How to Mix New Colors From Recycled Paint

Indulge your creative spirit while saving money - and doing the earth a good turn - by recycling your old paint. (Just think of all those bits of paint that won't be clogging our drains!)

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stirring Stick
• Leftover Alkyd (oil) Or Latex (water-based) Paints
• Containers

1. Give yourself a kindergarten color refresher course: red, yellow and blue are primary colors; red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue make green; blue and red make purple - and all together, they make a gross grayish-reddish-brown.

2. Get out all your leftover paints and look at them to see what your possibilities are.

3. Buy or borrow whatever you're missing. For example, if you've got white, blue and yellow, but you also want some red or pink tones, get a red before you start mixing.

4. Start with a small amount of a light color - white, off-white, gray or eggshell.

5. Add color drop by drop, stirring well after each addition and alternating if you're adding more than one. For example, to make green, start with white, and add blue and yellow alternately.

6. Dab your paint onto paper or another surface to test.

Tips & Warnings

• Matching the completely bizarre, cool color you mixed yourself is even harder than matching a commercial paint chip, so once you've got the color you want, mix as much as you think you'll need to finish your project. If your project will stretch over a few days, cover the paint with plastic wrap and then a well-fitting lid.
• Brands can be mixed successfully, but oil and water do not mix. If you've got bits of both, remember to look at the labels carefully when you sort your colors.

on 11/22/2005 I have been using returned paint to redecorate my whole house. I have saved a lot of money. I liked your article on mixing paint. I was having a problem with my upstairs hall wall. I wanted it to be light and airy. Thank you, your article told me exactly what I was looking for.