2torial #0494: Learn2 Paint a Room (Continued) Clean up your room! After you've been playing with brushes for all these hours, it's only right to put your tools away when you're done. Leaving brushes and rollers loaded with paint is a good way to ruin them. Clean them up and they'll serve you again.   Brush and roller clean-up: latex paint.This is easy. Just hold the brush or roller under a warm to hot water faucet and massage the paint out. Rinse thoroughly and you'll have a happy brush.   Brush and roller clean-up: oil-based paint.This is a little tougher. You're going to need a half-gallon bucket, a quart of paint thinner or mineral spirits, a pair of rubber gloves, and a well-ventilated work space. Paint thinner easily enters your blood stream through your skin or your lungs, and the stuff is not exactly a health tonic. So put on some gloves, pour some thinner in a bucket and use as little as possible. Massage the paint out of the brush, and press it gently and rhythmically against the bottom of the bucket. Don't pour any thinner down the drain. It can go right to the water table, and you might drink it some day. Contact your local recycling center for information on a safe method of disposal.   Get it while it's wet: Or before it dries solid. Scrub any excess paint off of wood floors before it dries overnight. Don't let toddlers or pets in the room before cleanup! Otherwise you'll have fresh paint all over your home.   Hurray! You're done. You've acquired a valuable skill and saved yourself a bundle. Next stop--the Sistine Chapel. -end- Learn More! or All steps at once (printable version)