Mixing colours together.... Good idea or waste of paint?

[Bellyrub1980]

We have an entire house to redecorate. In the garage we have lots of odd bits of emulsion paint (all pale, off white type shades)

For small rooms like the downstairs toilet and porch I was thinking of just mixing all the odd bits of emulsion together to make one uniform off white colour. Really this is an attempt to save money.

Is this ok? Can I mix different brands? Provided its emulsion, does it matter if you mix different finishes like matt with egg shell or vinyl etc?

I wouldn't mix different finishes together, but I think otherwise it's fine. You do need to be sure you have enough for a couple of coats in the room you intend to paint because you won't be able to recreate the colour accurately if you don't make up enough!

No! The different ages and brands mixed together are a recipe for listening and peeling and patchiness!

And different finishes will make it patchier

I've done it without any issues. Only with paint that was usable in its own right mind you. We had one wall to paint in a room and I couldn't be bothered to go to B&Q.

What you mixed silk with Matt?

Old paint which is open will start to deteriorate once the air gets to it. Also, some older paints may be oil based where most paints are now water based only. Op, there's no way I would mix them ( I work in paint)

No - I haven't mixed silk with matt - I've never bought silk emulsion in my life and I did post that I wouldn't mix finishes , but I have mixed different brands and ages of different colours of matt emulsion together successfully.

There was a huge tub of white Matt emulsion in our garage when we moved in and I mixed some of that with a caramel coloured paint we had. Worked fine.

I think I might give it a go and do a test patch. Sounds like sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, so it's just a case of taking a punt.

Have looked in the garage and it's only the Matt paints I'd want to mix together.

My DF is a retired painter and decorator. He does this all the time with spare paint. It looks fine.

i am a lover of painting- i do this for walls and pictures and floors-no problems as long as they are the same kinds of paint.