F&B paint - Emperor's New Clothes?

[BibiThree]

I've heard that F&B is the absolute bees knees, the most magical of pains that change tone depending on the time of day etc.
I've also heard that they're a bit Emperor's New Clothes. A lot of money and hype for poor quality paint.

I'm going to paint a very dark blue/navy in he living room and before I splash out, I wondered what the score is?

MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet

Painter and decorator said put the trade mixed paint on first then when done do a coat with F&B to get the finish.

I don't know a single painter and decorator who uses it through choice.

I cringe whenever someone says they've painted something and they tell you it's 'farrow and ball (insert colour name). I couldn't give a shit if it's overpriced f&b or from PoundStretcher. Just say the colour.

I used F&B for a couple of rooms when I moved into my flat a few years ago and it worked really well - really rich colour with lovely light effects. Still looks great.

However, I just bought a new tin (Slipper Satin this time) to decorate my sitting room and it's been a massive disappointment - the tester pot worked fine but the paint from the new tin was much thinner and even three coats hasn't been enough for proper coverage. I've just googled and seen that they changed the formula in September 2017 - so that's it, no more F&B for me.

@nicebitofquiche You are my new best friend

Decorators hate it as it's tricky to put on. I painted our study in Hague blue though and found it quite straight forward, and I've never painted anything before! We also used two
Colours in our bedroom and it looks gorgeous. It's quite a chalky effect which I like. We're in a Victorian house though, can see it might not look quite right in a modern house.

Decorators hate it as it's tricky to put on. I painted our study in Hague blue though and found it quite straight forward, and I've never painted anything before! We also used two
Colours in our bedroom and it looks gorgeous. It's quite a chalky effect which I like. We're in a Victorian house though, can see it might not look quite right in a modern house.

Another one here who uses Johnston's scrubbable made up in F&B colours. Love the colours, but the paint is difficult to apply and is not at all durable.

I do a lot of decorating. Have done 3 big houses top to bottom in recent years. I would always use Dulux. It goes on well, covers well and lasts well. The worst I’ve used has been b and q own brand and F and B is somewhere in the middle, I don’t think it’s worth the money at all.

My dh is a decorator and would only use it as a final coat. Bad quality paint. Lovely colours though.

I’ve just painted several rooms in Crown Trade Vinyl Matt made up to match F&B colours.

It gives a very flat but cleanable finish. The colour looks almost identical to the F&B sample pot.

The Crown paint wasn’t cheap but very easy to use, have great coverage and much less ££ than F&B.

Step-dad is a decorator and says its overpriced crap. Yes it's trickier to put on but not worth the cost or effort. Like PP he doesn't mind putting it on a top coat.

Lovely colours though. you can easily match the colours, sites like
www.e-paint.co.uk/Lab_values.asp?cRange=Farrow%20and%20Ball&cRef=30&cDescription=Hague%20blue
will give you the CYMK values.

I've always used Dulux and been happy with it, was looking for a wider colour palette.
Think I'm going to get the F&B colour I like made up instead.
Going to look at LG too, thanks all!

I'd take all the "it's horrible paint" with a grain of salt. Even in this thread, there are people saying it's poor because it's both too thin and too thick. I read a lot of reviews about a lot of paints and people raved and ranted about Dulux, Valspar, and F&B in equal measure. If you look at it that way, you might as well go with whatever is cheapest, which isn't F&B.

On the other hand, we put aside our reservations and tried one small room with it. I was nervous because of all the "it's tricky to paint with" reviews I had read, but it wasn't tricky at all. It went on like any other paint I've used. I would have preferred to have it colour-matched in Dulux or something similar, and we tried, but it was a visibly different colour. If you can get the correct colour in a different brand, I'd go with that if only because you'll be saving money.

The one paint I read consistently good reviews for was Little Greene, but we didn't have easy access to it so I can't vouch for it personally.

Loving the colour-match site linked above! Might need to try that next.

But you can get dulux to match it in Homebase etc ?

I really rate F&B. I use the estate version and have dogs. I wipe the walls down with a damp cloth and it removes all sorts of spit and mud.

Love their colours but not great quality in my opinion. I get valspar (b&q own brand) and get them to colour match the f&b paint colour of your choiceZ

I love F&B. Every house we’ve owned/renovated is painted in F&B. The colours do change according to the light and their finish is chalky and suble. We tried getting the colours matched a couple of years ago and you can tell- the chalky texture is lost and the subtlety isn’t quite there despite the colour being the same.

If you have an old house I highly recommend buying the shade you want in dead flat versions as they ready do hide poor plasterwork and damage well.

I don’t find them a problem to apply at all.

They are far superior to crown and Dulux paints which really have no subtlety in their colour at all!!
I hear little Greene is good too but there are no suppliers near me to try them.

I think F&B have a product problem.

OTOH we have some people saying the paint is like treacle, others saying it is like painting with milk.

Something doesn't seem right. Shouldn't all of F&B paint have a standard consistency

I don’t like Dulux as it’s definitely poor quality so I find a colour I like and get it made up by either Johnson’s or Fleetwood. Fleetwood is actually my favourite brand but I’m not sure if it’s sold in the U.K.?

I find it looks like you don't have to mix the tin of paint with F&B but you do. It's thin on top like milk and gloopy at the bottom. The colour is very even so it looks like you don't need to stir it well. Give it a VERY good mix and it's lovely.

I asked Homebase about colour matching and they said they can't get the chalky finish so said it depends if I just wanted the colour or the finish. It does also show up dodgy plasterwork I can vouch for that..! I quite like that though, but if character

I mixed and mixed my F&B paint and it was still like milk

I think there's a difference between Dulux Trade and normal Dulux.

I work for a company where we buy whatever paint the customer wants in their home. As I was typing a quote I asked is F&B Farrow & Ball - yes, but it's really shit paint, really flaky, it's all hype...

That's all I know! I got my paint mixed at a trade centre the other day, 30% cheaper and beautiful quality.