Paint

We have Farrow & Ball paint in our house (because of mates rates!) It does wear well and the walls can be wiped with a damp cloth if there are any marks! The decorator (mate) says it covers well!

F & B here too. I was converted to F & B by friends (and so also benefited from mates rates) and was well impressed by the depth of colour, durability and easy cleaning, in comparison to the other, more well known brands. I wouldn't go back to a vinyl paint now for anything.

Also you can have a very hilarious time playing guess the colour with the paint names! Elephant's Breath??

I do not think it really matters. The quality of paint is generally very good in the UK, unlike in France, for example, where the range and quality of paint is nowhere as good.

I do buy Farrow and Ball paint when I cannot find the colour I want in any other range, and their colour range is their main advantage, but I have many makes of paint on the walls of my house: F&B, Dulux, Crown and own brands from Home Base, Wickes and B&Q.

Farrow & Ball is quite expensive paint.

If B & Q (Valspar paint) can use their computerised system to mix any colour sample I show them, is it worth paying F & B prices ?

I would probably not have paid full price for F&B for whole house! I know people who have had Homebase match and mix up F&B colours.

Some paint outlets will mix any colour you want. F&B or Littlegreene for a fraction of the price.

It isn't just the colour matching of the paint though, it's the quality of it and the depth if colour you achieve with additional coats. Of course you can take the F & B colour chart to B & Q and ask them to match it. They'll match the colour shade on the chart but not the paint texture or density.

PECS I love Elephant's Breath, looks great with Skimming Stone, in the bathroom!

Well, we've gone with Dulux. We are only painting the downstairs loo! ?

The man who paints our walls now I’m too beyond it to do it myself has Farrow and Ball colours mixed for us. The paint has durability built in, so can be wiped clean. It’s cheaper than true f and b but (almost) as good

Don't get me started on paint!

We are planning to redecorate the sitting room in January, I am on my SEVENTH sample/tester pot!

If anyone is thinking of using eggshell paint for woodwork Little Greene is far more hardwearing than Farrow and Ball as it is oil based.

Farrow and Ball in my house too, my painter gets it mixed at a local shop it’s excellent and cheaper.

A mix of F&B (for specific colours and I like the very matt finish) and Dulux Light and Space range for the darker rooms here. Both seem to wear well.

F&B is not good on exterior surfaces. The back of our house is a real suntrap and when we F&B paint on the outside we had to repaint the window sills every year.

Our decorator recommended the Crown Historic Collection and we found similar colours there. The Crown paint has now been on for three years and we have not had to repaint any of it - and it was hot, hot, hot -and sunny this summer.

I've been very satisfied with Dulux and am not prepared to pay over the top for a designer name.

My whole house is F and B - I second all the comments about depth of colour, durability, wearability - my dining room ( in breakfast room green and string) looks as fresh and bright as when it was painted 17 yeas ago ( as does the lliving room lulworth blue ad string also 17 years ago)

We have had no problems using Dulux paint. Out of interest I recently looked up Farrow and Ball. Blimey. How the other half live. You must need mates rates. Don’t you get fed up with the same colour walls after 17 years?

No mates rates sadly but divided by 17 it’s cheap. Re getting fed up with the same colours - my house is really an art gallery and the colours of the walls enhances the art. Also because the paint doesn’t fade I can move paintings around ( which I do fairly often) without any darker areas being revealed when I take a painting down. Most of my house is now done in string which allows for a wide choice of bedding, blinds etc

We sell paint (or AC who have taken over do!!) and the majority of our decorators do not like F & B nowadays due to coverage and durability. However, at the moment we are renovating/repairing throughout our house using F & B colours mixed by Dulux Trade, best of both!!!!

Our decorators have remarked that upstairs is a bit "50 shades of grey" ???? (in colours only I hasten to add)

Well I’ve only used two decorators and both love FandB. Small sample but my 17 years is my real life experience and the lack of fading is the biggie for me. Anyway given my age I’m not sure I’ll be decorating again anyway - if people redecorate regularly then durability etc don’t matter as much

DH has a preference for Crown paint. It’s nice to put on, covers well and wears well. Never noticed any fading, even in our last house where we used stronger colours than we do here. Dulux at a pinch, but we used Homebase paint in one of the bedrooms and it’s been very good. Limited range of colours though. I would never pay premium prices for Farrow and Ball.

Do one coat emulsions really work? Or will I be as well off buying ordinary emulsion?

We always use Littlegreene as we live in Wales and it is a Welsh company. Kitchen in Thai Sapphire and Deep Space Blue. Excellent colour depth and ease of application.