Mixing paint colors to save money - anyone ever done this?

[busymama77]

Our foyer and upstairs hall is in bad need of a fresh coat of paint and we're on a very tight budget right now and I don't forsee it loosening up anytime soon. I have some paint left over from when we moved in almost a year ago but they are all different colors - one is a green, another is a peach, and the other is a blueish/gray. We also have white ceiling paint.

Have you ever mixed paint colors together to make up a new color? If so, how did it turn out or did you just throw in the brush and go out and buy a whole new can?!

[sunnysandiegan]

Color is my "thing" and I ADORE mixing paint colors to create new colors!!!

I used whatever we had leftover from our house paint to create new colors for DD's dollhouse. She chose some colors "as is", but mostly I mixed up existing paints to create a whole new set of colors.

Just last weekend, I was cropping (scrapbook-crafts) at a friend's house and she wanted to delve into paint for the first time. I only had one color with me of paper paint (bright orange), so I dug through her craft paints and found another color (dull medium pink). I mixed them together and the result was PERFECT for what she wanted.

Without seeing the colors, I couldn't advise you specifically. I do all my color mixing on instinct and they always turn out great.

In general, decide if you want light or dark. Mix any colors first, then add white to lighten (if desired). Mix enough at the beginning because you can never match it exactly once you start. If I know I want one color, but just don't have quite enough.... I use that one color as the base and add little bits of other colors into it....stirring a LOT and then stirring even more....until I have enough paint but before destroying the original color (unless I like the results, then I just keep going). If I want a brand new color, then I start mixing in a clean container (5-gallon or paint tray) using equal portions of the colors I have at hand first and then altering the portions as I see what develops. I generally get the color right first and then adjust the value (lightness/darkness) with white, gray, or black. It just works faster for me that way.

Without seeing your exact colors, I would say the green and gray-blue might go well together and the peach and white will look good together. If you needed more volume than any two of those, you could probably get away with adding little bits of the opposite colors if you are just a bit shy on volume. The green, blue-gray, and white might work, but the white might also wash out those colors. Try a little bit in a baby food jar first and seal it tight for a day or two while you deliberate.

[philomom]

Use the exact type of paint, latex with latex... oil with oil. Mix well.


The biggest problem I've had is not having enough of the new paint color that I mixed and then I go to get it color matched and the computers get it wrong.

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

Color is my "thing" and I ADORE mixing paint colors to create new colors!!!

I used whatever we had leftover from our house paint to create new colors for DD's dollhouse. She chose some colors "as is", but mostly I mixed up existing paints to create a whole new set of colors.

Just last weekend, I was cropping (scrapbook-crafts) at a friend's house and she wanted to delve into paint for the first time. I only had one color with me of paper paint (bright orange), so I dug through her craft paints and found another color (dull medium pink). I mixed them together and the result was PERFECT for what she wanted.

Without seeing the colors, I couldn't advise you specifically. I do all my color mixing on instinct and they always turn out great.

In general, decide if you want light or dark. Mix any colors first, then add white to lighten (if desired). Mix enough at the beginning because you can never match it exactly once you start. If I know I want one color, but just don't have quite enough.... I use that one color as the base and add little bits of other colors into it....stirring a LOT and then stirring even more....until I have enough paint but before destroying the original color (unless I like the results, then I just keep going). If I want a brand new color, then I start mixing in a clean container (5-gallon or paint tray) using equal portions of the colors I have at hand first and then altering the portions as I see what develops. I generally get the color right first and then adjust the value (lightness/darkness) with white, gray, or black. It just works faster for me that way.

Without seeing your exact colors, I would say the green and gray-blue might go well together and the peach and white will look good together. If you needed more volume than any two of those, you could probably get away with adding little bits of the opposite colors if you are just a bit shy on volume. The green, blue-gray, and white might work, but the white might also wash out those colors. Try a little bit in a baby food jar first and seal it tight for a day or two while you deliberate.

I definitely want light since it is a foyer and a hallway that I'll be painting. The foyer/hallway is also right outside the bathroom that I just used the green in almost a year ago, so if I went with the green (which is a smidge lighter than avocado), it would be a much lighter shade of green. But DS's nursery is also a light green. DH thinks that would be too much green in one space and really in the house altogether. Our family room/breakfast room is a very pale mustard yellow. Our room is a pale peach. Our bathroom is the bluish/gray. The boys bathroom is a light blue.
So I have the green, bluish-gray, peach, light blue, and also the very pale green from DS's nursery to play with. Hmmmmmm... now I'm getting excited because I forgot about the light blue and the light green.

The current color on the walls is your basic "we want to show the house so they will buy it" off white. YUCK! Plus, it's flat and any sort of mark my 4.5 year old makes, you can see it and it's hard to clean up. All of the colored paint is a semi-gloss. Easy to clean.

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by philomom

Use the exact type of paint, latex with latex... oil with oil. Mix well.


The biggest problem I've had is not having enough of the new paint color that I mixed and then I go to get it color matched and the computers get it wrong.

That's what I'm afraid off, too. But with the peach color that we have, I have a full can of it. I had bought two cans thinking that I would need that much to paint our master bedroom, but ended up not needing it. So, it's colored and being UNUSED - Guess I could use it for our closests.... but that's another time.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

You could try freecycle or craigslist. I gave away a mountain of old paint on craigslist last year, just because we redid the colors when we moved in and didn't need any of the old colors anymore. Also, you could try a bargain store like Ollie's or Big Lots, they often have paint for like $5 a can. Or check the return/wrong color stand at the back of your hardware store paint area.

Also, for your peach, you could take it back and see if they can modify the paint for a small fee. You could probably get it turned into any other color that was on the same chip.

If you want to lighten a color you already have, just get a $5 quart of white semi-gloss and mix it until you have the right shade. That would probably help with the "running out" fear.

[HeatherAtHome]

One apartment we moved into, we were told we were allowed to paint any colour, but they would only provide us with cans of white paint for free. It was free, so of course I took it! Then I chose some paint from the oops section at the big box store (Here it's $10CAD) and mixed it with the white to get the right colour. What I did was pour it into a bigger bucket, mixed it really well and then put leftover paint back into the can when we were finished. I made sure that we had extra.

In our house, so far I've been buying the oops paint. It's so hard to choose a colour, I don't mind having the selection narrowed down a bit! We've been renovating so every time we had to go shopping I'd swing by the paint section to see what was on their sale rack. I love oops paint!

[Ruthiegirl]

I mix paint all the time!

Our local Benjamin Moore has a huge, tremendously HUGE, selection of oops paint. Most of it is $5 a can. I buy a can of a color I like, a can of white-ish to tone it down if need be and mix, mix, mix. I have painted my dd's room this way as well as our dining room. Love both rooms.

I am thinking of running over there today for something pretty for my kitchen. It is a delightful fix for five bucks.

[busymama77]

I will definitely check out the "oops" section at my local hardware store this weekend. Didn't even think of that! Thanks, mamas!!

I think I've narrowed down what color I would like to paint the hall/foyer and it will basically be on the same chip as the yellow that we painted in our family room/breakfast room since it's sort of a continuation of those rooms to begin with.

Then, yesterday, my MIL had mentioned that your house is too be painted like one person lives there? All they have on their walls is either off white, white, or a very pale peach. I like color and am not afraid to use it. I think all of the colors that we have on our walls compliment each other throughout the house - peach, yellow, green's, blue's. Sure, they are in different rooms and none of those rooms run in to each other - they are separate, if you KWIM.

[Olma]

We just did this last week, we painted our bedroom with one accent wall in a darker shade color and then mixed what was left over with white and did the rest a lighter shade. It turned out really great. It cost us less then buying color paint for the whole room while still getting some color in -- where we live there are no oops or cheap paint opportunities, just the white paint is much cheaper then colors.