Most painting projects use more than one gallon of paint. The challenge then is how do you make sure the color is consistent across multiple gallons of paint. Boxing paint is the term used to ensure color consistency.
Boxing paint is when you combine all the paint you'll be using into one large container and mix it. This is especially important when painting large surfaces, like a very long wall or one side of your home's exterior. That's because even a slight color variation from one can of paint to another may be visible on a single surface.
Now that you understand the ideal solution, here are some time saving techniques painters shared with each other on PainterForum.com … in response to a question about boxing paint.
- Box enough paint to cover each wall, and use natural breaks like corners to start boxing the next batch of paint.
- Use the same gallon of paint for cutting in edges and rolling the remainder of the wall.
- Start using one gallon of paint, and when you're halfway through the gallon container, fill it up with paint from the next gallon. There are different variations on this technique once you've got an empty gallon container (or the pros use 5 gallon containers) to work with.
Note: Professional painters use a squirrel mixer attached to a drill as shown in the photo here from PaintersSupply.net.
