Farrow and Ball paint. Worth the £££££?

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I have finally moved into my own property after years of rental. It’s mostly white- but will need another good coat of white as a base. I want beautiful colours and I feel proud that I have my own home . I am being kinda suckered into the F&B website but it’s so bloody expensive.
Are you a fan? Is it worth it? Are there cheaper alternatives?if I am going to spend more big money I want to know that the quality is amazing.
thanks🙂

The colours are beautiful but I haven't used F&B in years because (a) there are some excellent matching services (b) I found F&B emulsion very thin, so it needed many, many coats to get even coverage. (Caveat: they may have changed recipe since to make it more usable.)

Little Greene and Paint & Paper Library are no cheaper, but have a reputation for being better paint (easier to use, less needed for a good finish).

Johnstones does reasonable colour matches for F&B although never exactly the same but not bad

I like it. Colour matching is nearly as good though the colours don’t end up with quite as much depth - I do a bit of both depending on the room it is, how much paint needed etc. I don’t bother with any of their whites, just for the bolder colours.

Little Greene is amazing and around the same price point.

No. Every decorator I've spoken to in years has recommended alternatives due to quantity needed (the thin coats) and relatively poor durability.

As PP says - good colour matching options and better quality paint available.

If you’re going to do minimal prep, slap it on and get on with the rest of your life, no. Get a trade paint match (eg Albany) to your F&B shade.

If you’re going to do all the prep, paint multiple coats, and then look after it, it’s totally worth it. Colours that change with the light and look just great.

Worth bearing in mind you can’t spot touch-up F&B successfully in my experience and it’s utterly shit in high traffic areas eg where kids will put their hands on the walls (eg a staircase)

Hi,
Generally speaking tradespeople and professional decorators don't like F & B, or to work with their paints - although of course they do if it's what their client wants. The paint is hard to work with, and not of an exceptional quality; although it is of course very fashionable and F and B have done a great job marketing to a certain demographic.

If you like the palette but want a cheaper option you can have any F and B colour mixed in Dulux or Johnstones; a Brewers Decorators Centre will do this for you.

And of course it's your home and the main thing is you should be happy with it! When you close the door it's only you there, you are living with the decor so you do whatever will make you feel happy. xx

I coloured matched with the B&Q paint, wished I had just brought F&B as the B&Q paint just peels off the wall when something slightly touches it.

As other posters have said. Colour matching is fine if your on a budget but you don’t get that depth of colour and richness as you do from the original.

I personally prefer it and do t think the colour matches have the same look, especially in estate. The quality is excellent.

As others have said, Paint and Paper Library, Little Greene and also Mylands are quality alternatives

The paint isn't hard to work with, even for me, but decorators take a cut on dulux etc, and not on f and b, so they recommend against. This is well known.

Nonsense.

My local B&Q will take any colour from the F& B range and create an identical colour for you way way cheaper that F&B.
I set off to B&Q a few months ago with my chosen Farrow and Ball paint colour.
I showed it to the person in the paint department and asked him for 2 and a half litres of “ Card Room Green”.
He told me that the store can make the exact same colour by mixing “own brand paints”.
It’s really precise, all done by computer and has turned out beautifully.

F&B paint contains way too much pigment in my opinion (especially within the darker colours). It can be difficult to mix it properly before use. I always do a B&q colour match. Lick paint is also good to work with, especially if you're painting your woodwork in the same colour as your walls as it'll work on both

My house has a few rooms in F&B and a few in colour-matched to F&B Johnstone's Trade. I might just not have a very discerning eye, but genuinely the Johnstone's is lovely. I actually think the finish is also better - no visible brush marks (unlike the F&B), better coverage and it touches up very easily when it's been damaged.

F&bB is lovely imo. It has a chalky finish that is beautiful. Had my living room painted 20 years ago and it still looks fabulous.

We quit using F&B because the coverage was poor. Lovely colour choice though.

We now use Benjamin Moore. Great choice of colours and much better coverage.

I hate it. We’ve just painted kitchen cupboards in modern eggshell and a room with estate emulsion. Never again!
also painted the hall with Little Greene and a cupboard with intelligent eggshell, sooooo much better than F&B. I admit the F&B colours are lovely but I’ll be finding a Little Greene colour I like from now on.

It’s worth it. Especially if you are putting it in lower traffic spaces.

Decorators don’t like it cos the pigment drags and it takes longer to paint. Ignore them and get what you like.

I looked at F&B for my renno but didn't feel the specs matched up to the price (and too bloody expensive) - in the end I went for mostly dulux heritage shades in diamond matt (washable, durable). for ceilings I went for standard vinyl matt. bathrooms - zinsser matt emulsion (mould proof) as I am really scared of mould.

Nope!

I now use Little Greene Paint Co. Pretty much the same price-point, but way better imo. I do a fair bit of decorating myself, but when I’ve needed to use him my decorator really likes using the LG paint I get.

If you find a colour elsewhere in the universe that you like, you should be able to find out the RAL code for it. LG can mix any of their paints using a RAL code you provide - you can’t do it on the website, you need to call or email them. Has meant I’ve been able to match my front fence and garage door with the colour of an existing outside door colour.

Thank you so much everyone. Seems pretty well agreed that- although the colours are lovely and the advertising enticing- the quality does not match the money.
Also the sample pots are crazy expensive.

what I was wondering was the colour change aspect. F&B claim their paints change colour subtly with the light. For those of you who have colour matched sis you lose that aspect or is the colour change thing just advertising rubbish?
I look at review on their website and so many people talk about this “In my north facing study I used ***. I love the way it changes as the day goes, sometimes a strong white, sometimes almost lilac “ etc etc.🤷🏻‍♀️
I will look up little green.
we have a Homebase here and I think they do a colour matching service

Go for Little and Green. Get a trade account at Leyland and you get a discount. Just say you are an interior designer sole trader. They don’t check it.

https://leylandsdm.co.uk/trade

We have never found it difficult to paint with, we even used it on some shiny in parts anaglypta wallpaper and it was fine.

I was underwhelmed when I had the kitchen and bathroom done.