Mixing Ombre Paint Colors

The most impactful thing in Dylan’s room is absolutely the Ombre Hexagon Wall. Last week I showed you how to recreate the Hexagons and today we are chatting all things ombre.

When I decided to do an ombre rainbowish pattern on Dylan’s wall, I was really nervous that it would come out, well Punky (as in Punky Brewster). The trick to making it not feel out of control is to pick a few colors and then just work with those, as opposed to trying to harness the entire rainbow. I let Dylan choose a few of the colors for the wall on our paint store trip, and then filled in with some complimentary colors.

When you are buying paint to specifically do this type of treatment you will only need a sample size pot of each of the deepest color that you have chosen. You will only use the color at 100%  strength once and then you are going to dilute it with white. The colors are all Sherwin Williams and from left to right are (beginning at the top) Pink Moment,  Mandarin,  Gambol Gold, (Second Row) Eye Catching, Citronella,  Bagel, (Bottom Row)  Gladiola, Dragon Fruit,  Confident Yellow.

I took the paint home and mocked up the color placement in Photoshop. This was my guide for the rest of the project. Its a little rough, but it gave me the color placement and the # of hexes that I wanted to paint.

Start by painting your color at full strength. That was easy right? hee hee

Now add a small amount of your color to a cup that you can mix paint in. (I used about 1/4 c)  Add 1/3 of that amount of white paint. Mix well, and paint your next spot.

Ok now here is a word for the wise. When you are mixing your next color, drain out about 1/2 of the color that is already in the cup. If you dont you are going to need more white than necessary, and you are going to end up with LOADS of paint. So drain and then mix 1/3 parts white in with your base. Repeat this process for as many spots as you need.

Something else you need to remember is that paint dries darker. You will need to mix it so that it is a shade or 2 lighter than you want it to be when it dries.

Make sure to check out the rest of the tutorials in Dylan’s Dream Room Makeover!