BM Paint. What finish do you get and why?(matte vs. eggshell)

16 years ago

I used Eggshell in my half bath and DR. It's nice but a bit too sheen IMO. I want to try the Regal Matte. I am scared it will be chalky. I have the Ellen Kennon paint from ICI. I am not real in love with the finish. For us it has not proven to be a good fit for the kitchen and I am constantly in there touching up paint. It is matte, but almost chalky in feel. I like a matte look, but not the feel of that particular paint. How does the BM measure up there?

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16 years ago

Hi Bloomin', I know that what I said seems inherently wrong but now I will tell the "rest of the story". I have never had Matte paint before except in the DR and it is navy blue and is Devoe paint. It is easily burnished so I was afraid to use more dark colors in matte but I wanted that rich smooth color. I read up on the different paints and scoured the GW for info. I have the Thyme Green you see and also a rich chocolate called Belgian Chocolate and then I have La Fonda Terra Cotta . All in BM . The difference is the ceramic in the paint. I don't think the BM flat has it so I would not suggest the same care. If I were you I would ask the BM dealer and also contact their web site and see what the difference is and the suggested care.

I wiped the wall behind the cooktop down with an ammonia-based cleaner (Windex) when it was only days old as my DH had just stirfried and it was covered with grease. It ruined the paint job. My painter redid it and ....you guessed it I cleaned it AGAIN too soon. I then went to the paint store and ranted about the crap BM paint. Uh well...he showed me a wall he had scrubbed with a soft natural bristle brush and soap...it was perfect. He said cure it a month and then use the brush or a rough cloth and soap. My wall looks exactly like it did the day it was LAST painted. LOL. I love the color and wouldn't use any other paint now but it was my fault that I didn't find out the care first...although I think they should have ann info sheet for all types of paints so you know when you are buying what you are getting. Hope this helps you. Caroline

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Comments (11)

honeyhaze
16 years ago
I'm going to try BM Matte in my foyer this week and we'll see how it goes. I wish I'd tried it last week so I would have more info to offer you, but I wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat :)

I used BM Eggshell in my living room and it has way, way too much sheen for me! I tried SW Flat (in "Fabulous Grape") in my dining room as an experiment and I have to say that the depth of color is absolutely astonishing.

I don't think I'd return to BM eggshell for most rooms. I'd rather have to touch up more often. My BM rep told me that she'd applied their Regal Matte in a public restroom in the store and that it was working out beautifully, but I haven't wandered in there to check it out yet..
User
16 years ago
I just used BM Matte in my Kitchen, DA and Family Room. I love the way it looks. It is not at all chalky, has a real depth of color. It hasn't been up long enough to know how it will wear.
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paddytc
16 years ago
I used BM Matte through out my house bathrooms and all. We have been in for 1 1/2 years so far so good.. Cleans and touches up great.. Paddytc
gardenergwen
16 years ago
We have the Regal Matte everywhere in our home and LOVE it. Not chalky and yet a beautiful flat finish. It cleans up great. For example, we have it in a very heavilly used half bath and the stairway areas that always get fingerprints. These bath area is frequently splashed with soap and water and the stairway wiped often to get rid of greasy fingerprints, but both have walls that look as good as when we painted a year (almost 2) ago.
johnmari
16 years ago
Conversely, I hated Regal Matte. I thought the color looked dead and blah - I preferred the eggshell (Regal Aquavelvet, which is a bad name because it's too close to Aquavelva, the old aftershave!) that I had in a couple of other rooms. It didn't wear well at all, didn't touch up nicely, and it didn't clean for doodly-squat - I'm unsteady on my feet so I tend to get finger/handprints on the walls, plus both my dog and (late) cat liked to lean against the walls and got dirt and oils from their fur on the walls. On the eggshell walls I could just wipe them off with a wrung-out, soapy rag, but even after a couple of years the Matte walls would burnish (go shiny in patches) if I did more than wipe carefully. If we had stayed in that house we would have painted over it.

My BM paint dealer said that about 80% of his customers loved it and 20% didn't.
tropical_diva
16 years ago
Well I was wondering this very question this morning before I bought 6 gallons of Reserved Gold ( Satin). I even asked the guy at the counter which one was preferred. He told me 50/50 so I went with the satin. My painter "scolded" me and told me flat shows the color better. One of the samples I had on the wall was flat and it looked chalky to me. Oh well it's done and I don't know if it will REALLY make a difference!
rmkitchen
16 years ago
We have the Regal Matte in all the rooms which are in BM and I LOVE it!!! To me, it looks like velvet -- totally dead dull (I mean that in a good way). I love that there's no reflectivity, just the glorious colors of the walls. Now when I pass the baths (which are in an eggshell) I think "wow! way too shiny. In my experience, Regal Matte is not at all chalky, just sublime.
chelone
16 years ago
I used Ben. Moore Satin Impervo for the base coat of all the walls in our home (now virtually impossible to get because it's alkyd paint). I used that because it provides a perfect basecoat for SUBTRACTIVE decorative finishes (those requiring the removal of glaze for the final effect).

I used High Gloss Impervo for the woodwork. Superlative high gloss... sadly, no longer available in my state. And the latex "high gloss" is a completely PATHETIC and pale imitation. I used it for the garage doors, was shocked and the minimal gloss for the price per gallon. PISS POOR!

I will have to select from what I consider to be anemic "imitations" in the latex palette for the workspace above the garage, but I'm not enthusiastic. I'll probably opt for something similar to the old "Impervo"... whatever the Ben. Moore website suggests.

Clearly, their chemists need to "get busy"!
User
16 years ago
I have the BM Regal Matte on all the walls downstairs now since December 2006. I have it as my painted backsplash in the kitchen....behind the deepfat fryer and the 36" Caldera gas cooktop..can't get tougher than that !! I scrub it with a soapy dishcloth and it still looks new. We have Thyme Green which is quite dark. The main things you need to know about the matte is that it has ceramic in it so it is very tough but you have to let it cure for a month before you mess with it. Also you have to use a very rough cloth or better yet a brush to clean it or it will burnish. I talked to my paint dealer and got all the facts before I used it. Also never use ammonia on it, it will remove the paint finish and ruin it...just use plain old soapy water. Hope this helps. Here is a pic:

cooking area w/ fryer and cooktop painted backsplash:
bloominwhereplanted
16 years ago
Wow, trailrunner... what you are suggesting seems to be the opposite of what you should do to avoid burnishing! You're saying to use a rougher cloth? I'm afraid to try it... my darker colors burnish if we rub against them, but then again they were painted less than a month ago... and we used BM Regal Flat. I was thinking of going over the "high traffic" walls one more time in eggshell to prevent burnishing in the future. What do you think?

BM Paint. What finish do you get and why?(matte vs. eggshell)

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honeyhaze

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