can you mix paint?

Jo12

Hi,


I would like to decorate my spare room and having searched about the house, have lots of different colours of paint, but not enough in one colour - can I mix them together? All are emulsion, but different makes. Got some purple type colours and white, so the colour wont be horrendous, just wondering if they will mix ok?
Thanks

ljonski

Good question!
You may want to mix a small amount of each and then paint a sample on an unobstrusive area and report back.

zaax

The problem with that is the colour will be different next time. Why not paint each wall a different colour, or a stripy wall.

DigForVictory

+1 for each wall different. Less worrying about the mixing & easier to clean brushes etc.

Or "stripe" With Care? (Not a fan of the Dado rail, but with small paint volumes....)

SailorSam

I painted my porch with a mix of leftover emulsion. I had white; lemon; peach all sorts which i though might blend and which otherwise might just be thrown away. Not sure i'd like different colour walls.
It's not the type of thing i'd do in the lounge; kitchen or hall but a rear porch or a spare bedroom, it will do.

warmhands.coldheart

I've done this.... Granted it was with lots of bits of leftovers of a similar shade. i.e. half a jar of Magnolia, Quarter of white, half of Hessian, bit of very light yellow, so had an idea of what it would turn out like and also knew I'd have more than enough to do the whole room. It worked a treat......

I would stress
BE 100% SURE IT WILL DO THE WHOLE ROOM !!

arthurdick

i have just had a look at some images of rooms with both colours, purple and white, there may be some ideas here.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=painting+a+room+different+colours+purple+and+white&client=firefox-a&hs=j9F&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PMpHU7S7Ga6p7AbiuoGIDA&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1511&bih=683&dpr=1.25

Jo12

Thanks everyone, not a fan of the stripes and a bit of a faff. Like someone else said, I would like to make sure I have enough to do the whole lot, so I think Ill have a go at mixing it up and see what happens! It is a spare room, so can experiment a bit..
Appreciate the help, thanks

esmy

It certainly works - I've done it lots of times. Just make sure you mix like with like ie emulsion with other emulsion and keep to matt or silk, don't mix the two. HTH

Mind_the_Gap

Yes, you can mix them as long as they don't include silk or soft sheen vinyl . Matt is best.

Put them all into a 5 litre tin and ask your paint retailer very nicely (preferably when buying other stuff there) to put it in their machine to shake it for 5 mins - otherwise you'll never get an even colour. The shaking will combine it all perfectly.

If it's anything other other than light shades though, expect the final colour to be sludgey.

Jo12

Mind_the_Gap wrote: »

Yes, you can mix them as long as they don't include silk or soft sheen vinyl . Matt is best.

Put them all into a 5 litre tin and ask your paint retailer very nicely (preferably when buying other stuff there) to put it in their machine to shake it for 5 mins - otherwise you'll never get an even colour. The shaking will combine it all perfectly.

If it's anything other other than light shades though, expect the final colour to be sludgey.

Thanks for that - the colour should be ok if Im mixing it with white, so will do that. Its all matt too - yay!
That's my Easter break sorted