How to Create a Custom Paint Color Mix

How often have you sampled a paint color and it’s so close to what you want but not quite exact and there are no other color options that will work? It actually happens almost daily for me in my design/color consulting business and today I wanted to share some super easy tricks that I use for creating a custom paint color mix and what you can do to easily tweak a color that’s too warm, too cool, etc… If you know these super easy tricks, you will quickly see that a whole new world of color options open up and you are no longer confined to only the colors on a fan deck.

There are a myriad of times that you may run across needing a custom paint color.  The most common time that I find myself needing a custom color is when a client wants a cabinetry/interior door/accent wall color that will bring the contrast to a space, while at the same time complementing/blending with the wall color. There is only one way to guarantee that a contrasting color will blend with the wall color and that’s by having a portion of the wall color mixed with the contrasting color.

I recently worked with my friend Julie to help her customize some contrasting paint colors for her gorgeous new modern farmhouse that is currently being built. Julie has done such a fantastic job with the home and it’s so fun to watch it all come together. I’m so happy for her that it’s finally in the homestretch.

Julie’s wall color in her main great room is Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice, which is a stunning light warm gray.

Julie was looking for the perfect contrasting color for her kitchen pantry door that would also compliment her wall color. She loved Sherwin Williams Stardew but the color was too blue and too intense for the space, so I recommended that she mix 50% Stardew with 50% of her wall color (SW Crushed Ice) because not only would the light warm gray Crushed Ice take the edge off of the intenseness of the blue, but the color mix would guarantee that the color would compliment the space and her wall color. The color combination and mix turned out so beautiful!

This color mix turned out to be the perfect light blue/gray. While Julie plans to paint her front door black, the painters used the custom paint mix to prime her door and I really fell in love with this color on the exterior as well.

The porch ceiling below is full strength Sherwin Williams Stardew.

Isn’t that the dreamiest color?

This is what this color mix looked like on the backside of the door inside the home.

After Julie saw her pantry door and loved the color, she asked me about the possibility of going darker with the same color. I recommended that she simply go down one shade of Crushed Ice (SW On the Rocks) and down two shades of Stardew (SW Blustery Sky) and have the guys at Sherwin Williams do a 50/50 mix of the two colors and paint a sample of the custom color mix and see if we like it.

We didn’t just like the color, we LOVED it!! See below:

Once Julie saw the paint sample, she decided to take the leap and paint the beautiful rich dark blue gray on her kitchen island.  It turned out so amazing mixed with her beautiful quartz countertops.

Isn’t the color incredible?!! We were so excited to see that the color turned out even better than we envisioned and it was exactly what her kitchen needed. This color mix was guaranteed to compliment her wall color in the space because her wall color base was in the custom mix.

If you want to diffuse the intenseness of a color (take the edge off) and you don’t want to mix with your wall color, have the color diluted with white or a light warm gray like Repose Gray or even Crushed Ice, which is very similar to Repose. If you just want to diffuse the color a small amount, ask for 25% of white/light warm gray or if you need the color diffused more, ask to have the color mixed 50/50 with either white or a light warm gray.

If a paint color is too warm, ask to see a fan deck or look at paint color cards in the store and find a similar color that is about one hue cooler and do a custom mix with your main color. So if your color is just a tad too warm, ask for a sample of 25% mix with the cooler color and if you need more cooling, ask for a 50/50 mix. You would do the same thing if your color is too cool. Just find a very similar color that is about one hue warmer. It’s very important to sample the colors first just in case the color is not what you envision.

You can also do a mix at home by using a plastic disposable storage container and using a plastic spoon. If you have two color samples, mix one spoon of one color with one spoon of another color to do 50/50 of the colors. Stir well and then sample. You can adjust one spoon of one color to two spoons of another color to get a 75/25 mix and so on.

Another color mix trick that I use frequently is to have 25% of a wall color added to Sherwin Williams Ceiling Bright White to get a beautiful complimentary ceiling color to a wall color for my clients who do not want a bright white ceiling color.

So do not feel limited to only the colors on the paint fan deck. If your color is not quite right, try mixing it with another color like your wall color to get the perfect custom color.

Thanks for stopping by today friends!

Cheers!

Cyndy