Mixing Your Own Paint Colour…and Naming it

Well here it is as promised, the recipe for your perfect grey paint.

I am assuming you are fed up with buying a zillion expensive sample pots in varying shades of grey so I may be able to save you some money.

I know, I know we all mixed grey at kingergarten, yes, black plus white does make grey but it makes an achromatic grey, a cold shade reminiscent of a 1970’s computer casing. If you are after a warm and interesting grey here is how.

Take a trip to your local art shop and buy four tubes of acrylic paint – red, green, yellow and white (if you are after a violet-grey, buy a blue as well).

Mix a spoonful of red and a spoonful of green and you will make grey (a grey which is totally harmonious to our brain because it has equal proportions of red & green, ie balanced). This will make a fairly dark grey so keep adding white until you reach a shade that appeals to you. Thats it.

However, you may be after  a violet-grey which is a very comfortable hue to be around and a great colour as a backdrop. If so add a touch of blue to your mixture.

Alternatively, if you prefer a warmer grey, add a small amount of yellow to the red and green and you will get a wonderful brown-grey which again can be adjusted with the addition of white.

Once you have decided on the grey that you like, paint out a swatch on some thick white paper.

Virtually all paint suppliers have a spectrometer, a machine which can scan a coloured sample and create the exact colour of paint. You then have the added bonus of being able to choose a name for the paint colour you just created. So if at your next dinner party your guests ask if your beautiful walls are “Hardwick White” or “Lamp Room Grey”, you have your chance to sparkle and say, “its a colour I mixed myself”…..