If you’re painting a few pots to cluster together, use a variety of patterns and colours for a visually exciting effect. For indoor pots, try matching the colour with a vibrant accent shade.

Or, how would you like to reframe your photos, without actually reframing them? Your paint tester pots have the power to freshen up all your frames and inspire new ways to display your cherished images. Combine a few pretty pastels like pink, violet and green, on different shaped frames for a feminine, vintage appeal. Choose a contrasting colour to your wall to really make a photo pop or enhance a gallery wall.

5. Jazz up pinboards

No one wants to look at a bland pinboard full of scribbled to-do lists, random receipts and an odd recipe stuck here and there. Make sure everything gets done with a pinboard that grabs your attention and makes those odd jobs look so much more appealing. Using masking tape, paint bold geometric patterns on a cork board to highlight your notes and create an organised space for displaying different ideas, chores or messages for other members of the household.

The inspiration doesn’t stop there though, so check out our Pinterest page to unleash your inner artist with your Dulux tester pots. Leftover paint never looked so good!