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 ???

Who does your match service please ?

They said they brought out a tough modern eggshell but it chips like anything; all scratched around the kitchen cabinet knobs after a few months. Was painted by professional decorators so its not my poor work.

The colour is lovely though. Dropcloth.

I have used Farrow and Ball Estate Eggshell on my cabinets and in has been on 2 years no chips.I did sand well before and between coats and use a zimmer primer and a foam roller but did it myself. It was the kind of work that made you want to cry weakly and lie on the floor though.

I loved the colours, then saw them in every home and kinda grew out of it.

I agree @Shampoosupernova , both F and B and Fired Earth are a different league in looks and touch.

Another F&B fan here. Kitchen and bedroom painted in F&B and bathroom I had colour matched.

I've just used Great White in my bedroom and it looks absolutely luminous, like mother of pearl, the bathroom just looks like paint!

Architect here
F&B are ok and great for some projects
Clients mainly love them because of the name and a nice limited selection of colours however there are alternatives I prefer to work with.
Dulux trade is my general go to and has better shades when choosing from the professional palette but it can be overwhelming to send to client's because it has too much choice so I choose a limited range for them to choose from.
Earthborne are nicer paints and I like the vibrancy of some of little greene
Also some niche eco paints are the very nicest to use but the price puts most people off
Johnstone trade is ok too and they colour match well too, I just have a longer relationship with the dulux trade centre
Valspar can be hit and miss so I tend to swerve it if I can.

@wonkylegs what do you think of Paper and Paint Library? I have not used them but the shades look beautiful on their card.

Awful to use. So green you would be better using coloured water .
.

@ceilingsand I've not used them sorry you might try Googling for some reviews

If I got outside the previous list I'm usually using a speciality eco or vegan (some of these are) paint such as Eicó, Earthbourne, Cornish Milk, Lakeland, Auro, Graphenstone, TyMawr (lime)
Plus a few other specialist providers

Isn't Mylands supposed to conquer all in Posh Paint Top Trumps?
mylands.com/

I have used F&B, but look elsewhere now. Too many coats required to get a good finish, (at least three and really could use four with emulsion - a friend used Railings recently, had to use five coats) and I had a nightmare where, despite using F&B undercoat and F&B top coat, the stuff just peeled off.

Where I have white matt emulsion, I use Crown Sail White. I use Fired Earth tints in Johnstone's water-based satinwood where I have lots of woodwork (doors, skirting boards, window frames) to paint. I use Mylands gloss or eggshell where there are smaller, more standout features (staircase, inside front door) and I'm planning on using Mylands and Little Greene for the next projects in the sitting room and dining room.

I don't object to paying higher prices for paint where the finish and colour is really what I'm after for that room, and where I'm not going to be chasing my tail forever touching up ratty bits in areas of high wear, like the hall. But if I"m paying top dollar for paint, I don't want to have to pay as well for extra labour because the paint needs so many coats.

Just saw your post BluTang, and yes, Mylands is 'kin awesome paint.

I had not heard of Mylands . Good to know.
We have started using Little Greene.

Mylands gets my vote. Beautiful stuff.

What sort of finished look does Mylands have? Is it similar in touch to f and b and fired earth?

I know builders dismiss it as expensive and unnecessary but if I don’t use either F&B or Laura Ashley emulsions, I’m just looking at the walls 2 years later and wanting to repaint them. I still love the colours of my walls now and they were painted 7 years ago. So it’s worth it in the long run.

In recent years I have been disappointed with f&b and no longer see the change in colour of the wall when the light changes. When I originally used it, 7 or 8 years ago, I am sure there d more pigmentation.

The last 4 times I've used it I felt it days a waste of money and I certainly won't but it given the price now.

I rate Craig and Rose paint for their shades , ease of going on and the eggshell is really good for kitchens as it cleans nicely. Also a much better price!

We have F & B in our bedroom (standard emulsion, which has worn fine and looks lovely two years in) and in our living room, which has been a disaster.

We specifically bought the hard wearing Modern Emulsion (and went for F & B as it was the only shade we could find of that particular colour). Might as well have not bothered. It looks battered and has chipped big style. It is totally incompatible with blu-tac.

I would never use it again in anything other than a low traffic area like an adult bedroom. It’s such a shame because the colours are fabulous but we essentially need to redecorate after 2.5 years and that’s not how we want to live!

We recently redecorated and entire house. We used Johnson colour match and the actual match was excellent but Johnson's paint was the actual worse paint I have ever ever used - the marking is the worse I have ever experienced. We had to redo the stair well within a month( family of four)
Little Greene is very good and we rate in terms of wear and colour

@ceilingsand Mylands use stuff like finely ground marble etc in their pigments, apparently. They have a Royal Warrant. The finish is beautiful.

LittleGreene have similar colours to F&B but they are brighter- F&B have a duller kind of finish.
We used both on the exterior of our house in France in a region with blistering hot summers and freezing winters.
5 years later the F&B is definitely showing signs of deterioration- the LittleGreene is still as good as new.
We've had many compliments from our French neighbours about the shutters ( LG Obsidian Green).

We have F and B and love it. Dh recently painted our kitchen/diner and found it easy to apply. We’ve found it lasts well, and looks good.

Sorry I'm team f&b 😃

I’ve used both F&B and the colour matched ( dulux matt washable and valspar 800 in matt ) and genuinely I can’t tell the difference. There is absolutely no way the human eye could tell they were different. In any light.

Your husband is right. It’s the emperor’s new clothes.