To want the fancy paint?

[cheesenpickles]

Currently redecorating our living room. Dh's best mate is a decorator (handy!) and has asked us to get the paint we want. He steered me away from Farrow & Ball just because the amount of coats it needs and to be honest the colours were too muddy for me.

I've fallen in love with a Little Greene paint and even dh said doing the testers it goes on beautifully. The guy at work he decorating centre said that we shouldn't buy that one and they can colour match and mix it with Johnstone's.

I was happy to get the colour matched initially but the more I think about it, the more I'm worried the colour isn't going to be quite the same.

Is it worth spending the extra £££ or are the matches that good now I'll never know the difference?

Major first world problem, I know.

How much more expensive is the one you want? If you can comfortably afford it, I'd just get that one.

I've used Little Greene in three rooms, and it goes on beautifully and the colours are lovely. Not used Johnson's to compare, but I used Valspars on one wall and hated every brush stroke. Colour was nice, but it took some serious effort.

I got a Farrow & Ball sample pot & took it to B&Q & they just enter the code in the computer & mixed it... it's identical!

It's about £50 difference so not huge but every penny makes a difference.

The decorator centre guy said that the mix both up in store and the fact they're all tradesmen there made me sort of question it. It's a particular purple/red undertone that makes a dark colour warmer so I'm slightly concerned that any subtle difference will make it really cold.

Equally, we won't get the living room redecorated again any time soon (10 years at least) so part of me would rather push the boat out as well.

Johnstones do brilliant colour matches, and the paint is better wearing too.

Go with Johnstones.

I’ve used little greene paint loads and it’s really worth the extra. You don’t need as many coats, it doesn’t have a strong smell and the colours have more depth then when you colour match. Much better than Farrow and Ball not least because the walls are washable.

I’ve just done a room in Little Greene paint (ultra blue) and I am so happy with it. I don’t know anything about decorating but the paint came with a base coat and a top coat and the colour feels like it has a real depth to it that I’m not sure a colour match would do. If the difference is £50 for the whole room and you don’t think you’ll redecorate for years, I would definitely go for Little Greene.

Just get a sample of the colour matched Johnstone’s paint and try it . A 350 ml test pot will cost you less that a fiver.

I absolutely love my Little Greene paint room. It only needed one coat as the colours are so deep.

I've colour matched premium brands with Valspar/B&Q because the colour I wanted didn't have the right finish - I have original paint on the walls and 'matched' on the woodwork.

The matched paint wasn't as nice - but the thing that bothers me most is that in most lights, you can definitely tell the difference!

That's what I wanted to do @ImNotNigel but husband wants to buy the paint today and the decorating is starting this weekend.

If the difference is £50 for the whole room and you don’t think you’ll redecorate for years, I would definitely go for Little Greene.

This. £50 over 10 years is nothing. You'll be looking at the paint every day; better to have a coil that makes your heart sing, rather than sink.

COLOUR! Not coil. 😆 I love my Mirena but I certainly don't look at it.

@Sonders light is a huge thing in the room we're doing and having put samples up of the LG paint I'm a bit anxious the match won't be right.

We only need 5l of the colour, so it's about £86. Dh will agree if I want it but he'll grumble about it. Gah. So hard. He was happy to buy it until the decorating centre bloke said that.

@HasThisSoddingNameGoneToo

I've even been on professional decorating forums and even they are split in this.

It's not just a question of whether the colour matches exactly, it's the quality of the paint. We got Valspar (B&Q own brand, supposed to be on a par with Dulux) matched to a F&B colour when we redecorated. Wish we hadn't: the walls it is on scuff so easily and have loads of marks on them only a few months after redecorating. As a result of this, rooms that came later in our redecoration project got the real F&B, and those walls have remained pristeen. Any little marks that have appeared, I've been able to get off, which I can't do on the Valspar.

Cheap paint is a false economy especially if you're paying someone to do the painting for you.

£50 over 10 years is approx 10p per week. If you have it, definitely spend the extra.

We use Earthborn, the finish is great, just what we wanted and no amount of colour matching with a non clay paint can equal that.

So of the LG paint is what you want, I'd go for it.

Thanks everybody! I think I'll push for the LG. Hopefully the paint centre guy won't try and push the Johnston's again.

Ridiculously expensive and really difficult to get a good finish on it. Every single sub-contractor I’ve worked with hates the stuff with a passion.

Find a similar colour elsewhere. B&Q will mix any colour.

@1Wanda1 Valspar is not B&Q own brand. It's a separate company. "Colours" is B&Q's paint

@Yabbers LG? I've heard as much about F&B but most of the contractor and decorator reviews I've read have been glowing.

Little Greene is LOVELY paint. I am completely converted to it, for the colours and the quality. Money well spent in my opinion.