I think it may depend on the color. I have two rooms painted in F&B right now. One of them in "White Tie" is just a very beautiful cream. Not particularly complex at all and I can see that being matched rather easily. The other one though "Off White" is incredibly complex. It's not full spectrum, but it sure acts like it is. It has these beautiful undertones of gray to silver to sage to taupe at different times of day. This was completely unexpected and only started happening once all the walls were painted. It's just beautiful. I don't see how that could ever be color matched.

Same dealio in son's room. The "Chinese Blue" trim is beautiful, but a true, no doubt about it BLUE. The "Cooking Apple Green" different story. Again, while much less complex than that off white, it's definitely one that would be very difficult to match.

That doesn't help much does it. I can tell you that if you order F&B from Cox Paint, I usually have my paint in about three to five days. I believe they also have faster shipping options. I have a local vendor that sells F&B but still use Cox Paints on occasion, mostly to save a time and energy when I'm not in a particular hurry. I've been very pleased with them.

Good luck! Personally, I think you should go with the real deal. But P&L has such BEAUTIFUL colors too, I don't see how you can go wrong either way.

Good luck!
Ivette

I think it would completely depend on what your standards for color matching were. If you were looking for a very close match, not a perfect match, you'd be fine. Do you have large samples of the F&B shades you're looking at? I think color matching off the little squares on the brochure would be a bit hit or miss. (Plus I think the brocchure itself doesn't really match the F&B stuff very well, anyway.)

Pirula, Could you, please, give more info about Cox paint (link, phone, etc.) I'm in upstate NY and keep getting directed to NYC sources, which are not convenient despite being in the same state.

Molly~

I agree with housekeeping, the chips on the free brochure are just awful, they don't remotely show what the real color will be like on the walls. And frankly, the F&B fandex is not much better. F&B is one brand that you absolutely have to slap on the walls or a big piece of wallboard or something to get a closer feel for what the color will be like. And even then, once it's up, it's still different. At least that has been my experience. I've used several brands, and F&B is the most difficult to nail before it's up.

Here's a link to Cox Paint, they carry several great paints.

Ivette

Here is a link that might be useful: Cox Paint

Thanks for your advice. I called Cox Paint and ordered the Farrow & Ball, and the painter will find other things to do until it arrives.

I agree, the F&B has been the squirreliest paint I have ever tried. First I got the fan deck - which I hated and cut apart to be able to use easier - and then ordered four sample pots. The color IN the pots matched the color from the fan deck, but not the sample color ON the label.

I'm going with String, a dusky beige with a lot of green. I'll let you know how it works out!

Nicole

Nicole,

I'd love to see String once it's up on your walls. Hope you can take some pics.

Ivette,

Thank you (I think) for the link to Cox. Uh-oh, more paint color cards I don't have....

Molly~

My pleasure housekeeping.

Nigel: String is a beautiful color, I hope you can post pictures when it's all done.

Best,
Ivette

I color matched the China Blue in BM. Fugheddaboutit. It's on my front door and I am repainting it with the FPE ZuiderZee blue in the spring.

That China Blue is a gorgeous color. I got a sample pot. But it sure didn't translate.

It's a classic Georgian blue and needs to be just right. The M. Stewart paint colormatched really well in BM however.

it may vary brand to brand. Moore tends not to have a bright base while F&B doesnt. The difference made this particular color very harsh in treanslation.

I just finished painting all the woodwork in DS' room Chinese Blue and it is just beautiful! I'm very excited!!!

Ivette

P.S. and so is he!

I had F&B Book Room Red matched in BM washable matte paint from the the F&B fan deck. We were very happy with the result; the formula that resulted used 4 pigments on the 3B dark base.

For another room we did paint pots to figure out which yellow we wanted and then had it matched from a swatch. Result was not as good; a bit too green.