Why is Farrel and Ball so popular on here?

[malificent7]

Is it worth the cost ...just wondering as need to order paint.

I prefer Fired Earth, I like the density of the pigment and it's water based so I don't wheeze and cough.

I think it's a status thing 🤷‍♀️

There are other British made paints that are easier to apply and much more durable than F&B. That said. You definitely get a deeper tone of colour with better quality paint eg Little Greene or Farrow & Ball than with Dulux - and I won't use Farrow & Ball unless I get a decorator in as it needs at least three coats. It might match in one light, but it won't match the depth of colour at, say, sunset. I have Mylands paint in my bedroom and when the sun shines on it it almost looks luminous, it is so beautiful. It has powdered marble in so you can scrub it, unlike Farrow and Ball.

F&B aren't going to be bothered about colour matching from cheaper competitors as their paint is so sought after. Dulux colour matching also isn't a blending service, they just match it to one they already have in stock as there are so many colours.

If you're interested, there is a great interior design podcast called The Great Indoors which talks about this.

Another fan of The Great Indoors podcast here. Not such a fan of F&B, which I find requires 3 if not 4 coats to get a proper solid finish and which doesn't seem very hospitable to just touching up the odd mark - you have to do the whole wall, and who wants that?

For high traffic areas (halls, stairs, skirting boards, bathrooms) which look ratty quickly, and which need touching up regularly, I use Johnstone's, Dulux or Crown. For posher jobs I am team Mylands - it is fantastic paint. Little Greene is on my list of samples to buy for the next two rooms I'm doing, and I'm also trying out Atelier Ellis, gorgeous colours, made by Mylands. So Mylands really.

Mylands/LG/Ellis/F&B all come out at around the same price (£85 - £90 for 5 litres of emulsion). I don't mind paying top dollar for paint, but I don't like paying for extra labour to get the finish, which is what happens with F&B.

But you will get F&B devotees who say they never have any problems with it. So buy a tine, and get stuck in! (But Mylands really).

@Tightwad2020 my DH has just painted our living room in Little, Greene and it looks gorgeous and went on like cream!

That is nice to hear Tinsel! I"m looking at China Clay Mid, what did you use? I've just stripped the wallpaper off our sitting room, and need an electrician to sort wall lights, then a good decorator to make good and probably hang lining paper. So I'm a way off the first paintbrush stroke yet. But it's fun working it all out.

I got the Dulux colour matches in hard wearing paint when I decorated a couple of years ago. I was worried about the finish/scuffs etc with a wrecking ball child in the house.

The colours all look really nice and seem to have depth and vary due to the light although I don’t know how that would compare to the real stuff. I have Laura Ashley paint in some rooms too and imo it’s equally lovely.

Basically, I love the F&B, Little Green and Laura Ashley (RIP) colour charts. The colours are lovely and there aren’t too many of them to look at. I assume all the big paint brands have all the same colours, but it takes forever to look through their massive catalogues.

It's "aspirational MC syndrome" - actual psychological definition. Buy into it or don't.

@Cannotgarden

I think it's like shopping at Laura Ashley. You can't really go wrong with anything and it's all very naice.

I'd rather a bit of personality!

Laura Ashley used to do a very decent range of paints, I used them in two (old and quirky) houses. I think they’re still available. Good colours and finish.

Laura Ashley paint and wallpaper is available from Next online.

The colours are really good, for me they work really well as I’m in a period property. However I now colour match my to dulux or valspar 800 and always in matt, it gives an identical chalk finish and colour.

It's beautiful, subtle, superior quality paint.

At this moment I'm painting my hallway in skimming stone. I toyed with the notion of getting a matched colour at a cheaper price but the tester pots won me over.

The paint is a different category of paint, it's really not all about the colour, but even if it were, Farrow and Ball still win hands down!

It’s all a bit Emperor’s New Clothes if you ask me.

@DietrichandDiMaggio

I agree with this. If we all did it we'd have no Farrow and Ball.

If I want paint suitable for painting kitchen cabinets and I fancy Hague Blue for my kitchen, I can get paint matched to that colour elsewhere, but that isn't taking sales away from F and B, because they don't offer a suitable paint for that job.

Paint companies don't "own" colors. There is nothing unethical about matching.

I like F&B because the chart is not too big, I find dulux totally overwhelming and don’t know where to start! I have colour matched before
About to try little greene as a friend recommended a colour scheme (grey stone cupboards and wood ash walls in downstairs cloakroom). Was going to colour match but because we’re not that near a Johnstone’s place it wasn’t worth the hassle and found 10% off online at the paint depot.
Did draw the line at special matching primer for the woodwork, DH can use standard primer

Although “Dead Salmon” makes me feel a bit sick... who thought of that name!!

Another benefit is that people seem to love writing (and posting pictures) about F&B. It’s really easy to find out what a particular colour looks like in an east facing room for example. I found it much more difficult to find out about Dulux colours with the exception of just a couple.

I've found the Dulux Visualiser very accurate. Wish I'd known about before we painted our living room a colour which looked lilac on the walls instead of the intended pale greige.

I will try that Visualiser, thanks for the tip. I've a room I want to paint blue, and do you know how many shades of blue there are??!!

There are so many reasons I like it

1. It's REALLY easy to get hold of (there's a shop 5 minutes away) Whereas going to B and Q is literally a nightmare mission

1. It's really cheap. Paint is really cheap. Sure not cheaper than some colour matched paint but it's still under £100 to do a room

1. It always looks nice. Other paints I've chosen I usually get wrong because I've not seen that EXACT colour in that EXACT south/east facing room

Decorators that won't work with it are just cheap and slapdash. It covers beautifully- I've been using it for about 25 years - some I've painted myself, some I've hired people to do.

I bought Little Greene paint for one room in particular as it matched one of their wallpapers - even better quality and also cheap - paid £60 to do two coats on a 20 by 12 foot room (had a third of a tin left)

We’ve used F and B and really like the colour and finish. It was easy to apply as well.

This is very interesting

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-great-indoors/id1437834171?i=1000425696744

Interior decorators discuss whether Farrow and Ball and other expensive paints are worth it