I've had F & B mixed in a BM base and the color was fine--my local small paint store did it (Pars Paints in LA).

Mouse's Back has a tinge of pink, which I'm not fond of--I like London Stone better, but I have northern light.

Pink?? No definitely don't want that...(-:

I am just looking for a nice grayish brown that will "read" like that picture...

Thanks for the feedback...I'll keep looking. Funny, I just looked up London Stone on Farrow's website and comparing the two, LS looks more pink than MB.

Colors are crazy (-:

I have the big chip for Mouse's Back and see no pink tones in it at all. I probably wouldn't go darker and think it would be a marvelous color for a room with vaulted ceilings and lots of light. It's so gorgeous on the chip and one that I considered for my entry but didn't want to take a chance on too dark. If I remember correctly, Ben Moore's Tyler Taupe is also in the same range. Or you could just have BM mix up a chip match for you.

Red

Check out BM Kings Port Gray HC-86.

Red, thnks for your response. I'll check out Tyler Taupe, but on my sample, that one is too gold-y for what I am looking for. I have been looking at brandon beige (bm 977) and raccoon hollow (978) I like them from what I can see on the samples, but have never seen them in person or even heard them talked about. They look very similar to ttodd's Kingsport Gray so maybe I am on the right track.

~Jen

found this pic on a blog

Here is a link that might be useful:

I have used Mouse's Back on some furniture and tested it on walls. I don't see it as light at all, it can be dark. It's really a pretty color. But, it will not be exactly the same if mixed by another paint dealer. F&B colors cannot be 100% duplicated. Maybe that's why someone above said it read pink because I don't see pink in it at all. F&B paint is beautiful and that color range is too. Here are some pics of it in living rooms from my folder.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I really like that color. But I don't think color matching is an option. Tried already with other colors and not even close. I think I will just keep Mouse's Back in my inspiration folder and try something else for now.

Why am I always falling in love with things that are hard to get??

But I do think I have gotten some good ideas from everyone that posted. I am anxious to try them out.

Thanks everyone.

F&B is not hard to get, you can easily order a sample can and actual paint online if you don't have a local distributor.

Mouse's Back is a beautiful color and quite dark on it's own. With all paint, but I've found with F&B in particular, you absolutely need to get a sample and slather as big a sample as you can before you make a decision. And look at it all times of day/night. Mouse's Back is a very sophisticated color.

I'm not sure if you're looking at real live color chips or if you're looking at the paint colors online. If you're looking at the color exclusively online, you really can't get a good idea of what the colors really look like. Color as seen on monitors isn't something you can take seriously; it's just for loose reference and kinda fun.

Farrow & Ball has one of the worst fandecks out of the 30 some brands I work with. The chips are not accurate. The only way you can preview a F&B color is to order a sample. Otherwise, their chips are a broad swag at paint color in the cans.

Kind of wild because most all retailers that sell F&B don't mix the colors in the store. F&B color is factory mixed and shipped to stores or directly to customers because they are really picky about accuracy. Yet I see a significant disconnect between F&B paint color and their color chips. Go figure.

It's funny because if you take a F&B chip and have it matched, you're getting the color on the chip - if you're lucky - but odds are it's not really the F&B paint color.

Don't give up on the Mouse's Back. It could be spectacular. It's a little spendy to get the paint shipped, but if you haven't tried F&B, you really should give it a shot.

I auditioned London Stone for my living room and it threw a little pink for me, too. Just saying that everyone's space is different. You have to see what a color does in your own home.

I'm sorry-- I thought the color in the first photo looked pink, and I thought it was Mouse's Back.

funcolors,

I agree with you about the F&B paint swatches being the pits as far as indicative of what the paint will look like on the walls. I still can't believe what "Off White" became in my master bedroom, compared to what the swatch alone "told" me it would be. First room I painted, and I've tested like mad ever since. Of course, I love the "Off White" so all is well.

However, have you not found, as I have, that despite this enormous discrepancy, if you then take said swatch, and put it up on the painted wall that looks nothing like the swatch, they match exactly??? Because I have, every single time.

Pirula, that certainly is true. Just one of the funny characteristics of F&B. I will say that even though the chips don't translate well to the wall, the colors are always beautiful. Maybe not the right color for a given room, but never one of those "oooh baaad" colors you can get with other brands, IME. I suppose it is the limited palette.

Red....you're no chicken! Go for it. And I think you should use FPE for you trim, too. ;-)

Hi Redbazel...

Here's three shots of the "Off White." I hope you like it! I thought it was going to be a beige. LOL, nope. It's a soft, beautiful gray with barely a hint of green. It has a beige undertone for about one hour first thing in the am on a bright sunny day, but it's always a gray.

P.S. Someday, the Hubs and I will agree on a bed....

OMG Pirula, what a gorgeous bedroom. I adore the paper!

Tell me, are those sheep in the painting across from the bed? If so, I think I have its sister canvas.

Also, can you tell me about the bedspread and shams, please. Do they stand up to the furry baby? I am looking for a whole cloth quilt or similar, but my dog thinks the bed belongs to him. Stinker...

Oh amysrq, we lost our sweet little darling, Ashley. She was 22! But! We have a new, totally white furry baby now, and yes it has held up very well. Easy to defur with either a lint brush or a vaccum attachment. Thanks for the compliment! The set is from Crate and Barrel. Got it about three years ago. It's reversable and in the summer we flip it over to a more beigey color (the color the walls were SUPPOSED to be! LOL).

The painting I inherited from my mother. She had a dear friend who worked in the decorating department at Bloomingdales in NYC back in the late 50's/early 60's. It is an original oil, but the signature is missing. And it is indeed sheep! It's hanging in my living room now. That wall in the bedroom is now a picture wall of 9 waterolors/sketches.

Okay, I am running to take a pic of my sheep!

BRB!

Sorry about Ashley. So hard...

I just realized I took that painting to the other house. I was staging and had a blank wall. I'll have to get back to you!

However, have you not found, as I have, that despite this enormous discrepancy, if you then take said swatch, and put it up on the painted wall that looks nothing like the swatch, they match exactly??? Because I have, every single time.

lol! Yeah, that's it exactly. The colors also take a little time to develop *out of* the paint film, IME. The F&B colors mellow out. You have to wait until it cures to do that chip thing -- if put the chip up to compare to the wall right when the paint is dry to the touch, the chip to wall difference is staggeringly noticeable. Wait till it's cured and the chip *matches* the wall. Crazy & whacky.

This is just another example of how and why the uber brands of paint and color are indeed different than regular brands.

Anyone who says that all colors change and there is no difference between regular paint/color and the uber brands is completely clueless and/or has the visual acuity of a door knob.

F&B will suck you in after one color because you just want to see what will happen and what it will feel like - both to the hand and to the eye.

The painter who painted my office a couple months ago had never seen or used anything but box store brands and BenM & Dunn Edwards. He thought he was an "up scale" painter because he had a Dunn Edwards fandeck. :-D (he is cute as a button). And he is an "up scale" painter because he has mad skills and a great attitude, not because of the fandecks he has in his truck.

He couldn't quit talking about what it was like to paint with F&B. He had a million questions and just kept gazing around the finished room. It's always fun to watch someone "get it", I mean really "get" that not all paint and color are created equal.

the curing thing is very true indeed. I remember when I finished painting the living room and dining room in "Farrow's Cream" and I thought, omg what have I done? The olive undertone was so very strong (much stronger than even my huge wall swatch sample. Which had probably cured, sheesh.) and I just hated it. Sure enough, within a week or two, the olive undertone was softened, to the point that most people don't even see it. But it gives this cream a subtle soft coolness that is just beautiful.

I love F&B and am excited about the basement we're now remodeling. Going with "Pale Powder" in the guest room and guest bath, and doing "Drab", "Green Stone" and "Brinjal" in the library/movie room (Drab/Green Stone for bookshelves and Brinjal between the eventual ceiling coffers).

I'm stuck with a gallon of London Stone (changed my mind about something else) and will have to use it in the laundry room eventually. So will need some other color to go on wainscot and trim in there. Hmmmmm, Card Room Green?? Who knows. But I know it'll be loads of fun figuring it out!

Love the room with the yellow accents!
Does anyone know of a Sherwin Williams look alike for the Mouse's Back?

Thanks!

Dag Nab it Pirula!!!!!!!

I have been swinging back and forth between painting my walls a very pretty pale aqua w/ grey undertones (1/2 the room is painted that color) or painting it a pale warm gray (the other 1/2 of my room is painted that color) while I decide w/ aqua accents.

Everytime I think I have it settled.

Your room is lovely!

BTW - Mouses Back is the wall color in a bedroom in a feature in the most current issue of Renovation Style. Very pretty room too!

Thanks ttodd! So did I make it easier or harder? LOL! Either one sounds lovely to me....

No, no. Didn't make it easier :O)! Your room flows much better w/ what I have going on downstairs (and what I really like!) but since this isn't our 'forever' home I wanted to try a different look for a period of time that I like alot. Does that make sense? This house is like my dress rehearsal.

I can't wait to use F&B paints in our next home! I refuse to use them here since I will be leaving soon.

OMG pirula no way. Your off white looks like how Pavillion gray look in our house. Our living room is painted off white and it does not look anything like yours! A lot more creamy & a lot less gray. Your bedroom looks so beautiful.

Btw, I have a chandelier sitting in my garage that I think would look fantastic in your bedroom (the moooi random light). :-)

The view outside your window makes me miss NoVa.

Oh ttodd, if it's temporary then definitely have a little fun and go with the aqua! Why not? And if you love it enough, you can do it again in the next place since you'll know then you love it long term. The "Off White" is easy to love longterm, a given. Have a little fun!

bellaflora: NoVA really is beautiful. I'm actually disappointed I took those pictures in Feb/Mar. I'm planning to retake them at the height of Spring, so that the incredible green canvas that is my view can be seen! (also makes the slight green in the "off white" every so subtly more there). Too funny about how "Off White" is in your house, sounds way more like the fandex! And beautiful. "Pavilion Gray" goes baby blue here.

Not that I'm looking for a new light in the bedroom, but I'd be very interested to see this chandelier of yours....

Thank you very much for the compliment on the bedroom bellaflora. It still needs a proper bed, or at least a headboard (I like upholstered, DH wants shaker pencil post, siiiiiiiiiigh) and something at the windows. Thinking just white linen roman shades like in the peek to the bathroom. But we'll see. I go back and forth between those and linen curtains. The problem is that I love the view and the openess so much, I can't pull the trigger on covering up the windows.

Ah well, "a good house is never done." as the wise saying goes.

Pirula: the chandelier looks like this but now I'm looking at your room again, I think it may be too modern!

{{!gwi}}

Another vote for upholstered headboard here. Or you can compromise and have upholstered headboard with chocolate wood border. Still -- it would detract from the monochromatic calmness that you have in the bedroom. Your bedroom is so serene & beautiful. Now I really want to see your other F&B rooms! :-)

I really miss NOVA. You probably can't wait 'til spring comes, especially w/ all the snow you guys are getting! I grew up in Arlington, used to work in Clarendon during my HS & college -- of course back then it was a dirt pit :-D so was Tyson corner and most other places :-)

Oh that is lovely! It's actually quite similar to the Noguchi paper lantern that's in the room now (and above). I like it! But I'll stick with my mine. : )

Arlington is just around the corner, we're in the Arlington side of Mclean (Franklin Park, if you know it). I am SO ready for cherry blossoms! I enjoyed the snow, I enjoyed being snowed in and all that. But enough erready.

Guess I need to take some pictures and post more rooms!

However, have you not found, as I have, that despite this enormous discrepancy, if you then take said swatch, and put it up on the painted wall that looks nothing like the swatch, they match exactly??? Because I have, every single time.

Except with Radicchio . . . which doesn't match the real paint swatch, either.

FWIW, I could sooo see painting the outside of your clawfoot tub in Mouses Back!

HAH! That's actually a great idea kmcg85! But the tub is painted the same color as the walls (which is DKC #3, and a different topic). I love it. Believe it or not, I've been in love with a cream bathroom with a cream clawfoot tub since the early 90's, and finally got it in this remodel. I've got like 10 inspiration clippings with just this combo. However, but for that, I might consider it. It'd be lovely.

trilliumway....did you test Mouse's Back? Decide?

Love the room with the yellow accents!
Does anyone know of a Sherwin Williams look alike for the Mouse's Back?
Thanks!

Pirula, I just wanted to chime in here to say that I absolutely love your bedroom, and find that color so soothing and sophisticated. I hope you get your way and can talk Hubby into an upholstered headboard, with that wallpaper behind it, it would be perfectly divine! I'd love to see some more of your rooms, it's making me want to repaint my entire house......

Sorry I thought this thread was dead.

I have been painting at the house...hopefully moving in 2 weeks...no time for play lately (-:

I am not sure yet what I am going to do. Right now I am just painting closets, pantry, mudroom, bathrooms. Then I think that I am going to live in the house for awhile before I do the rest of the house. Everything is painted white which is good enough for now.

Waiting will give me time to order samples (which I definitely want to do) and test colors.

I am too stressed right now to make any wise choices. (-:

That, in and of itself, is very wise.

thank you nanny2a. I actually posted a bunch of pictures in the thread below, at someone's request.

Here is a link that might be useful: pics

I went back and forth over whether to do our living space mouse's back or dauphin. From the chips there seems to be very little difference. I finally decided on dauphin and love it, but it does get a bit washed out in full sun. I'm thinking the same might happen with mouse's back, but i wouldn't let that be a deciding factor. Both colours are very warm, but modern in a great way. Sometimes brown, sometimes grey.

I'm including a pic of it in the hall because the flash in the living space always makes it look washed out and nothing like it does in real life. And now that I look at it, it looks washed out in this pic as well. Sorry.

Catkin,

The closest SW color that I could come up w/ via Color Charts is:

Sherwin Williams
SW 2841 Weathered Shingle
925Q-H1NQ-DDL5
Score: 93.1

And it was very far remved from Mouse's Back. You can color Match and get a good color but nothing will compare to the depth of FB paint becuase of the way that they make it and it's ingredients. Als the way others mention abut it's color changing as it cures is specifically related to it's ingredients.

Thanks so much, ttodd! I understand about the ingredient aspect, just looking for a jumping off point!