Make sure to load the brush or roller up with paint before wrapping it in plastic. This helps keep it soft and wet. I like to use (clean) plastic produce bags from the grocery store for this purpose.

I learned this tip from a pro: When you finish a paint job load the roller, wrap it tightly with a plastic bag, place it in a ziploc with all the air squeezed out, and it keeps for over a year. When you need to touch up, stick it on a roller cage and go.

We've been doing this as we ever-so-slowly repaint our house. The paint stays wet for a surprisingly long time.

I put brushes and rollers in a plastic bag and store them in the freezer if I still need to finish a job. Just lay them out an hour or so before you need them to let them "thaw".

dwelement, but isn't loading the wet roller onto the cage a big, messy pain?

dallas10086 -- I, personally, leave the roller in the bag while I load it back on the handle, thus minimizing the mess.

For some reason, this seems to work better with rollers than brushes for me, but I might just be more careless with the brushes....

we have been slowly repainting our house for about 2 years....and I always wrap my brushes & rollers (the pad and handle) in plastic grocery sacks and put on the top shelf of our fridge. They will keep for a long very long time, but I might try freezing them next time....good idea!

I also line the paint tray with a plastic bag. It makes clean-up a lot easier and I am able to re-use the tray a few more times. I know the trays are not very expensive, so it only saves a little bit of money; but it also saves me a trip to the store to buy more.

And, when I remove a roller, I use a plastic grocery bag so my hands don't get paint all over them.

LOL, I thought this was just common sense.

The best tip I can give is to try Benjamin Moore Aura paint.

Doesn't need an undercoat and if the wall colour is pale you only need one coat, it has very little dripping, covers a lot of surface, almost no smell and dries super fast.

Costs a bit more but you still save money and definitely save a lot of time.

this works for frequently graffitied areas that you need to constantly keep clean. ziploc sells giant size bags that you can squish the air out of.

I learned this accidentally - if you buy Valspar paint from Lowe's, they sell at least two qualities. If you just order the color at the paint counter, they automatically give you the lower quality paint. But if you ask specifically for the higher quality paint, they'll mix that.

(On primed surfaces) we have always needed two coats of the lower quality, but we only need one of the higher quality, so it's worth the added expense per gallon, since you need less paint.

Benjamin Moore Aura is the way to go! Awesome Awesome Awesome.........

Not getting the concept:

If you're painting a room, why wouldn't you simply devote sufficient time to do it and just get it done?

I clear out the room the morning of day one, and complete the prepwork (filling holes, removing hardware, taping off) in the afternoon - then sand down the dried spackle in the evening and do any necessary touchups & refills that evening...
The next am it's finish sanding, then painting the ceiling first, going over the edges w/ the paintpad (much faster -trust me) and rolling out the walls (2 coats each). By that evening, it's time to reattach hardware and refurnish the room. If painting trimwork a contrasting color is necessary, then add another day to the project - but that's another can of paint and different brushes...

Now if it's the kitchen, that's a different story: walls can get done one weekend and the cabinets another time - Last time I did mine I used an entire 3-day weekend to get it all done at once (and the walls were red - That meant 4-5 coats of paint because I wasn't smart enough to use a primer...)

"...why wouldn't you simply devote sufficient time to do it and just get it done?"

We always think that's what we're doing, but we rarely get as far as we intended to.

I usually wrap them in plastic and keep in cooler/veggie drawer of fridge.

oh good lord, bepsf...of course we'd all love to "just get it done", but sometimes life happens. but I'm glad to hear you've got things down pat!

http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/

Wow. This is such a great tip! I only wish I knew this when I was first painting my apartment. I painted every room a different colour including the floors, all by myself! Took like 2 weeks! And I hate to remember how much time I spent washing up every single day!

This method has saved us a TON of time as well, but the one thing we learned is that your brushes will dry up if left at room temperature - so - to keep them nice and fresh, place the plastic wrapped brushes or rollers in the fridge. :)
http://thenookonline.com/

Yeah, really. If you are priming and painting, and you have a job and kids and thus get maybe have 2 hours uninterupted per day to do things like paint, then you need to be able to store your brushes in between sessions.