Craft Paint Storage: How to Organize Bottles, Tubes and Jars

Paint bottles are easy to buy and hard to see. Stand forty of them in a deep bin and you are looking at forty identical caps, so you buy a third bottle of the same green because checking would mean lifting out the other thirty-nine.

Good craft paint storage has one aim: every color visible without moving another container. The rest follows from that. Sort so that similar paints sit together, choose shallow storage over deep, and keep a record of what you own that you can read at a glance.

Sort by paint type first, then by color family

Different kinds of paint are used for different jobs and on different surfaces, so type is the first split. Typical groups in a craft room are bottled acrylic craft paint, tube paints, fabric paint, glass or ceramic paint, watercolor pans and tubes, and specialty finishes such as metallic and glitter paints.

Inside each type, arrange by color family in an order you will remember. A common one runs:

• Reds, oranges and yellows
• Greens, blues and purples
• Pinks and skin tones
• Browns and other earth colors
• Black, gray and white
• Metallics and specialty finishes last

Within a family, run from light to dark.

Four ways to store bottles so colors stay visible

Tiered shelf risers

A stepped riser lifts each row above the one in front, much like a spice rack. It suits a shelf or the back of a table. Choose steps about as deep as your bottles are wide, so each step holds a single row, and keep to three or four steps so the back row stays within reach. A homemade version from stacked lengths of wood or sturdy boxes works as well as a bought one.

Shallow drawers

Drawers hold the most paint in the least space and keep light off it. There are two ways to load them:

• Lying down, cap toward you. Works when the cap is colored or the bottle is clear near the top. The drawer needs to be only a little deeper than the bottle is wide.
• Standing up, with a dot of the paint on the lid. The drawer must be taller inside than your tallest bottle. Dab a little of each color on its cap, or stick on a dot you have painted, and let it dry fully before closing the drawer.

Check each product label before laying bottles on their sides; if it says to store upright, use the standing method.

Wall racks

Narrow ledges on the wall show every bottle in a single row and free the work surface. They suit a collection you use constantly. Place a rack away from windows and heaters, and no higher than you can reach comfortably.

One tier of a rolling cart

If you paint in different spots, give paint one tier of a cart and stand the bottles in small open bins by color family, lids dotted. Lift out one bin at a time instead of the whole collection. The rest of the cart can hold water jars, palettes and rags; see how to set up a rolling cart for the arrangement.

Storing tubes

Tubes roll, hide their labels and get squeezed out of shape under other things. Two methods keep them in order.

• Shallow trays, one layer deep. Lay tubes side by side with the color band facing up, caps all pointing the same way. A cutlery tray or a few shoebox lids inside a drawer keep the rows from sliding. One tray per color family is enough for most collections.
• Hanging clips. Clip each tube by its crimped end to a row of small hooks or a taut wire, cap down. Every label is readable and the tubes take no surface space. This suits a small set you use often.

Jars and pots

Wide jars and pots are best in a single layer on a shallow shelf, labels facing out. If you must stack them, stack only two high and keep each stack to one color family, so you move one jar to reach the other.

Whatever the container, it stays in its original packaging with the label readable. Decanting paint into unmarked jars loses the color name, the paint type and the manufacturer’s directions in one step.

Habits that keep paint usable

These are general habits, not rules for any particular product. The label on each bottle, tube or jar is the authority, and where it says something different, follow the label.

• Wipe the rim, threads and nozzle before closing. Dried paint in the threads stops the lid from seating.
• Close every lid firmly, and check flip-top caps by pressing until they click.
• Store away from direct sun and away from heat sources such as radiators, heaters and sunny windowsills.
• Avoid places that may freeze, such as an unheated garage or shed in winter.
• Keep paint out of reach of children and pets.

Sprays, varnishes, fixatives and solvent-based paints are a separate case. Store them only as their product label and safety data sheet direct. The same applies to glues and sealers kept nearby, which are covered in the guide to storing craft glue and other adhesives.

Keep a swatch card

A cap color or a printed label is only a rough guide to what is inside. A swatch card shows the real thing and doubles as your inventory.

Use white cardstock, one card per paint type. Brush a small patch of each color, about 1 in (2.5 cm) square, in the same order as your storage, and write the color name and number beside it. Leave a few blank spaces at the end of each family for new arrivals.

Keep the cards on a ring near the paint and take a snapshot of them before you shop. When a bottle is used up and not replaced, strike through its patch.

Keeping the system going

Return each bottle to its color family at the end of a session, not to the nearest gap. Add a swatch on the day a new paint arrives, before it goes on the shelf. When a row is full, treat that as the limit for that family: use up or pass on a bottle before adding another.

Brushes need their own space beside the paint, stored so they dry properly and keep their shape. The guide to drying, storing and protecting paint brushes covers that.