Kay, So you're saying the husbands' are "wrong" to color on the walls...!?!?...wink-wink! I don't do that....much...;-)!! I can't speak for SW Duration, but I know it's a great paint. Like most "washable" flats, ACE's has a VERY SLIGHT sheen. It's not DEAD-FLAT, but well within the "Flat" ballpark. At our store, the Sensations ranges from $26.99/gal to $29.99/gal for the dark "Neutral" base. If having a Matte-look is important to a H.O. &/or Decorator, the ACE is at least worth a try. If a person has a busy family with a dog(!), you could even use this in the Foyer area!! The same Prep/Priming rules apply though!! * Good, clean/dust-free, sound walls. * Primed with appropriate primer. * 2 FULL topcoats of Sensations/Chosen brand. * 30-day curing-time b4 full washability. * Then.....bring on the Crayons, Sharpies, & Spaghetti sauce!! I'm serious! * FWIW...~3 yrs. ago, 3M chose ACE's formulation to license their Scotchguard into. I don't know how many brands were "competing", but it was more than 1! Faron

They are plaster walls. The primer was SW Harmony. It dried overnite, and yes, it's a cold climate, MN, about 4 degrees and we lowered the heat in there to about 62 degrees. The primer went on ok----a little unevenly to my surprise, but we evened it out with more rolling than I would have anticipated. It should have been my first clue, but usually I don't prime previously painted and washed walls. I wanted to do an especially nice job. ha. I'm certain now that it is the primer. We used a different manufacturer's paint on the windows, but the SW primer and had the same problem. I tried wiping the primer with a damp rag and it partially came off with no effort to my surprise. Not wanting to wash a gallon of primer off the walls, I quit that and we tried rolling the Duration matte which went better than the brushing on. Still.....there is no going back to even it out, or the same flaking problem. I'm hoping if we can get even a crummy 1st coat on, we'll do better with the second coat. Our test run looks good for the second coat. Still...the primer seems defective. I've never had this kind of problem before. Too bad we put primer on everything, wanting to do a quality job. And here we are, worse off than if we just slapped it on over dirty walls. (We did wash the walls before priming. I'm just giving an example.) Any thoughts? I'm so over this I could cry.

Do you trust the BM color matching? What if I mixed a few sample paints to come up with a custom color? Would you trust the BM color scanner to match it? I ask because I have been testing color samples on my house and can't find the right color. One is close but just a tad too orangey on the front of the house that gets all day sun.

Flat has no washability at all. Touch it and it will leave a dull mark on the walls. Matte has some washability. My personal opinion is that if you are going to use the Matte finish, buy the Aura Matte. The Regal Select Matte is not as washable and also more difficult to apply evenly.