My husband does all the painting, he likes the way it covers, one coat goes on with very good coverage. The reason I like it, is because I have an awesome paint guy, when I buy his paint, which is BM, he always gets the color right on the 1st try...he has an incredible eye for color...so that is why I go with BM paint.

Customer service and quality product. Love my dealer and the staff is so much more personal.

They are the same distance as SW (which I do also shop for samples - usually BM colors), Home Depot, Lowes, MAB and many other brands in my immediate area.

Supporting a local small business.

I already had their decks and am more familiar w/ their colors.

Lots of designers use BM so it was easier for me to see colors in pics to get an idea as to whether or not it might be a color I should check out.

I think that of all the readily available paints, BMoore is at the top of the quality list, both in paint quality and color choice. (There are others as well...Pratt and Lambert and Martin Senour and Sherwin Williams and Behr are also very good paint.)
There are paints that may be more sophisticated, like Farrow and Ball and Donald Kaufman and Ellen Kennon and Fine Paints of Europe, but the combination of quality, local availability, customer care, one-stop shopping for everything you need for any job, and rational pricing is what makes them a favorite. They are also very good at product placement in the world of renovation TV. Good paint plus a good business model.
(No, I have no connection...just an explanation of why I think they are so popular.)

For me it's convenience of purchase, great paint dude, quality products, color selection.

That said, don't make yourself crazy trying to get it. If you are happy with the quality of paints that are more easily available to you, use them regardless of what people here say or what consumer reports says. Lots of people paint with 'low' rated paints and are perfectly happy. The exception to that in my opinion would be exterior paint - there I want to go with the best I can get. But for walls - do what's easy for you. Just my opinion.

Actually we have so much trouble getting colors right. We're just on the brink of repainting the kitchen and bedroom we painted earlier this year. I saw someone mention that "undertone" in paint is the most important element. in a post which I can't now find, and thought maybe BM has some magic I'm just not aware of.

We have tried our share of the other paints available at the big box stores and DH & I agree it is the feel of the BM paint once it dries on the walls. It is not chalky but smooth. It has a feeling of richness that the cheaper paints do not. We have a agreed that the extra cost is worth it.
Kath

As someone who uses a lot of paint, I like BM because it's dependable. I know that when I open the can, I'm gonna get the same performance (color and application)as the last time and the time before that.

Many customers specify BM, but I attribute that to good advertising, since I know for a fact they have never painted a room. That said, they're certainly not the only game in town. I also use Behr and P&L with great results. I know SW makes a good product, but I have never had any luck in their stores regarding customer service. BM stores, on the other hand, always seem to have knowledgeable and helpful staff.

I do think it comes down to personal preference.

I would have to say that I chose the colors for our house based on pictures of the BM colors shown in Pottery Barn (sorry, a fan!). My paint guys ordered the BM colors, but not in BM paint. I think it was ColorWheel. I am happy with the colors, but since I haven't used an actual BM product, I don't really know the difference in the "feel" or "coverage". I realize this is probably frowned upon by professional painters. ;)

When I first found this place I quickly noticed BM and SW were the colors talked about most. Paint color help seemed much more limited if you weren't going to use their colors because that's what people here are familiar with. I quickly went and picked up some BM & SW paint chips.

BM is a great paint and I've used it before but honestly I'm fine with the Ace Royal line and unless it's a smaller project like my stairs or cabinets, I always have BM and SW colors (& others - LA Olive 4) mixed in different paint. The people at our Ace store are awesome at matching anything.

My local Ben Moore store is no longer selling the samples. They will make up a pint size for $7.95. Ugh I could spend hundreds of dollars on samples. I use BM occasionally, but I think I will be sticking with Behr from now on. Paint has gone on beautifully in colors that I love. It seems to wash well, but since I repaint frequently, washability isn't my prime concern, anyway.

Susanka,
Picking a paint color can be very difficult. Even if you love a color in your friends' house, it might not look the same in your house due to how much light you get. We usually use BM colors for all the above mentioned reasons. I love to see what Pottery Barn is doing. They chose different BM colors every season. You can get a good idea of how it might look. I have the Shaker Beige in my hallway and foyer. It came out looking very similar to the picture. You are not alone in this. I wanted to use a yellowish paint from my basement, up in my bedroom. It turned pink in a room that had natural light! I couldn't believe this and took a sample downstairs were it turned back to yellowish! Just goes to show you.....

Thank you, everyone! I am much more informed than I was before (although I still don't have a clue what the heck "undertone" is). Happy painting to you all.

I've done a LOT of painting in my day. I was a Pratt & Lambert fan for 25 years, until the local hardware store stopped carrying it. When I tried the local Ben Moore store for the first time, I got the best color and painting advice I've ever received. That wasn't the paint--it was the excellence of the staff. But then I was really impressed with the Aura paint--it covered like nothing I've used before.

Also, in response to another thread on BM paint, I'm in love with BM Azores. Bluish green, grey undertones, works well with lots of other colors, and looks fantastic with the natural world outside our windows.

Paint colors can have an undertone of another color that will show up in certain lights. For example, some beiges will have a green undertone or a pink undertone that is readily discernible once it's on the wall. And you may or may not want that bit of coloration. If you are really intent on avoiding a green undertone, for example, in your buff colored paint (as I was recently), you can look at the color codes the store uses to mix a particular paint. If it's green, then better not to use that paint color.

Here's a blurb about undertone over at Attic Mag blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Undertone / Masstone

I will say this: the salesmen at our local Ben Moore store did not know what light reflective value was, but the guy at the Pratt and Lambert store did. I expect that at my local big box store, but not at a Benjamin Moore store.

All of my painting of rooms over the last ( gulp) 30 years has been with Sears or big box store paint. I audition the color and we do the painting and we have been happy with the results.
that being said I was introduced to Benajmin Moore paint here and bought a quart to paint a table. I like it just fine but then again just bought Martha Stewart paint for our bath.
You can put me down as "no preference"

LOL, my family used Sears paint for years. I even used it in my former home. One thing that BM has apart from all others is about 50 shades of white.

I used sears paint once. It wound up costing more because i was using a red and i needed 4 coats to cover so it didn't look streaky on my formerly white walls. When I moved a couple of years later, I used a similar color red in my new place and did it with BM. Covered almost perfectly in one coat and the second coat just gave it a richer look. BM paint covers better, is richer looking, etc. The guy who is going to be painting my place in FL. thanked me for specifying BM paint because he said it was easier to use because it covered better. It is also more light resistant meaning it is less likely to fade then some of the cheaper brands. Most people in FL use SW and he prefers the BM paints.

Frankly, sw and bm are good middle of the market paints with similar make ups (solid content etc) I have always preferred sw for their customer service, but having moved to a town without sw, I gave bm a try.

So far, I don't understand how they can be compared to sw myself. I just used my cast bm product after trying the too of the line professional products they offer, and to the last drop my sw products have always, always, out preformed bm. I will now chose to drive an hour for good (sw) paint verses trying one more bm product. I will say the folks are nice at the local store, but their products just don't preform like the sw products I am used to.

I did just finish doing a room in fine paints of Europe though.....,ohhhh la la. I see why people love it. It's in a class by itself for a reason. The tones are fabulous and painting with it is a painters dream. It's top of the line cost as well, but you do get what you pay for in paint (IMO) it's an hour and a half away and I'll be making that drive often as well. Lucious stuff!!!

I've never tried BM paint, but we found out that we LOVE Behr Ultra Premium Plus (not the regular Behr). It goes on SO smooth, coverage is excellent, the colours are amazing (especially when they get onto the walls). After using Behr UPP, we will never go back.

I've used glidden (YUCK), walmart paint (DOUBLE YUCK), a couple off brand cheapies, etc. The one I keep going back to is the Behr UPP, although the regular Behr goes on fairly well too. If you can't afford/can't find BM or SW I would definitely go that route.

The colours go on so rich and deep and vibrant.

I tried Martha Stewart paint in my bathroom and although I liked the colour, it took too many coats. I was not happy with it.

I use Glidden or Behr ... the resins used by Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore and Frazee give me a splitting headache.

I haven't used them, as we're SW loyalists. My mil retired from their corporate offices in Cleveland, so the 40% lifetime family discount heavily sways us towards them! LOL

I have never used BM paint because they are never at the top of the list in Consumer Reports ratings at least over the 30 years I've been a member. Behr and Valspar continue to exchange places as first and second place. SW paint to me is one of the worst paints out there as they consistently rank at the bottom of the ratings. I wouldn't use them with any kind of discount, just like I don't buy a certain car because I can get employee pricing through a family member (sorry noellabelle).

It seems like saying you only use BM paint is a status thing. Sure, I have lots of Pottery Barn in my house, but it is very expensive so I have been discriminating on what I buy from them (but LOVE their customer service and packaging/shipping). We all use what we love but sometimes I think it becomes a bit of a "namedropper" issue and less about true quality.

But, then again, maybe I need to give them a shot if I can find someone in my area that actually sells it.

igloochic--and in my town I can't get decent service at SW...but BM is great. I think so much depends on the individual shop....

I'd LOVE to try FPE. I think I'll google around and see who (if anyone)carries it.

no problem, susanlewis! I have noticed that, but I've read multiple comments on the painters forum here that the pros don't agree with how consumer reports tested them, and that most seem to prefer either sw or bm.

I have used cheap paint from walmart in closets. If I didn't like sw paints, I wouldn't buy them. But they've worked for us and we have a store less than 5 min away, which was a godsend when we first moved here and needed to paint every surface in our new home after ripping down massive amounts of hideous wallpaper!

I have never used BM but love the Valspar paint from Lowes. I do love BM colors so will have them color match for me

I have noticed that painters will use whatever they get for a discounted rate. Then many will try to convince their customers they are using high quality paint when they really are using the "builder grade" quality paint. The painter I used for years used what I asked him to use, although I knew that he really wanted to buy SW where he had a discount and account.

Anyway, case in point is the entire house painting that my BFF just did in her home. I told her not to buy SW but her husband insisted. Her painter assured her that it was high quality so the ENTIRE house was painted in this crap. A couple weeks after it was done, she was wiping off a mark and the paint literally began to wash off the walls. The paper towel was barely damp. She freaked out and called the painter. The painter then contacted SW and it was revealed he did not use their best paint but certainly a paint that should have withstood light scrubbing. To their credit, SW paid the painter to use their Duration paint and repaint the ENTIRE house AGAIN.

However, not only did the painter pass off his materials as better than they were but she later confirmed with SW that it was indeed "builder grade" lower-line paint that is heavily discounted to the trade; certainly not what she was insisting he use. And, the SW paint was not what it said it was either or else why would they pay to have her job done with better paint.

Needless to say they will not only never use SW paints again, but they will insist on a specific line of paint and check those cans when they are brought in the house. Good painters IMHO are hard to find. I know I was depressed for a week when our painter moved out of state. He was the best!

SO...closest FEP is in Virginia. Guess I'll stick to Ben Moore. :^(