How do I fix my wall paint color?

September 14, 2006 6:37 PM

The new latex wall paint in my entry hall is the wrong color. It is too bright; too much color. Is there a technique that will wash out the walls with white without losing all the color?
posted by partner to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

You could try glazing. There are some good suggestions here. (Gardenweb is an excellent resource in general).

Or, on this site they created a "veiled" wall by using diluted white paint to tone down yellow paint. This would probably leave you with visible brush strokes, though. You could apply the diluted paint with a roller or airbrush if you wanted it to be more even, but you'd need to experiment in a corner or something to figure out the right dilution.
posted by cabingirl at 8:05 PM on September 14, 2006

Talk to someone in a real paint store (ie not a warehouse paint department). If your wall's to bright, you might want to tint it instead of whitewashing it. The guys at some of the small paint shops really know what they're talking about. You'll know if he's b.s.ing you pretty quickly.
posted by Gilbert at 10:09 PM on September 14, 2006

My first thought: glaze it with its complementary color. And it IS worth a try, if you're motivated. If the wall is orange, a blue glaze will tone it down. Red wall, green glaze. Purple wall, yelow glaze. (It's a little like using a filter on your camera lens.) You would want to test out your glazes somewhere other than on the wall.

Once you find out how glazes look and how they're mixed and applied, you may decide that repainting would be faster and easier.

Gilbert is absolutely correct about real paint stores. They usually employ at least one expert.
posted by wryly at 11:09 AM on September 15, 2006