Tips on how to mix paint!

 

In a world where everyone has to be different, your interior should be no exception. Creating a custom interior is a wonderful idea but not as easy as many people think... Before you go crazy and mix every colour you can get your hands on, buy  some tester pots of paint, most DIY stores offer a full range of paints in  these smaller quantities. 

You will need :

- Range of paints in same finish (also known as ‘mixers’)
- White paint (again in same finish as mixers)

When choosing your paints, make sure you choose paints that have the same finish, i.e. matte, silk, emulsion or gloss. Also, if  you have no clue of what colours you want to mix, refer to the colour theory, which consists of primary and secondary colours. Primary colours, like red, yellow and blue, can be combined to form a secondary colour. 

The key to mixing paint and finding a colour that suits your taste is to experiment! Many budding decorators choose to throw the colour theory out of the window and just go for it. However, don’t throw caution to the  wind completely; try to stick to mixing 2 to 3 colours or you may risk  creating an unrefined custom colour. 

If you do find that the colour you have created is too dark, have some white  paint to hand (again of the same finish as the paints you are mixing) and add some to the mixture to lighten the tone. It’s important that throughout your experimentation phase you keep track of what colours you have mixed with what and how much of each colour you used to create your personalised shade. Make up a few custom colours that you like before you test them out.

Paint a few swatches of each onto your wall and allow to dry before  standing back and picking your favourite. It’s surprising how different the  paint will look out of the tin and on your wall. Once you are satisfied, make  your chosen shade in a larger quantity, it may be impossible to replicate the  exact shade that you created in the first instance but again play around  with the shade until you are happy. 

Paint a few swatches of each onto your wall and allow to dry before standing back and picking your favourite. It’s surprising how different the paint will look out of the tin and on your wall. Once you are satisfied, make your chosen shade in a larger quantity, it may be impossible to replicate the exact shade that you created in the first instance but again play around with the shade until you are happy. The golden rule is to make sure you have enough paint to create enough of your custom colour, there’s nothing worse than running out of paint when your room is only half decorated.