Is Farrow and Ball worth the money?

16 years ago

I have a couple of Farrow and Ball sample pots that I purchased from their showroom on Melrose in Los Angeles. I have "pale powder" and "ringwold ground".

Pale powder looks a little too green on my living room wall, and "ringwold" a little too brown for my daughters room, when I was going for more of a creamy, pale hint of yellow color.I think "skylight" might be a better option.Has anyone any experience with "skylight"?

I'm now becoming color obsessed, and having read tons of British interior design magazines, F&B paint seems to be the one that comes up again and again in terms of quality and luminosity. Is it worth the extra money?

I'm inclined to think so many people can't be wrong, but my husband is balking at spending $70 per gallon on paint.

Any advice or comments you can offer would be fabulous!

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Comments (4)

rococogurl
16 years ago
It is fabulous paint. The surface quality is quite amazing IMO.

Here's my reasoning: I can paint with F&B at $70/gallon for 5 years or paint every 2 years with paint at $35/gallon.

My paint is 2 y.o. and needs to be redone.
rosegal
Original Author
16 years ago
I agree rococogurl, and I think most experts can't be wrong. It seems that the subtle nature of the colors is beautiful.I also kind of like that there aren't 100's of colors to choose from.
Fine paints of Europe has a great saying on their website that goes "there's nothing more expensive than cheap paint", and I'm inclined to agree.I painted my first house with Behr, and would never use it again...cheap paint at it's worst, IMO.
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Earlier this spring, a lady came in and wanted 2 F&B colors matched (She had ordered samples)! She had them painted-out on heavy painting-paper, two coats. Without even touching the samples, I could tell they were different! They had a soft/"Plastery" look and feel...VERY NEAT! Quite unlike any regular paint I had seen... I loved it immediately! I mentioned to her that I can't re-create the "look" or "hand" of the color. Plus, I told her nothing I have is this level of quality...and we have C2!! So, after discussing these issues, She still wanted to have the colors matched into C2 (I knew she didn't want to shell out the bigger $$ for F&B). So I got to work....Her F&B colors were "Pointing" and "Sky Blue"??? I compared the C2 stored-library of F&B colors, and elected to do my own scans...and compared the two formulas. I always back-off on the darker colorants some, no matter what the scanner says...! Result: A d@mn good match for "Pointing". After a couple tweaks, "Sky Blue" was VERY good. She left happy! Bottom-line: The "Look" of that F&B stuff was very neat! I've seen a lot of paint, and this was unique... Faron
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Hi!!! Good to "see" you. My first inclination is to go lighter in the cove, since by its nature a cove will be a little bit darker anyway. I love love all of your colors. I have a Charleston grey on a chandelier (metal drum shade). I know ive told this story before, but it bears repeating if cost is an issue. Are you positive that in your setting and on your walls, you will be unhappy with anything other than FnB? In my old house, I had Ringgold FnB in my MBR. When I was putting it on the market, i decided to continue that color into the adjoining MBR and dressing room. The dressing room had been converted by a PO from a bedroom, and so other than its position in the house, the size of the room and number of windows was identical to the MBR iself. This made it a good test case. Since it was just for resale, when I took down the wallpaper in the dressing room i did not buy FNB, I just matched the color and used cheaper paint (dont even know what kind the guy used). Call me savage, unsophisticated, call me daff. I did not really see a big difference between my MBR in true FnB Ringgold and my dressing room in faux FnB Ringgold. Will you? You have the $7 FnB sample pots already. Have your paint store mix a quart of Charleston Grey from BM. Put them side by side on the wall and you decide if the FnB premium is worth it. Don't just listen to all the ideas as to why FnB is supposed to be better. See if it really holds true for you. PS I want pictures!
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I have never used Farrow & Ball but I do like the colors I see online. Two paints I have used in the past that are very poor quality (to me) is Glidden and Valspar although I have heard that Gliddens high gloss is nice. We have had five different houses during the time the kids grew up over a twenty four year span and I can find absolutely no difference in wear time or hardiness between Behr paints and BM. My youngest son used to put his hands on side of halls and walk down hall walls with his feet. He was constantly jumping up and hanging off painted ledges...same amount life span and easy clean off between BM and Behr and same painting coverage. Recently my husband and I used SW in master bath and I do love the feel of that paint for cutting in, it's pleasurable to paint with and you can't beat the great sales they often have. I do not have enough experience with long term use with SW to compare though. The reason I normally switch back and forth between BM and Behr is due to a color I may like.
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I'm always amazed how the snarkies have so rarely, if ever, used the products they're snarking about. Sigh. Allison0407 has an entire kitchen painted in F&B French green. She can tell you how the paint is holding up because she's actually had experience with the paint. Imagine! My entire house is painted in that paint because the color of the regular stuff pooped out in 2 years. It was cheaper to buy better paint than pay the painter repeatedly. I used to DIY paint and I'm pretty good at it but the old joints don't love that roller action so much. F&B is not for everyone because of the price -- DUHHHH -- but if surface quality means something to you then you might want to consider the expense. All my woodwork is painted in their Eggshell, the equivalent of semi-gloss. It's been about five years and it still looks very fresh. That's not to say the same wouldn't be true of paint store paint. FWIW, F&B is not mixed in the paint store. It's mixed at the factory. Most paints have 4 pigments. Theirs have 4 to more than a dozen, depending on the color. I can say their colors are mostly muted, the blues are very green, the yellows are problemmatic, hardly any reds and what they call white ranges from what most of us call white to gray and beige. For anyone with plaster walls, in an old house, this paint will improve the look of the walls. The clay helps with what they call "hiding quality" which is to hide tiny flaws in the walls. This is not the most expensive or exclusive paint by any means. There are other brands that are more costly. Donald Kaufman, in particular, which has only 104 colors Color matching can be done. I've done it but didn't find it satisfactory because the matched color looks flat without the undertones from the additional pigment. Some people can't see that so it might not matter. This is a first world issue to be sure. But the question was asked. I believe the answer is yes based on my woodwork and walls in two houses. Allison will have her opinions as well.
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morgan88
16 years ago
i won't use any other paint now. their limited color range is perfect for me. the finish is beautiful. i used minster green in my dining room, light blue in my living room, and pigeon in my son's room.

because their colors are so mercurial i always order a bunch of sample pots and prime and paint large foam core boards and move them about the room and live w/ them for 1 or 2 weeks.

dark colors by brush can take up to 4 or more coats so i saved money on my minster green by color matching a gallon at lowes and using that for my first coat.

so many of the paints i used in the past looked artificial, like my wall was dipped in latex or something. these paints just look more natural. i can almost hear my old plaster walls breathing now.
PRO
Lori A. Sawaya
16 years ago
Morgan! You said it, "dipped in latex". Some of the big box brands DO look like the walls were upholstered in Saran Wrap. It looks cheap and filmy to me. I don't care for it at all, but some people get ALL wrapped around the Consumer Reports and this that and the other about what's in a can of paint.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? Is the MOST important thing to me aside from what does it feel like. Not that people go around feeling their walls (I do but I'm not normal), but I think that *hand* translates to a visual quality too. That's important to me and I KNOW it's important to other people too.

I don't get to use F&B very often. I have ordered it. Not sorry I did, would do it again if the opportunity presents itself. I do have long-distance clients who exclusively use F&B so I know the palette well.

I think it's a good fit for a lot of people and satisfies a broad range of expectations for what paint and color should look like. R'gurl is a good example of that.

F&B easily brings a certain quality and VALUE to the table that should not be overlooked just because of the price per gallon.

Is Farrow and Ball worth the money?

Comments (4)

rococogurl

rosegal
Original Author

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Is Farrow and Ball worth the money?

Comments (4)

rococogurl

rosegalOriginal Author

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Lori A. Sawaya

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rosegal
Original Author