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.

The quality is exceptionally good.
It should wash well if you are worried about stains.
Obviously for scuffs you'd need to re- paint.

Yes, you can get a reasonable colour match from a different supplier but it won't match exactly.
In fact, for touch ups, even the original paint will not always match exactly.

I don't understand getting colour matches. The point (and the beauty) of F and B paint is its incredible pigmentation and nuance throughout the day in the changing light. We painted maybe 8 years ago and the finish is still rich and lovely.
It is incredibly expensive - especially if you use the proper undercoat as well and do 2 coats on top. I enjoy it every day though, as opposed to in our utility which is painted in cheap paint and is just flat and workmanlike.

We have just had 2 x farrow and ball colours mixed by B&q in their Valspar colour mixing. No problem and much cheaper too - F&B have very low Which scores and Valspar the highest. Also their tester pots are a bigger size.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll , I do think that F&B are excellent at colours, especially for period houses. Neutrals seem to be a particular strength, the subtleties of the right neutral with that lovely, chalky finish that can look velvety in their darker or deeper shades.

They aren't alone in that, Paint and Paper Library and Little Greene are two luxury paint brands with a huge range of good quality colours. They are priced very similarly to F&B though and the colours are better (imo) than the big DIY brands standard colour ranges and with more available choice than their 'heritage' ranges which usually only have 10 or so colours in them.

Rather than colour match a swatch, Johnstones will give you a match based on the colour code. I went to my local store, told them I wanted F&B Vardo and they made me some up at a fraction of the price.

Depends what size pot you need . £5, £50, £100

You don’t need five litres for touch ups. Just buy a five pound tester pot.

I feel like it is worth it. I got very good coverage when I used it. I've heard from a decorator friend of customers buying colour matches in cheaper brands and they end up having to do so many coats which suggests to me you may end up paying more to get the same effect anyway and with more faff involved.

Go to a decorators merchant. They will mix you the colours you want in a far better quality paint for far less money. I use a Johnson's shop.

Not all colour matches are equal. Some are awful.

I tend to agree. The pigmentation of F&B is really lovely.

The chap at my local Brewers said that they colour match Johnson’s under license from F&B. They use the exact colour codes so will be the most accurate match available.
I have no idea how true that is but that’s what he said. I expect this is not the way they do it at BnQ?
I still think for some of the really dark tones eg Hague Blue that the original F&B probably has the most depth of tone.

We find F&B quite good, it managed to cover wallpaper in the hallway ok and worked out a lot cheaper than stripping it and starting again.

I'm in awe at the earlier poster who had put F&B up in a kitchen.

I have used it in one room (Chine No3 - I think - a really chalky matt dark green) -and that room is child-free, pet-free and low traffic.

It looks absolutely stunning but there's no way on earth it could sustain everyday hurly-burly family life. Not my family anyway who seem to slosh teabags and pasta sauces around the walls on a regular basis

I have found F&B can peel off. This seems a common issue, if you Google it. There is no refund for this unless you have used their own F&B undercoat/ primer which is expensive. When I have used it with their brand undercoat, the paint has stayed put, been hard wearing and been wipeable. I wouldn’t use it again without using their primer first, but this almost doubles the price of painting a room.

they do their paints in various finishes, some of which are designed to be wipeable and scrubbable.

Ours hasn't peeled off the wallpaper and it was a bit shiny, we just painted it on, we douse primer and it's been a few years now, probably time to put another coat on top to freshen up, we also have it in the kitchen and the brick outhouse doors, windows and bricks.

We didn't use primer

My friend painted her bedroom in F&B. Its cream.

could have used dulux the same!

i have a blue feature wall in my living room and its a Valspar copy of F&B. Stunning colour!

dont waste your money!

I love it, I never used it before but was obsessed with the colour Arsenic so bought it a couple of years ago. It's really easy to use, I put it on with a brush and I've found one coat is enough.
I've just used a lighter green (Whirlybird?) in the bedroom and one coat covered the emerald green I had on the walls.
The tester pots are also great for painting furniture.

Any decorators we have had have never spoken highly of the quality. We tend to colour match to Johnstons, which is great paint.

The way light falls / absorbs is really different for expensive paint compared to cheaper.

So even if you colour match it won't look the same.

Yep. I’ve found Farrow and Ball to have a richness and depth that other paint brands I’ve used have lacked. For me, it’s definitely worth the price.

I’m bearing a grudge purely because I went there for an interview once and they didn’t even have the decency to tell me I wasn’t successful 🥲

This has nothing to do with the actual paint but F & B are the only tins where twice the plastic handle has come away from the tin.

I never carry them far by the handle now, especially the 5 litre. 😲