Farrow and Ball

[Nmchanger]

Hi we've just bought a house and I really like the colour of the walls. I asked the previous owner what paint it was and it's Farrow and Ball. I suggested to my husband we buy a pot in case we need to do any touch-ups and it's £100 a pot!
Is it really worth it, it seems extortionate.

So YABU - It's really worth the money, or YANBU - no you're paying for the name.

Farrow and Ball quality is very poor. I’ve had ok experiences and really poor using their paint.
Their customer service when paint dries patchy was dismissive. Despite me having more technical knowledge than the customer service guy.
However, they produce great colours and I’ve had fantastic results with colour matching. So I recommend that- and you have repaint anyway- touching up never really works with F&B

I did this in an attempt to save money. The difference in the colour match was shocking. Side by side comparison you could def tell it wasn’t the same and I ended up having to buy f&b to paint over it again.

I'd guess so. We had a farrow and ball colour made up and went for the wipeable finish

Ours was a perfect match in colour but we didnt paint our walls in F&B in the first place, just went for the dulux colour mix.

ive Found it much more hardwiring than any other paint. The gloss doesn’t yellow and it all cleans really nicely. My gripe (other than the cost) is I rent and it takes me about three expensive tester pots to get the right shade the landlord chose.

Can't resist!

What has the value of your house got to do with anything? and why do you need to announce it on mumsnet? it’s totally irrelevant, what a bizarre thing to say.

@LadyVictoriaSponge
I have seen all sorts of similar posts! Have you been selectively reading MN? All
those pictures of huge kitchens etc! So no apology from me. However I mentioned it because a lot of F&B advertising and inspiration is fairly desirable properties. I feel I have one. So maybe that influences my choices. That’s all. I’m sure the dupe buyers have nice houses too.

For the deeper darker shades it’s worth it imo.
Lighter shades go for Johnston’s trade colour matched at Brewers. Better consistency to work with (creamier and less watery) and about half the price.
The really Matt finish F&B (forget the name) is impossible to touch up too as you’ll see a difference in finish. Looks stunning but a complete pita.
Just my 2p as a semi professional painter.

Decorators I know say it's not worth the money & that other paints are much better quality. And it goes off. You can't keep it for long.

I've done so, so much decorating in numerous houses and F&B wouldn't even make top 5 these days.

I haven't met a pro wishing to sing praises either.

F&B + mustard yellow velvet curtains + everything else grey = it's 2013 and I just bought my first house (Victorian terrace).
I'm slightly amused it's a thing still.

It is the quality of the paint that people esteem or just the actual colours themselves? If the latter, how can F&B have a monopoly on coming up with the objectively 'best' colours? And if the former, do you really appreciate the quality on an ongoing basis - far more than a perfectly good standard brand?

I wonder if it's one of these circular things where people insist that 'F&B is the best because it's F&B' and don't think any further than that. Everybody's fully entitled to spend their money and take their choice, but I'm guessing that a lot of people who use F&B paint probably find ways to 'accidentally' mention that fact to their friends and visitors on a regular basis.

I used to have a Saturday job mixing paint in a paint shop and this was a common question. F&B paint is very difficult to do touch ups with, particularly in darker colours, even when you take the paint from the exact pot that you painted it with. It’s due to the way the pigments mix and settle. Even mixed thoroughly, you can get a darker shadow if there’s a tiny touch more of the settled pigment in it. It’s also why good painters often do 3-4 coats with the paint to get it fully even and why some painters don’t like using it all all.

The safest bet for an invisible to the eye fix-up without breaking the bank is to colour match it (Crown colour matching is superb) and then paint the entire single wall that looks tatty rather than painting or rollering on a large patch. I’d only paint a patch with F&B if you can use an ultra fine brush to fix a small nick/scrape.

Of course, some people aren’t fussy (or have darkly lit rooms) and will brush on a patch fix of F&B paint that’s been in their garage for 4-5 years but in certain lights, that will not look good!

When it comes to paint, the cheap stuff is a false economy (I learned the hard way), however, I do think F &B is an aspirational, more money than sense purchase. I'd go for dulux personally, never had any issues and I've done a lot of decorating over the years.

Excellent stealth boast! 😄

Yes - there's always an element of 'suspiciously cheap', meaning that unbranded paint from the pound shop would almost certainly just be a big waste of time and money; but the likes of Dulux and Crown are perfectly good and completely fit for the purpose.

Just because you may aspire to a Bugatti and (wisely) steer clear of a 25yo Yugo, that doesn't mean that a new Toyota can't do absolutely everything you need in a car perfectly well.

I'm loving the implication that, if you have a 'high-value' property (which could just as easily be a poky studio flat in Knightsbridge), you 'need' to use F&B paint on it, no question, in order to 'preserve' its high value - like making the fatal mistake of once painting your interior in Dulux would cause irreparable damage and lead to all the local estate agents refusing to ever put it on their books, or at the very least marking it as 'in need of full renovation'!!

Wouldn't it just be more honest to say "We're wealthy, so we like to buy expensive goods/brands" ?

I do still appreciate the brand on an ongoing basis. I genuinely feel that it’s a better quality paint, better depth of colour, nicer Matt finish (I haven’t come across another brand that even comes close to that)
I had a decorator who also said he didn’t like it… but purely because it’s more effort and faff to work with, not because it’s not good quality.
I have tried using other brands and they just kind of look cheap and shiny or something, even the flat matts.

Oh, also to add. I don’t have any need to mention what paint I use to visitors to my home. Why would they give a fuck? In the same way that nobody cares where I get my furniture or clothes. It’s a non thing, and laughable to think it’s something people brag about or drop into conversation?

Fair enough, then, DedicatedFollowerOfFashion84 - you've made the considered choice that works best for you, all good.

But there are lots of people who will name-drop the expensive brands of things that they buy into all manner of conversations; just as there will be some people who are impressed by (and envious of) them. Just notice how many people will deliberately refer to 'my iPhone' and not just 'my phone' or mention that they drove somewhere 'in the Range Rover'.

As long as you buy a brand because of the quality, durability, pleasure and positive results that it represents to you, rather than just because you think the name will impress others, I don't see any issue with it at all. Not that my opinion matters anyway: people can spend their money on what they like for any reason.

https://www.decoratingcentreonline.co.uk/zinsser-allclean-scrubbable-interior-paint.html

This one takes F&B colour matching very well. I have used Matt interior and also both Matt and satin exterior versions....green-blue (pale) vardo (mid) inchyra blue and off black (darks) matched. Floetrol additive at 10% on pale shades and at 5% on darks for both spray and roller left me with immaculate and industrial strength finish so long as you've prepped correctly. It's been years already and I scrub away with wild abandon - no damage whatsoever. My results using colour matched Dulux Diamond Matt have been less successful for colour replication, finish and maintenance! There's a reason DDM is known as "custard pie" and avoided like the plague by tradies 😉

I knew someone who had to do 7 coats of a F&B formula dark shade to overcome the patchiness. It looked gorgeous in the end but ended up costing a fortune in cash, time and stress...

Stealth??? 😂😂😂

As if she doesn't drop the paint name in every conversation too.

I like the quality. I’ve used Dulux, Crown, etc before but F&B is the one I’ve found best to work with (I paint with a brush as opposed to a roller, and perhaps that makes a difference). I’ve never found it to be patchy, and it holds up well in my house. I also prefer the finish. Other brands have some colours I also like and have used, but I’ve always ended up disappointed with the end results. I’ve never found that with F&B.

I don’t mention what paint I use unless someone asks me.

I really like it and have used it again for this house throughout

But I notice the finish so it’s worth it for us

I love Zinsser paints @Snowite . They are genuinely excellent.