Mix and Darken Wall Paint With a Color Wheel
Choosing just the right color of wall paint from the tiny samples is a difficult job. It's not unusual to be disappointed with the end result because the color will usually look different when it is displayed on your walls, with your lighting. In order to avoid this problem, paint a poster board with one or more sample colors and check these against your wood work, carpet and other elements of your room. If you've purchased a gallon or more of paint and find it just needs to be a bit darker, it's a simple fix.
Instructions
1. Review the color wheel to be sure you understand the color you've chosen for your walls. Primary colors are red, yellow and blue. Mix any two together and you have the secondary colors of orange, green and purple. Mix a primary and the secondary color next to it and you have the six tertiary colors. These 12 colors are the basis for the color wheel.
2. Find your current paint color and place it in a family of colors, called hues, on the color wheel. The color opposite this color, when added to your paint, will darken and neutralize your paint, creating a grey tone or a brown tone.
3. Measure a tablespoon of your wall paint onto a plate. Add 1/8th teaspoon of paint from the opposite hue. Mix the paint and brush a small amount onto a poster board. Label the paint sample and let it dry. Measure another tablespoon of the wall paint onto a plate and add 1/4th teaspoon of the opposite hue. Mix and paint onto the poster board and label the sample. Keep track of your experiments so that you can replicate it with the entire gallon.
4. Add black paint or universal tint to your wall color if you want to darken the color without changing the hue, as you do when you add the opposite color. Use the method described in step three to determine how much black paint to add and to keep track of your experiments.
5. Check your samples when they are dry to determine how much paint to add to your final gallon. For each 1/8 tsp that you used, add ten tablespoons of the opposite paint or black paint to the entire gallon.
6. Stir with a paint stick very well. Reseal the gallon and shake it up and down. For best results, take the paint can back to the store and ask them to put the paint back into the paint shaker for maximum distribution of the new paint or tint.
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