Does paint have an expiry date?

Funny thing, when I start working at something I find that more ideas flood in to my head. Like with this blog, it took me awhile to get it rolling but now I have ideas all the time of different things I want to post about. After I made the anti-procrastination post on Wednesday I started running through my invisible mental to-do list and thinking of what else I have been procrastinating. FlyLady says (there it is again!) that in our minds we make simple tasks seem like they will take so much more time than they really do.

Back in October of last year Matt went away for the weekend to his brother's wedding. While the cat was away, the mouse played... We'd been living in this house for 5 years and hadn't repainted. I was so so sick of the colors that had looked so fresh, modern and appealing when we first saw the house.

This is a shot of the house when the previous owners were selling it.

So at 6 months pregnant I maneuvered furniture, stood on perilous objects, worked around a toddler and painted. But I didn't quite get it finished.

There are three areas I didn't finish. The first is the front wall above the door and window all the way to the ceiling. I couldn't figure out how to open the ladder, and at 6 months pregnant that was probably a good thing. It remains a project for Matt to do, sometime. The second was two walls below my big L shaped desk (That I don't even use anymore). I could not get that desk to budge no matter how hard I tried! And finally there was the little strip of wall above the kitchen.

Can you believe I've left such a small little area of wall unpainted for almost 11 months?!

I've been asking myself for awhile, does paint expire? The previous owner left several shelves of paint cans in a broken down dresser in the basement. I've probably spent a total of 5 minutes glancing at them over the past 6 years, wondering. The answers I've found via google are all over the place. From as little as 6 months and up to 5 years! That would lead me to believe that maybe the paint that was left behind is probably not usable anymore, but maybe one day I'll crack open a can and see (since I'm still trying to stick with the theme of working with what you have). I did read that it is best to apply it to a test section first to see how it looks when dried, just to make sure you don't go painting a whole big area only to realise there's something wrong with the finished coat.

I found the paint can that only had about 1/3 of the paint left. When I cracked it open I was mildly disturbed to see what looked like a giant discolored egg white on top of the paint. Yes, of course I took a picture for you!

Here's just one more shot since the littlest munchkin went crawling by.

I tried shaking it vigorously to mix it up but it didn't work. I ended up scooping the creepy goop out. I read on google later that you can try mixing it back together with a drill but the paint might be lumpy and need to be strained.

If you are going to throw away your unused paint please dispose of it correctly. The Winnipeg Recycling page says:

Leftover paint should never be dumped into sewers or drains. Latex paints can be placed out for regular garbage collection if the lids are off the paint containers and the paint is dry and hard. Homeowners should take their leftover oil-based (alkyd) paint to the household hazardous waste collection depot for free disposal.

You can read more about it here.

It took me a little while between getting Freya down for a nap and dealng with Desana climbing up on the chair with me, but I got it done in very little actual painting time.

I'm so not used to it, I keep catching a glimpse of the lovely bright color from the corner of my eye. It is pretty and new. It probably took less than 15 minutes to do as I only did the one coat. It isn't noticeable from the floor.

Anyone else have tiny little projects like this that you've been procrastinating?

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