The little greene paint company

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Has anyone used this paint before? We've been recommended it by John Lewis. I don't mind paying for it if it's going to better than a cheaper brand but has anyone got any experience of using it? Is it worth it? Thanks

Not on walls. However we have a business which includes painting wooden furniture items. When setting up about 3 years ago we did days of detailed research and testing on paints suitable for wood, comparing the quality, finish, safety, smell, longevity, ease of use, drying time etc. LG was by far the best with ticks in every box, an absolute market leader...we couldn't find any other product to match it on the market for general quality. It's a dream to use, easy, drip free, you can paint it, spray it etc. Wonderful product.

Sorry I know that's about wood 😂 but based on how top-end that range is I can't imagine their emulsion would be anything less than amazing either so I'd definitely recommend them as a leading brand well worth a try.

@BurgundyBells thanks so much that's really really helpful!!x

@BurgundyBells I’ve gotten into furniture painting (just up cycling wooden furniture) - intrigued by your comments on Little Greene for this. I’ve not tried LG and have found Farrow and Ball the best finish so far. However, the FB often needs at least 3 coats. How does LG compare?

OP, if you have pets or children I would test how easy it is to wipe clean the LG. I’ve found with the more expensive brands (Farrow and Ball, Craig and Rose) aren’t great and you get marks. I get them colour matched now with Johnston’s paint which is totally scrubbale. Worth trying testers on this basis.

@mintbiscuit from memory, I think F&B failed our tests on both coverage and safety - the safety aspect was the 'child safe' paint standards as our items include children's furniture - and LG is classed as child safe whereas F&B wasn't. Definitely worth bearing in mind if you're doing something like a children's toy box both for the actual safety of chewy toddlers and the saleability of being able to advertise 'child safe' paints ime.

Coverage wise we found much better coverage with LG. Despite everything you read about undercoats and primers we don't use any at all and have found no benefit or difference to using one...but we paint on bare wood, if you're upcycling a pre-painted piece you may need one, especially if previous paint was oil based as LG is water based.

Most of our work is on bare MDF or pine and we also use LG on laser cut embellishments which have the horrible burnt edges. Burnt edge mdf often needs 3 coats - but for everything else, two coats gives a beautiful finish.

You could almost get away with one coat of LG, it will often look perfectly fine in most lights and in photographs - but you can then see the finish imperfections in sunlight or on close inspection. Two coats is absolutely enough though, I've never painted anything with LG that needed more than two for a perfect finish (except burnt MDF edges)

I’ve used it for normal room painting. It’s great, really good coverage, goes on smoothly, no brush marks, I gave it all a second coat but possibly didn’t need to. I chose it because it was the right colour, rather than for quality of finish, but since then I would choose it again. The big downside is the price!

Not used Little Greene but did use F and B in Pale Hound (estate) and really happy with the finish.

We've used Little Greene and Farrow & Ball and found the quality, coverage and finish for Little Greene is far superior to F&B.

We have Salix in our new kitchen. It's a lovely soft bluey green. DH says it's easy to paint with and has good coverage. Two coats will give best finish.

Same as @DappledOliveGroves - used both and little greene and F&B and vastly preferred little greene.

So much easier to paint with and a really nice finish.

We found Little Green to be better in terms of coverage and is hard wearing. It is possible to get LG mixed to a F & B colour if there is one you particularly like.

We’ve used LG, found it good coverage, smooth finish and low odour. Would definitely recommend it. Their paint charts are pretty accurate too.

So good to know, thank you everyone. I ordered a sample and the colour is perfect so going to go for it. Thanks all!

I painted my kitchen in LG as well as a dining room and sitting room. Nice products.

I have it in a few rooms and the quality and coverage is great, much better than anything else I've tried and I've painted a fair few houses over the years!

We've used a few different Little Greene paints in a few rooms in our house and love it. It doesn't smell, goes on beautifully and the shades are exquisite.

Our second best is the Wilko brand paint!

Farrow and Ball is absolute shit, I honestly have no idea why so many people rave about it.

Little Greene paint is fabulous. Far superior to F&B.

We use it almost exclusively. The absolute matt has excellent coverage, particularly in deep shades and the intelligent matt is really tough (though while scrubbable, does stain a little)

We’ve used the breathable LG on lime plaster walls and it’s been very good. TBH some of it depends on the finish of the plaster, but the paint gives good coverage and we got exactly the shades we were looking for. The company were helpful when we were colour matching with a painted kitchen also

Only good comments which is brilliant. We have green sofas and were recommended this colour so I thought if it didn't get good reviews we'd have to hunt down a colour match which is tricky so reallt good to know thanks all!xz

It has been our go to paint for years. Worth every penny.

I've used LG throughout, much better than F&B, however had some quality issues last year for the first time and their customer service was certainly not as high end as you'd expect!

Am planning to use Edward Bulmer natural paint for future work - it's very eco friendly and the colours look amazing.

@SalaciousCrumble be careful with the Edward Bulmer. Beautiful paints but they are very fragile. Very easy to mark and it will not come off. We used eau de nil in a sitting room and it was gorgeous though.

Yes to LG over F&B, miles better. Latest room is a bedroom in Three Farm Green, its gorgeous.

Ah @Bumblenova that's disappointing but very useful to know as a household of 2 young DC and a dog! Thank you. Perhaps I'll go back to LG after all. The paints are excellent but I was really disappointed in their customer service.