The farrow and ball debate!

[Jeeperscreeper]

I love f and b . I am utterlty convinced that the pigment is sort of deeper and I really enjoy it as the light changes.
Dh thinks it is a middle class emporers clothes and a con. He spoke to his decorator mate who says f and b is actually no goos at all . .. and that it is just for people with no sense who want to be seen to spend money on paint.
He prefers valspa .
When ever we decorate my dh resists f and b and laughs at my desire for it and enjoyment .
Any other devotees or otherwise.. if it is so expensive , why is it seen as no good by quite a few folk ???

Ha! This was posted on the F&B fans facebook page today 😆

I love F&B Paint.. I have a 17th c timber framed house that is entirely painted in f&b or Johnstone’s colour match.. couple of years ago I painted my kitchen in valspar, .. was dreadful, chipped easily, couldn’t wipe it without leaving marks and streaks was such a false economy. Last year repainted in F&B and it still looks perfect! We were even discussing this last week .. just how immaculate it still is

We F&B’ed our bedroom recently and the paint went on fine and the finish is great. I like that it smells less than the dulux colours we’ve used in the past.

We used them because we really like the colour selection. I also liked how the website showed reviewers of people who’d used the paints so you can see how it looks in different room. You can also generally search the paint colour on Instagram and see how it looks in people houses.

I liken it to shopping in primark vs somewhere more upmarket. Primark has a massive range but you have to sift through to find the decent stuff, in the more upmarket clothes shops someone’s already done that for you!

It’s not a con. It’s the shades- the colours. Every good chalky make is expensive. It’s because time goes into the pigments that make up the paint. Colour matching isn’t the same- we tried it with our F and B painted kitchen units when a plinth got damaged. You can see the difference- that was Valspar.

If you like and enjoy the colours; I can’t see what the problem is.

Decorators don’t like it because of the pigments - it can’t be applied quickly because the brush strokes can emphasise the colour. You can get picture framing with F&B because they pigment reflects light so when it’s applied roughly the light shows the nuanced colour.

There is a difference. F&B is chalkier and has depth of colour that doesn't fade.

I always used to get it colour matched but it's never the same despite what people say. I love the chalky finish and our painter is happy to use it.
It is overpriced but it'll be on our walls for a good few years and I'm very happy with the finish.

Farrow and Ball started out as a company that didn't use 'modern' synthetic resins in the manufacture of their paints. Their target market was the heritage house market. The use of natural resins meant that F&B could demand a premium price for their heritage paint. That lead to the snob value of paying £££ for supposedly upmarket paint.
There is only so much that can be put into a tin of paint, resins, pigments, driers, solvents and water!
F&B trade on the Heritage non synthetic make up of their paint. In truth they're manufactured in factories just like every other paint.
Their colours are good and can be matched exactly. My whole house is decorated in F&B colours but it's not their paint.

I like the colours but it's far, far too expensive. Makes me laugh how it always seems to be the go to suggestion when someone asks what colour they should paint a room. More money than sense, obviously.

It’s ok. Our decorator considers it v average.

Edward Bulmer however is 👌🏻 The finish is incredible and the coverage is amazing. Also smells lovely. Shame it is eye-wateringly expensive.

Complete F&B fan here. I painted my whole house in Dulux. Thought it looked great then painted one room in F&B. Then I had to repaint the whole flipping house.

I dont get people who say its bad to apply. What on earth are they doing with it. I appreciate its a pain to wash out of brushes but apart from that I like the application. It is thicker than other paints so you do have to be careful with brush stroke marks but a roller is perfect for walls and on furniture and woodwork you want it to be a bit stickier anyway so it doesnt drip everywhere.

I love F&B colours, I just hate the paint.

I get it colour matched in to the finish of my choice usually hard wearing matte by the decorating centre online.

The colour match is spot on and the paint is so much cheaper. Think around 50% cheaper on my last order. So far I've had, downpipe, peignoir, and off black colour matched and they're all identical.

I had F&B in our living room and it looked gorgeous for about a month and then looked shabby as it marked easily and couldn't be wiped down.

Now I have the whole house in colour matched F&B in Johnstone's and Tikkurila. Both are fantastic and look great but I think I prefer the Johnstone's.

F&B colours are lovely but get it matched in Johnstone's as it is more scrubbable and less spendy.

Decorating centre online do a colour matching service and they've been amazing.

To the the people who are colour matching, why didn't you choose a dulux or crown or wickes or other non f&b colour?

The finish of F n B is very flat matte and I can spot F n B a mile off. Their eggshell is rather good too. I wouldn't use anything else for my own home.

I think the best thing about Farrow and Ball has been that their colour range has traditionally been quite small which plays to its advantage because you can work your way through the colours and they do tend to tone beautifully together so if you feel abit clueless pretty much all the colours are gorgeous and it’s easy to put together a coherent plan of what to put with what.Also their website is so informative with gallery pictures that you really can see loads of examples of what a colour will look like. Dulux see in room guide is shit by comparison and little greene don’t offer any examples at all on their website.Farrow and Ball are also the masters of that ‘colour you can’t describe paint colour’ that really created the benchmark that other companies try to emulate. When everyone else was essentially working around a version of magnolia with a pale blue bathroom F&B really started the trend for murky and deep colours that have made house interiors so much more interesting. When I first ever saw Farrow and Ball paint colours in an interiors magazine I literally wanted to repaint my whole house. I also spent years trying to find out who made the amazing grey green you see on front doors in the Cotswolds also a farrow and ball colour. I am paint obsessed!

I find F&B paint easy to apply and I buy their paint because I want them to be a company that still exists because I think with regard to colours they are innovators and if everyone just colourmatches F&B with cheaper paint companies then the company that actually makes the original colours that everyone wants won’t exist. But then I find the quality of their paint and application good.

I absolutely love f and b, fired earth is also very good. Not everyone can appreciate the difference between those and cheaper brands. If you can, then is worth paying for it.

F & B now have alternative 'modern' finishes which are easier to apply well and get a more durable finish.

You can completely tell the difference between the actual F & B and a paint-matched trade paint, even in the colour.

I like Fired Earth. Amazing colours and somehow luminous.

Little Green also lovely.

There are some beautiful paint makes out there and I think actually they are worth the money. But - you need to pay your decorator more too, to take the time to apply them right.

I'm a fan of the finish, and I think it's easier to apply than other paints I've tried. Coincidentally, I'm off to buy some in the morning.

I remember being in a specialist paint shop before lockdown and a guy coming in to buy some white paint. The really young but helpful male assistant asked him what sort of white he was looking for and the guy said ‘Just white mate, how many whites have you got?’ in a slightly patronising older man of the world tone. ‘35’ said the kid behind the counter. The customer said ‘Sod this I’m going to B&Q’

Our whole house is painted in various F&B, including the kitchen cabinets and the outside of the bath! We tend to favour the dark, strong colours and they just can't be emulated by Valspar etc. We tried but it really lacked that chalky lustre so we painted over the top with a couple of coats of F&B.

I do think you can probably get away with using copies more easily with the lighter colours though.

You just have to be prepared to do three coats rather than two. Decorators may speak against it but it's probably because it takes them longer and admittedly probably isn't as smooth to apply. But the final result is incomparable.

I absolutely love the fnb colours when I see them online.

I recently did 12 testers for my living room. Mostly dulux, couple of bbq and one fnb (to see what the fuss was about)

The fnb one was soooooo silky smooth to touch , I couldnt believe how beautiful it was vs the others

(I had already chosen the dulux as it was so much cheaper and i didn't actually touch the paint samples until I came to prep the walls after making my dulux choice ha)

I do think you can probably get away with using copies more easily with the lighter colours though.

I used to think that too! Until I tried the shaded white, shadow white series. My god. The most incredible colour series.

We love f&b...I no u can get it shade matched...my friend got it matched with valspar from b&q but the match was totally different...it can be pricy so we get it Color matched but not from valspar xx