Paint

[RizzoTheRat]

Planning to do some interior painting over Christmas. I'm assuming stuff like Farrow and Ball at >£100 is probably better quality than DIY stores own brand at £20/litre, but is it really 5 times as good? What do people recommend for the middle ground. Local DIY place sells Sikkens, Flexa, Histor, Dulux and mixes their own brand stuff, but there are some specialist shops around that stock more brands. But how do you know what's decent other than by price?

[MG-Steve]

I got some Leyland mixed to a farrow and ball colour by the local paint place. 1/4 of the cost and has been fine.

[Harpoon]

Everyone will have their own preference on good/bad paint but we've been using Crown Trade Clean Extreme. I've just had some more delivered as I'll be starting to repaint the hall on Friday.

Shop around as trade centre can be expensive for non-trade account customers. For instance, Clean Extreme 5l colour matched:

Brewers (which now includes Paintwell) : £82
Crown Decorating Centre: £78
The Paint Shed: £55 (free standard delivery if you spend £50)

Needless to say I used The Paint Shed. Ordered Friday night, delivered Tuesday.

https://www.thepaintshed.com/crown-clean-extreme-m...

[Actual]

I am decorating 3 bedrooms.

Historically I have been exclusively Dulux for ceiling and walls.

I did consider Farrow & Ball but decided this time on B&Q Valspar ordered online and delivered in a couple of days.

Using Valspar Premium Walls & Ceilings Interior Matt Emulsion and compared to Dulux it seems to have better opaque coverage and I used 2 coats with the roller.

A revelation when painting the ceiling was that Valspar Premium Walls & Ceilings Pure Brilliant White Matt Emulsion did not splatter and there was not a single spec on my glasses which would have a write-off using Dulux.

For 1 room with more bare plaster after stripping wallpaper I also I used Valspar Universal White Primer & undercoat but I found that did not have good coverage (but the Matt Emulsion made up for that failing)

For woodwork I am sticking to Dulux Quick dry Pure brilliant white Satinwood Metal & wood paint and it is fine with 2 coats.

[ARH]

Always go to your local decorating merchant and get the paint colour mixed. It will have far better coverage than off the shelf paint from the sheds. In my experience it makes little difference what brand you use, just get it mixed, by somewhere the pros buy their paint from.

Obviously this being PH you will be advised to buy the most expensive you can find. Just believe the hype and buy the most expensive, as it will have the best colour choice, and all you friends will be extremely impressed you spent so much.

[RizzoTheRat]

ARH said:

Always go to your local decorating merchant and get the paint colour mixed. It will have far better coverage than off the shelf paint from the sheds. In my experience it makes little difference what brand you use, just get it mixed, by somewhere the pros buy their paint from.

An interesting point, my local DIY warehouse mixes their own, will it be better quality than their own brand off the shelf?



On a different note, I had smooth plaster walls in my old house, and always used matt paint. Current place has rough texture spackled walls (rough enough to take the skin of the back of the sofa delivery guy's hand!) . Would satin give a better looking finish than matt?
Local place does tester pots with a built in roller so I can try and see the difference but wondering if anyone else has already experimented.

[ARH]

I have had mixed experiences in the past having paint mixed at the sheds, but not bought paint from a shed for 20 years or so so can't really comment. Just go where the pros go, there is a reason they get paint from them.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Isn't Farrow and Ball a nightmare to apply, and if you so much as touch the wall afterwards you will have to repaint the whole wall to remove the fingerprints?

Isn't it normally recommended by the milfy interior designers who charge £500 a day to tell you to paint everything Grey?

[ChocolateFrog]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Isn't Farrow and Ball a nightmare to apply, and if you so much as touch the wall afterwards you will have to repaint the whole wall to remove the fingerprints?

Isn't it normally recommended by the milfy interior designers who charge £500 a day to tell you to paint everything Grey?

That was my experience. Not child friendly. Almost chalky when dry. It is a nice colour but I wouldn't bother again.

[ARH]

ChocolateFrog said:

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Isn't Farrow and Ball a nightmare to apply, and if you so much as touch the wall afterwards you will have to repaint the whole wall to remove the fingerprints?

Isn't it normally recommended by the milfy interior designers who charge £500 a day to tell you to paint everything Grey?

That was my experience. Not child friendly. Almost chalky when dry. It is a nice colour but I wouldn't bother again.

But everyone you know will be so impressed when you tell them you painted it with Farrow and Ball magnolia, which went by the name of "dying dogs breath" or something like that.

[bigdom]

Harpoon said:

Everyone will have their own preference on good/bad paint but we've been using Crown Trade Clean Extreme. I've just had some more delivered as I'll be starting to repaint the hall on Friday.

Shop around as trade centre can be expensive for non-trade account customers. For instance, Clean Extreme 5l colour matched:

Brewers (which now includes Paintwell) : £82
Crown Decorating Centre: £78
The Paint Shed: £55 (free standard delivery if you spend £50)

Needless to say I used The Paint Shed. Ordered Friday night, delivered Tuesday.

https://www.thepaintshed.com/crown-clean-extreme-m...

Just used this on a room, have used it before - Tikkurila Optiva Matt. We got it from our local apint shop, but it's on that link. Covers well, goes on lovely, my painter (missus) likes it. Can be wiped. Benjamin Moore was recommended, but that's even more pricey.

We did a couple of bedrooms in the eaves in F&B, rather than having it matched. Bloody useless stuff, it marks so easily. It got wet one day via Velux being open, needs repainting now.

[MattyD803]

Recently had our hall way decorated (which is a high traffic area, naturally, particularly with kids and dogs etc)....we found a colour we liked (a deep royal blue from some fancy brand), took the paint colour sample card to a local Brewers paint mixing centre, who made it up for us in Dulux Diamond Matt. The colour match was perfect against the sample card and 15 months in, it's been very hardwearing and generally very durable.

We've also got Diamond Matt on the staircase, albeit in an 'off the shelf' Brilliant White - has also proven very hard wearing here with being wiped down etc. over the years without fade.

It's too expensive to apply everywhere, but for busy areas, it comes highly recommended from me and particularly good that it can be made up in ANY colour.

[RizzoTheRat]

MattyD803 said:

It's too expensive to apply everywhere, but for busy areas, it comes highly recommended from me and particularly good that it can be made up in ANY colour.

Looking to paint 3 rooms and 4 stair wells to start with, and possibly some more later, so not looking to spend a fortune, but then again it may be worth going a bit more expensive for the stair wells as they've got quite a lot of marks now.

[MattyD803]

RizzoTheRat said:

Looking to paint 3 rooms and 4 stair wells to start with, and possibly some more later, so not looking to spend a fortune, but then again it may be worth going a bit more expensive for the stair wells as they've got quite a lot of marks now.

Yes - for staircases it would be ideal. It seems pretty resistant to scuffs, marks etc and also scrubbable. If you can get one of the 'off the shelf' colours, of which there is a small range, it should be much cheaper than a custom 'tint' (I think they call it). In fact, you might find this time of year would be quite good for getting a deal...?

Edited by MattyD803 on Wednesday 3rd December 15:42

[ARH]

All this discussion about the extra cost of getting paint from the local trade place costing more is not something I have found. My local independent trade place is very competitive, but i do always buy a few tins of paint at a time and always ask for a "good " price. They are normally about 5% more than the sheds.

[dmsims]

Walls

Johnstones
Dulux Heritage

Wood
Johnstones Aqua Guard
Scuff X (this deserves a medal!)

[mikeiow]

FWIW, I have just done our lounge in Lick Blue 06 - what I would call a mid-range paint from B&Q (got a 3 for 2 deal)
Pictures never do things justice, but here's one anyway.


Pretty nice to paint with, couple of coats sorted it nicely. Get a 12" roller with paint scuttle for faster painting (got ours from screwfix)
We didn't even bother with the sample (which is a piece of paper for Lick, rather than paint samples!).

Must admit, I always feel it isn't so much about the paint as the preparation....

[LooneyTunes]

ARH said:

Always go to your local decorating merchant and get the paint colour mixed. It will have far better coverage than off the shelf paint from the sheds.

This. The proper trade paints have more pigment than consumer offerings. It may seem expensive but it will take two coats instead of three… which, if you put a fan in the room to accelerate drying, can also mean you can do a room in a day.

I tend to use the local Dulux Decorators Centre.

[mkjess123]

Have a look at B and Q. Farrow and Ball do have some lovely colours but it's an old style paint (so I understand).

They will mix their Valspar paint to match any F and B colour. It's modern paint with better qualities and cheaper.

No connection other than a happy customer.

[whatxd]

I'm currently painting a 6 bed new build. Someone recommended Johnstones CovaPlus vinyl matt to me and it's been a game changer. The coverage is excellent and the price is fairly reasonable.