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🙂

I have f&b colour matched in a quality paint for a durable finish. This ‘colour changing’ thing is emporers new clothes bollocks - all paints will appear differently as lighting changes 😂 my colour matches do, but so do my rooms painted in dulux.

Colours do change in different lights, I don't think it's unique to F&B, although they've managed to market that idea! I couldn't say whether our colour-matched paint changes colour in exactly the same way as F&B, but yes it looks different in the morning compared with the evening.

F&B is often 3 for 2 at Homebase, though they may not have the full range

I do find those paints require less coats than dulux or valspar, and the colours are beautiful. Plus they don’t stink to high heaven… gotta be better for you. However, they are fucking expensive and I’ve only ever committed to a small area. And prefer Craig and Rose (which is slightly cheaper anyway) or Painthouse or Coat. Lick paints are also lovely colours. But you can get all colour matched at Decorating Centre Online.

I like F&B and have found it easy to work with. Dulux on the other hand grrrr.

F&B colour changes under different light.....all paints do. The difference imo is that the changes to F&B colours under different light usually lovely, whereas other paints I've used might look nice in warm autumn south facing light, but in mid summer the colour isn't one I would have chosen.

I haven't tried colour matching services but few other paints are as dead flat as estate emulsion. I only like dead flat with no sheen.

The one paint I have used recently and been very impressed with is Elle. Great consistency, great coverage, easy to use, colour was lovely and it's even tough wearing on woodwork.

We've colour matched using Johnstone's and honestly can't tell the difference. I even used up the tester pot next to it to compare.

Little Greene and Paint and Paper Library (same company) are nicer. Fenwick & Tillbrook paint was praised by my decorator, as was Atelier Ellis – if you think F&B marketing is wanky, try them, it’s next level!

Frenchic now do wall paints and it came top in a Good Housekeeping Institute review of washable wall paints. It comes in around 150 colours with matching trim paints available (like an eggshell finish I think). Lovely paint to use, little to no odour and some lovely shades. Sample sachets are 95p so don’t break the bank.

Farrow and ball does give a much better colour and depth, I think the paint has more pigments in or something. However I've used it in a few rooms and you defo need more coats than say dulux paint. In our bathroom I used a dark colour and I needed 4 coats to not be able to see brush marks etc and it was never ending. However now it's done I can see how the colour is more superior to a dulux type paint. So really it's up to you. Do you want an amazing colour and willing to take the time to mess around or do you want a nice colour and do two coats and to get on with your life. I know a lot of decorators refuse to use farrow and ball for the same reasons 😁.

Beautiful colours but I’d never use it again! It’s peeling off the walls

I have Little Green in every room and highly recommend it both for application and depth of colour

I highly recommend dulux heritage range, very similar vibe to F&B with beautiful shade range and a much more affordable price!

Ah- deluxe heritage- will have a look at that one. Thanks.

All paint will look different under different light

All colours change in different lights, it's just marketing. I have Dulux Blush in some rooms and I love how it changes from a very light pink, to plaster, to a deep pink in different lights. And that's just with one coat (two is better though).

Yes, colour matching definitely looses that.

I've got one (small!!) room in F&Bto experiment with it.

As others have said it wasn't easy to paint with, seemed to take infinite number of coats to make it look good. The result is amazing though, the colour really does have a fantastic depth to it which is lovely, so I am inclined to say they are different and quite stunning.

I've also had colour matches done in other rooms in both deluxe and Johnstones and while they are good colour matches ans much easier to apply, the result is clearly just not the same. It just looks a bit flat compared with the depth of colour we got in the actual F&B.

We also have some little greene which was easy to apply and I really like, but we've got a "not white" shade and it definitely has more depth than a bucket of brilliant white, but it's harder to judge the depth of pigment in it!!

I painted 2 rooms in F&B; in my opinion it is chalky, scuffs easily and marks. The painter and decorator I know always uses Johnstone's which can be closely colour-matched.

Friends have used it and then chucked it as they found it think and hard to spread. Colour matching is so easy, pick a colour you like then colour match to a trade paint like Johnstone’s.

Go to Brewers, get Johnstones trade colour matched, it’s pretty accurate. Around half the price and much better to work with. Only the deepest colours would you notice the difference, if it’s a really dark colour eg Hague blue then there is a difference when colour matching imo.

The really Matt F&B finish looks stunning, but lasts about 10 minutes until you mark it, then it looks rubbish and you can’t touch it up. Estate emulation much more like normal paint.

From experience:

F&B = fab marketing and great edit of beautiful colours; impractical, hard to work with; wears quickly

Little Green = also beautiful colour selection; much more practical in terms of application and wear

Benjamin Moore = their Aura line is the best that exists. Hands down. Two coats looks like four. Technically the best paint on the market. Now available in the UK. Only downside is the massive range of colours. It can be hard to choose.

https://houseofbrinson.com/2023/03/24/my-comparison-of-paint-farrow-ball-versus-benjamin-moore-paint/

We’ve used it with each home and really like the colours and finish

P&D did it rather, we said at outset we’d be using it