Farrow and Ball

[Tom d'Angler]

I have just finished a job using Farrow and Ball and I am pleasantly surprised with some aspects of it.

The price is obviously an issue. Some people think Dulux Trade is expensive but £28 for 2.5 ltrs of DT vinyl matt is a lot cheaper than £47 for 2.5 ltrs of F&B. The F&B is definitely overpriced. However, the coverage was very good, especially as there was quite a colour change in two of the three rooms. In two of the rooms I used Estate Emulsion. In the kitchen it was Modern Emulsion. The EE was much thicker, and that surprised me given that the ME is supposed to be harder-wearing so I would have expected the ME to be thicker, like DT's diamond range. However, both the EE and the ME covered perfectly in two coats. The ME definitely needed two coats but, in all honesty, the EE covered perfectly with one coat, the second coat seeming superfluous. I had to use quite a bit of Zinsser Cover Stain on a couple of the kitchen walls as there were grease spots all over them and the stain block was very visible after the first coat of ME, to the point where I thought it might take three coats to cover, but the second coat did the job. Apart from the price, the only downside was the sheen level of the EE seeming higher than the sheen level of DT VM. I big plus was how clean the inside rim of the tin was. I am so used to the rim being messy in the DT tins, it was a surprise to see a totally clean rim (said the actress to the bishop!) and lid.

All in all, I was very happy using it and I will no longer be trying to dissuade customers from buying it. If they want it and they are prepared to pay the extra for it then it's fine with me. I also recently learned that my nearest B&Q stocks quite a wide range of F&B. although F&B's own online ordering and delivery is easy and fast.

[fitzy]

I've always found it to be OK. The estate eggshell is particularly nice.

My two gripes are

1. That they recommend their wall primer prior to using their emulsion. Why? None of the trade paints do. Just seems like another money spinner for them when they should be improving their paint so not to need it.

& 2. The price. It's more than twice as much as I pay for johnstones vinyl matt - a premium trade brand. It's neither twice as good, doesn't go twice as far nor cover twice as well.

An additional gripe would be the people that work in the shop that I've been in. They don't seem to welcome tradesmen walking in, and they also offer no discount. They seem to think they are above all that trade stuff.

I think once Benjamin Moore gets better known in the UK, it will take quite a bit of their market.

Benjamin Moore has a similar image to the frilly cuff paints, but it is actually backs itself by being a solid trade brand that the decorator's will love.

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[dynamod]

Never really been able to make up my mind on this stuff TBH. When forming an opinion on any product, price really does play a role in how the item is perceived and therein lies the problem.

Their prices are just silly, and the quality, though fine, isn't anything special. Its branding is a bit suspect too, designed to trap the bungalow-land Volvo brigade with the 'divide and conquer' marketing trick.

The 3 coat base primer thing is just a gimmick. What trade paint would any of us use, far less take seriously, if it always needed 3 coats and cost 2-3 times the price of a normal trade brand? We'd walk straight past it, (as I always do) yet a certain sector of the public love the stuff.

I think there's an enormous amount of kidology and brand image with Farrow & Ball, which they as a company have done very well. However, the exorbitant shelf-edge prices simply don't scale with what's in the tin I'm afraid. You can get Little Greene, Mylands, Benjamin Moore et al at that price point, and once these other brands get better established, Farrow & Ball won't be seen in the same way.

All this said I do have a soft spot for Estate Eggshell and rate it as one of the best acrylic eggshells out there.

[Tom d'Angler]

Like Laura Ashley, Farrow & Ball is all about making people feel aspirational. After all, if you can afford LA and F&B you must be doing well. The fact that you paid for in on your already nearly-maxed-out credit cards isn't taken into account when you brag to your friends that "Yah, I instructed my decorator to use only Farrah and Baaaall..." (I actually overheard a customer say that on the phone to one of her yummy mummy friends while I was painting her hallway. She made sure I heard it too, just so I understood my place. I know my place.)

[Est1896]

I've been looking into using F&B in my Victorian house but the price is shocking. I want to use a traditional paint, that will let my home breathe. Is it worth the expense, or are there other brands out there like it but cheaper??

[Alpinist]

Often use FB colours mixed in Johnstone's trade paints- exception would be reds as these copy less easily.
The finish on trade paints an be different however which may or may not matter!