Farrow & Ball - 1st Timer! Modern Emulsion Question

[Guitarbloke]

So I'm new to F&B paint, but looking to paint a feature wall in my home office in Hague Blue.

Is their Modern Emulsion very shiny? It says 7% sheen on the website, but I'm not sure how shiny that would actually be - 7% sheen sounds low, but I'm assuming because it's wipeable/washable it may well be fairly shiny?

I'd love to go for the Estate emulsion as a I'd prefer a flat matt non-sheen wall, but I'm a bit clumsy and I know I'll end up scraping some furniture against the wall at some point, and I've read that touch ups on estate emulsion are a no-go, it's a case of repainting the entire wall which I don't have the patience for lol

Thanks in advance! :)

I've just used the modern emulsion in a hallway and it has an obvious shine to it. I was hoping at 7% it wouldn't be noticeable but it is. That's on a light colour. Don't know if with a dark it would be less or more noticeable

The key to the modern emulsion is to ensure it is really really really dry between coats and that a roller is used. The shine seems to come from ‘layered’ areas of paint and brushstrokes. We use the estate emulsion in most of the house but the modern in our kitchen- it’s much tougher than the estate but harder to get a good finish where the sheen isn’t visible.

Thanks folks, that's disappointing. Maybe I'll have to go with Estate emulsion after all and just hope for the best - either that or wrap all my furniture in bubble wrap lol :D

I used it for the first time recently. Peignoir and cornforth white. Neither look shiny to me. They both look fairly matte.

I guess it depends on the lighting in the room.

I’ve just used it too, not noticed a Shen!

Sheen, obvs!

That's a good point about lighting. We still have bare bulbs so that could be adding to the sense of sheen

I've just moved into a house that clearly has f&b on the walls and it's peeling in lots of places. Lovely colours but it looks so shabby. I'm going to go with another brand when I repaint this summer. I rented before this and that house also had f&b but dark walls and good lord they marked so badly !!

@LolaButt

I used it for the first time recently. Peignoir and cornforth white. Neither look shiny to me. They both look fairly matte.

I guess it depends on the lighting in the room.

Hmm I've got downlights in the ceiling, nothing overly harsh, perhaps that will help.

It's a shame F&B don't offer sample pots in modern emulsion as that would make life much easier lol

Use Graham & Brown resistance. Its Matt and super tough

@SpongeBobYFonts

Use Graham & Brown resistance. Its Matt and super tough

Thanks for the suggestion. Whilst I appreciate that may be the case, I want a particular colour (Hague Blue) and no matter how many people swear to me that F&B can be colour matched, they are kidding themselves - it really can't.

Over the past month I've tried every single colour matching service I can find, and so far none have matched the colour and depth of the F&B paint.

I have modern emulsion in a bathroom and can’t see a sheen on it. It has been 5 years but I did touch up recently (from an original tin- and can’t see where i touched up!)

@Jarstastic

I have modern emulsion in a bathroom and can’t see a sheen on it. It has been 5 years but I did touch up recently (from an original tin- and can’t see where i touched up!)

Thank you, that sounds promising!! :)

The darker the colour the more you'll notice the shine. We have sulking room and it still looks fairly matt. You don't really need modern emulsion in a low footfall area. I just use the estate emulsion. You can touch up areas if need be, no need to paint the whole wall.

It depends what you’re comparing it to but it’s a significant difference compared to the estate emulsion in the tester pots.

My preference at that price point is for Little Greene intelligent matt, at max 5% sheen. Their Hicks Blue is beautiful; not a dupe for Hague but rich and interesting in its own right.

The colour chart has panels at the back in grey which show the sheen in different colours. Really useful as you can carry it between rooms, the sheen looks completely different depending on north light/south sunshine and other lighting. It’s free to order. www.farrow-ball.com/colour-cards/free-colour-card-uk-eu

With respect to peeling, the F&B paints need to be painted a certain way, and you definitely need primer (we used zinsser appropriate to surface). The F&B email, phone and shop CS is really helpful in that respect, in my opinion the money is more about the advice you get from them. We did a tricky paint job in studio green (like you, no match found) and it looks great but was effort.

This is the finish page, I’m pointing it towards our north facing window.