Are the more expensive paint brands any better or just trendy?

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Just that really. I hear people referencing f&b and valspar but I've always found Dulux, Jhonsons etc quite good. The best kitchen/bathroom paint that I have used was wikes on brand. It covered well, had a great depth of colour and hasn't tarnished/ supported mould. Ive heard lots of people reference f&b on
MN but wondered if this was just a trendy brand like fired earth etc.

Personally I find it's less about the 'quality' of the paint with the expensive brands and more about the range of colours - I could be wrong but I've just never noticed much difference with the way the paint goes on.

That being said I tend to go for the more expensive brands because I prefer the colours - I like quite muted shades and often the dulux/crown ones etc are brighter/more pastel. If I was just using a white or plain colour though I would always use a regular brand.

Did you see last week's episode of shop well for less on bbc1? They did a test on bathroom paint from cheapest (wilko own I think) right up to a really pricey one with a few in between.
Iirc they rated the wilko one best and didn't think much to the dulux- might be worth seeing if it's on iplayer?

Mn is split about 50/50 on this. One thing to bear in mind, f&b is very matt, so its not really washable, which put me right off.

We went to b&q with f&b tester - they mixed up some valspar to match the colour we liked

Yup, for me it's the colours: brands such as F&B or Little Greene have much subtler colours. (According to a friend who used to study these things, they use more/a wider range of pigments.) I find F&B in particular an absolute bugger to get on the walls, however.

F&B has great colours but decorators often hate it saying it's thin and hard to work with

Little Greene on the other hand seems to be loved by decorators

I don't think you can put all cheap/all expensive brands in the same basket

I did half my house in various f&b colours and half in dulux. The f&b was better to work with & still looks fab 4 years on. I will only buy f&b from now on.

Just to add I did the decoration myself & had no problems covering lilac, green etc from the previous owners.

I use f&b because I like the colours, simple. I do all my own painting and have never had a problem with it going on easily, but I'm not comparing it to much.

I also get completely overwhelmed when I have too many choices, and the valspar display at out local b&q just ended up confusing the hell out of me. With f&b/little greene/colour courage you get a choice of a few colours. Do I want pastel, light or bright blue? Is the room north or south facing? What other colours do I want to use? Job done, rather than driving myself nuts looking at 87 shades.

Dulux has a massive range of colours though you just need to get it mixed, I have the dulux trade professionals pallete block and it has more colours than most people can contemplate (which is why they tend to only offer it to professionals as too much choice can be overwhelming, if you use a decorator/architect or interior designer they usually have these pallette blocks ) I have used dulux trade both on jobs and at home and it's a good quality paint which goes on well and I think is a good balance of quality & cost. I have managed to get good depth of colour when needed (I have a good red, a proper black and a warm grey with hints of purple in my house at the moment along with various neutrals - not all in the same room) . However I think that Dulux ready mixed regular paint that you buy in B&Q isn't quite as good.

I watched something on TV about 3 paints been tested by painter and decorators...None of them liked the most expensive but after blind tests the most expensive came out their favourite... not sure what program was though

F&B is not child friendly. Unless of course you want to paint your living room every 3 months!

I colour matched F&B paint in Dulux endurance. It's not 100% like for like, some testers were nothing like F&B in colour and depth but for durability it can't be beaten. I have gone for F&B for our bedroom tho.

we had our whole house painted in F&B when we moved in 2 years ago - it cost loads and it really hasn't stood up to a toddler. We're redoing it this summer, and definitely going for something more hardwearing (pref washable!) in the hall, stairs, landing & living room. I do still love the F&B colours though.

I have a found a paint shop that colour matches with Johnstones paint as its base - I've been really impressed with the matches. I agree that F&B does scuff really easily.

Are the expensive brands worth it?
Most of them, yes.

F&B isn't. Little Greene is my paint of choice, Mylands and Muythic are also excellent. I don't think Valspar is particularly expensive compared to Dulux etc? I prefer Valspar to Dulux - there is another thread on here where I have posted my 2c about the differences between the two.

What you get with a (true) premium paint is i) better depth of colour ii) a finish that is both extremely matt and extremely hardwearing and iii) excellent opacity/coverage. This oftens offsets the cost - for example, I have just finished painting a kitchen in Little Green Intelligent Matt, it is twice the cost of Dulux, but I used approximately half the amount of paint. You do the Math as Americans would say. It also scrubbable and looks absolutely beautiful, which is not something I have ever said about a room painted in Dulux. I am going to use the rest of the paint in my daughter's room.

With Johnstones flat matt, you will get some of those properties but not aall. With Dulux, you will not get any, although their Diamond Matt is very good. With Valspar, you will sort of half get all the properties. Paint is not that expensive as wall coverings go. I would just go with the premium stuff and enjoy the finish for not much more money,

I don't have any experience of expensive paint but can vouch for Wilko's. I bought their own brand bathroom paint last year and it was excellent, the coverage and finish was good and it hasn't scuffed at all in almost a year, plus they had a nice range of colours.

DH is a builder and his painters all hate F&B and Valspar to work with.

Dulux is the best IME and they will mix any colour for you. Also Albany which i think is a cheaper label of Dulux are great, - just painted out son's room this week. - he wanted the same colour again so we took in a bit of chipped off painted plaster and they colour matched it perfectly!

Thanks for all your replies. Sounds like I'll stick with wikes/Jhonstones etc. I always tend to use vynal silk for washability, Matt imulsion isn't quite tough enough for toddler's :)

If you like what you've always used then keep going with that. I use Fired Earth mostly because it doesn't give me sinusitis when the house is being painted, but I also think that the depth of colour is better than other brands that I've used in the past.

starry They did a paint testing on This Morning program. Wilkinson's came out the best I think.

If you can get the colour you want in the cheaper paint get that, the more expensive paint have a bigger range more often than not, as other's have said. I always get Wilkinson's paint but have bought Wickes DIY and Homebase too to get a colour I wanted. Painted a Whole house, I've had enough now

Does anyone know the quality of zoffany paint?

I second every thing tremologreen said. In addition, IME saome of the cheaper ones are a pain to work with. Then there is the smell. When we painted our kitchen ther was hardly any smell and after 30 min all awas back to normal. We visited a home 2 weeks after it was painted and we could still smell the paint enough to get a head ache.

Laura Ashley paints are brilliant! Similar shades to farrow and ball - quite chalky and often on offer at homebase (mind you, homebase also have 25% off f&b paints every now and again too!)

F&B modern emulsion is washable and doesn't seem to scuff. I think they do all the colours in it.

I used dulux on wood work and it has yellowed really badly.

We have a mix of crown professional and little Greene paints, and the little green wins hands down.
It goes on beautifully and the colours are lovely, it's also washable which is essentil with 3 kids and sticky fingers!
The crown is awful and it rubs off if you get it wet so there are scuff marks everywhere

We have had good experiences with Little Greene and currently struggling with F&B. Far too thin, needs loads of coats. Looks lovely but dh is saying never again.