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I have a whole heap of brown house paint that I wanted to use for terrain. Unfortunately it is semi-gloss and so this looks strange when trying to paint things that shouldn’t shine (i.e., rocks, buildings etc).

I was wondering whether there was anything simple that could be added to the paint to reduce the sheen – not too concerned about the texture. I have tried spraying it with a matte varnish but this doesn’t seem to do much.

The simplest is to mix in more paint with a flat sheen. Depending on the ratio you could get to satin, maybe eggshell.

You can spray it. Thinning the paint for a sprayer can reduce sheen. Using water or floetrol. But again probably still a satin finish.

I would just buy new paint.

paint it and wash it with ammonia..
Ammonia washing is a trick an old painter taught me..
It mattes down the surface of the paint..

Varnish it when you're done? I varnish all my scatter terrain etc.

Yes, try mixing it with some matte paint. I've done that in the past with small amounts of hobby paint. Not sure what ratio you would need for large amounts of housepaint. Sometimes you can find cans of cheap paint at hardware stores that mix custom paint; if a mix doesn't come out right, they'll mark it as-is for $5.00. (In the US anyway. Not sure about the UK).

Never tried the ammonia trick, but that sounds like it might work.

Matte varnish, just be sure to do it outside when it's not too humid and give it 24 hours to dry.

Something I've come across online, but haven't tried myself - Mix talcum powder into the paint.



Varnishing may work, but it's worth keeping in mind that 'matte' and 'flat' aren't the same thing... Matte sealers will often still have some shine to them, and the actual amount will vary from brand to brand as their is no consistent standard for 'matte-ness'.