Colour Matching Farrow and Ball

[4yearsnosleep]

Hi All

I'm wanting to use a couple of Farrow and Ball colours in our kitchen. I'm considering getting it colour matched in either Crown Clean Extreme Scrubbable Matt or Dulux Diamond Matt at our local Brewers. Has anyone done this? Does the colour have the same depth as F&B? I'm hoping it'll still change colour as the light changes :)

The colour matching can vary wildly in its accuracy - it's only as good as the sensor. However, you can undoubtedly get the same colour in the Dulux - they have an incredibly range. I think I'm pretty good at distinguishing one shade of a colour from another, but I honestly couldn't see the difference with the finest gradations in some place.

I would always test a colour in the room it's going to be used before buying a lot of it. I get sheets of lining paper and paint up big squares. I am choosing paint colours myself at the moment, though Wimborne white (F&B) looked great on Pinterest, and in the shop, and when I opened the can - but it was too yellow for what I was looking for on the actual wall. Dulux China White was actually loads better! Like you, I imagine, I want the Dulux trade paint for the cleanability, endurance and application.

In some cases, you can see on epaint whether there's a colour match for a F&B paint.

Ooops, not sure what happened there. It should say "But I honestly couldn't see the difference with the finest gradations in some places on their massive colour chart".

F&B paint is quite chalky, so colour matching is difficult.

If you want to find something the same colour in another brand, use this website - put the F&B paint name in and it will give you closest alternatives across a huge range of other brands:

encycolorpedia.com

Also, my brother (who works with trades) says that Johnstone's paint is probably the most accurate for F&B colour matching.

That's great, thanks Kally! I've ordered samples of F&B, Little Greene & dulux to decide on the blue on our island. I'll then be getting the door and taking it to be colour matched to the door as one wall will be the same colour. No idea yet on the neutral, we have Crown Period in the living room that I adore and it changes colour in the light, but marks easily.

I'm looking at borrowed light & Parma grey, but will definitely be buying a number of samples for the neutral Too.

Any idea on how hardwearing Johnstones is? I'd looked at them too, but don't know much about them.

F&b is a different texture to johnstons and dulux so colour matching has limitations

Johnstones did a pigs ear of my request to colour match F&B Elephants Breath, it's nothing like the real thing.

Johnstones is fine. Trade often use it.

That means nothing, I have first hand experience of poor Johnstones matching.

I’ve had great results with johnstones. However it is only a few £ cheaper than the real deal. If you’re looking for a more resilient finish it’s a good shout. If you’re trying to save £ there isn’t a lot in it

I have Johnstones in my bedroom and it is definitely not as resilient as the diamond finish in Dulux. I was really angry as I was working all hours at the time and had paid a decorator, specifying the Dulux finish, and he used Johnstones instead because it was slightly cheaper. Now, if I'm not decorating a room myself I will always buy the paint (and check that they are actually applying what I've provided).

That's so annoying Whisky! It's durability I'm after. Though tbh I'm not impressed with the Diamond Hard Dulux on the hallway. There's grease marks that won't come off and it's very chipped 😕

I'd heard that F&B is hard to touch up & you have to repaint the whole wall?

We tried to colour match F&B with various amounts of success. Wimbourne white for the walls was easy and worked really well. But London Clay for the wood was a nightmare. We tried two different places and it really didn't work. The fakes couldn't replicate the different pigments in the colour and made it look really one dimensional and flat. So we had to buy the F&B stuff anyway.

My advice would be to consider how much of an impact you want the paint to make. If it's for a neutral colour, go for the mixing, but if you want to make a real feature of a specific colour then pay for F&B. It doesn't wear well though...

We have colour matched in the past but have our best successes with using Dulux colour match as the undercoats and using a smaller tin of F&B to do the top coat saving money that way but getting the desired finish.

The paler ones such as Wimborne White is a good enough match to go with just Dulux.

F&B modern emulsion is BULLETPROOF in my experience so doesnt need retouching like a dulux matt would.

F&B is a similar price to dulux and johnstones full price paints. Its just that you rarely pay full price for dulux or johnstones, theyre often on offer and do trade prices.
F&B dont do trade prices unless you buy their wallpaper sample book which is why a lot of tradespeople will try to talk you out of F&B and recommend colour matching with a brand they can get at trade prices.

F&B also needs less coats than dulux. So price balances out in that way

We have used johnstones to colour match borrowed light, vert de Terre, elephants breath and peignoir with fantastic results colour wise. It was in their covaplus vinyl Matt. Only required 2 coats with each colour and lovely finish (done by a decorator friend).

However, it may be wipeable but is not scrubbable and I have been left with some greasy like marks on my walls I n places (life with a toddler and an energetic dog!!). But with the trade discount it was a good bit cheaper and we have plenty leftover for touch ups or recoats if necessary.

Once kids older I would probably spend the money on the real stuff or a previous posters idea of colour matched first coat followed by F&B top coat.....great idea!!

I actually ended up not liking any of the dark blues that F&B had! I'm waiting on a couple of Crown Trade colours, but if they don't work, I'll be colour matching to a Paint and Paper Library paint as it's the best colour I've found so far.

Then I just need to choose between trade Crown Extreme Clean Scrubbable Matt or Albany Matt

The best way to match up paint colours is to use the colour codes. I'm a designer & I often the use this website to add F&B colours to my designs.
Click on the colour you want to match & you will see on the right hand side various RGB, CYMK, HEX codes etc - these are the colour mixing codes in different formats. I like to use the RGB (red, green, blue).

The cool thing about this site too is if you make a note of the RGB code of a farrow & ball colour, you can search the code on the site & it will give you the equivalent colour from say Dulux & then you can go & find it in the store! Much easier than trying to match up colours manually.

www.e-paint.co.uk/Farrow_and_Ball_colourchart.asp

Great, thank you! Will it also work for Paint & Paper Library paints? Thank you 😊

I’ve just ordered new windows and a front door and specified a farrow and ball shade for the door. I’m carking it that they’ll just colour match and get it wrong.

I’ve paid extra for the custom colour and it’s all been specced on the paperwork so fingers crossed.

It’s a composite door so there’s no repainting if it’s wrong.

@4yearsnosleep you're v.welcome, I find it very useful! I don't think so, I think it's just paint colours =)

Little Greene Intelligent Matt is really hardwearing and scrubbable.

Following

Just another vote to say that F&B modern emulsion has been brilliant in our kitchen, totally wipe clean and looks brilliant five years on, and has contended with two lots of BLW!

Paint & Paper Library is part of Little Greene and is excellent quality. Have you looked at whether they do a tough formulation - if they do I'd try that personally.

Is it for cabinetry? If so then I believe what you want is oil based eggshell (tougher than water based). F&B only do wanter based but LG and P&PL do oil based.