How To Use Kool-Aid Mix To Give Your White Paint A Beautiful Tint

Like a blank canvas, white paint can be mixed with various pigments to reveal infinite colors. While you can use food coloring or other tints for your paint's base, an alternative, inexpensive approach you may not have previously considered is Kool-Aid. Since its debut in 1927, Kool-Aid has maintained itself as an affordable, artificially flavored sweet drink mix; however, it turns out the powder holds artistic properties (and possibilities) as well.

However grand or small your painting project might be, combining some Kool-Aid with your favorite white paint may help you to achieve the perfect shade you've been searching for, while also infusing your paint with a pleasant, fruit-filled essence. There are over 20 Kool-Aid flavors — that is, colors — to choose from. Each packet contains 0.17 ounces (4.8 grams) of fine, sugary powder, but if you require more for your painting project, you could always purchase a large, 19-ounce container.

As is the case when creating any new color from white paint, to achieve the right balance of your chosen Kool-Aid tint, you'll need to shake the paint up well — using either a hand-held mixing tool or an electric paint mixer. TikTok user @thatonedunkingirll shows us how this process works.

For her particular DIY, she applied the Kool-Aid flavor Blue Raspberry Lemonade to a gallon of white Diamond Vogel paint using a paint mixer. The lifestyle influencer first shakes up the packets, then adds four of them to the top of an open paint can. To better help the powder dissolve, she then pours about a tablespoon of water before mixing. The outcome is an outstandingly bright, robin's egg blue.

While @thatonedunkingirll's blue paint concoction is impressive, there are scores of other ways to go when using Kool-Aid to color your white paint. From grape for purple, cherry for red, lemonade for yellow, or strawberry for pink, you can easily and quickly create a rainbow of colors just by visiting your pantry. Whichever color(s) you do experiment with, consider starting off with one or two packets of Kool-Aid first and then adding more to your white paint if needed, depending on the intensity you seek.

If you're mixing your white paint and Kool-Aid by hand, you could use any number of methods, from a wooden paint stick to a paint-mixer attachment for your drill. Alternatively, you could mix the Kool-Aid in water prior to pouring it into the paint; doing so will ensure the powder disperses in the paint completely.

In fact, getting the right shade of paint when using Kool-Aid may require a little water play. If, for example, you don't want your paint color to come out too shadowy, then limit the amount of water added overall. In general, the less water added, the more brilliant and true the resulting paint color will be.

Also, note that while Kool-Aid is a dyed, watery substance, it may have the tendency to stain, especially dark, saturated hues. Before you start the paint-tinting process using the powder, make sure to protect your clothes, surfaces, and valuable textiles.