Farrow & Ball -worth it or cheaper alternatives?

tigeress289

F&B has a very chalky feel to it and does not cover at all well. I would not put Crown in top 3 and fb comes bottom every time. As for the post about fb not being made for middle class. Check their shop locations. We dont have one in dalston? The company have found a market that believes the hype, they have won. As for colour matching, Dulux and Leyland are light years ahead. I once told a customer the colour I had used was a special FB called Elephants Breath and he thought that shade are grey was just right, it was a dulux colour. FB hit a gullible market and are reaping the stupidity of its customers. Sanderson and Dulux are my top choices and Leyland third.

namecheck

To the OP - as you can see, mention of F&B stirs up a hornet's nest with men (generally) and professional painters. I am always amused they get so uptight about this paint brand.
And I hope another poster's "wealthy" customers don't find out what he really feels.

shegirl

Who'd have thought a tin of paint could cause such a stir!!!! Still undecided lol

devildog

tigeress289 wrote: »

F&B has a very chalky feel to it and does not cover at all well. I would not put Crown in top 3 and fb comes bottom every time. As for the post about fb not being made for middle class. Check their shop locations. We dont have one in dalston? The company have found a market that believes the hype, they have won. As for colour matching, Dulux and Leyland are light years ahead. I once told a customer the colour I had used was a special FB called Elephants Breath and he thought that shade are grey was just right, it was a dulux colour. FB hit a gullible market and are reaping the stupidity of its customers. Sanderson and Dulux are my top choices and Leyland third.

You don't need a F & B shop(none here either) in your location lol surely you must have a Homebase or similar (those type stores stock it)

gingin_2

shegirl wrote: »

It's not a period home but I fell in love with the shades (my son wants a chalky green and I love the greys - it's hard to find the perfect grey!) and I do love the changes depending on light.

I had been told that dulux etc can't actually colour match it very well? Maybe worth trying as it's not so much period style I want,it's just the rich but 'calm' shades that I've found hard to find elsewhere.

Thanks

I love their chalky greens and grey. I spent a fortune on tester pots and kept coming back to Farrow and Ball. We have F and B Lichen on our exterior window frames and doors and I love it. That said, I have Dulux on most of my interior walls, just because we wanted very specific and unusual colours but would use Farrow and Ball with no hesitation.

Edit - I have dulux slate grey in my bedroom and it's pretty much spot on to the colour chart.

Leif

I considered F&B, but the decorators on the UltimateHandyMan web site panned it, they really hate it. Odd because the people I used to work with raved about it.

I used Dulux Endurance, which is an acrylic paint. Wipeable, but it will ding if knocked. The colour selection is poor. Paint and Paper library do a similar acrylic paint with a huge range of colours.

barneyg

Dulux Trade Flat Matt emulsion looks just as good to me and is very durable - I've got a couple of colours from the Dulux Heritage range which were close matches to some F&B colours I liked.

Craig & Rose (which I have in a couple of rooms) looks good from a distance but is nowhere near as forgiving and I'm sure it sometimes gets marks on it just by looking at it! Lovely colours though

Ionkontrol

I found a nice colour in their shop, took tester home, liked it.
Took it and got it mixed on a Dulux system for about a 1/3 of the price.

It is paint marketed for women. Big on mumsnet. Avoid.

shegirl

Ionkontrol wrote: »

I found a nice colour in their shop, took tester home, liked it.
Took it and got it mixed on a Dulux system for about a 1/3 of the price.

It is paint marketed for women. Big on mumsnet. Avoid.

That's enough to put anyone off:rotfl:

nickj_2

Ionkontrol wrote: »

I found a nice colour in their shop, took tester home, liked it.
Took it and got it mixed on a Dulux system for about a 1/3 of the price.

It is paint marketed for women. Big on mumsnet. Avoid.

people do think they are getting something special with F&B, which is true , it's more expensive than paint that will do a better job in terms of coverage . if it were that great painters would be using it all the time or recommending it ..... trust me , we don't

just had a look at mumsnet - they do love their F&B there - , i had a quick look at one thread discussing the difference between 2 colours and one poster said that they were " both white with a hint of pretentious"....well said :T:T:T:T