Painting interior walls – does expensive paint make a difference?

I’m going to do some redecorating in my flat – painting the hall, two bedrooms and living room.
They are basic magnolia just now, but going to go for some “colours”.

Is there much difference between B&Q own brand or Dulux paint against Craig & Rose or Farrow and Ball other than the colours available? Do they give a nicer finish or are easier to paint on the walls?

I am planning on moving out soon and renting the flat out, so hoping I can make it a bit more upmarket and get some more £££s for it.

The flat is quite small, so the amount of paint required isn’t that much, so even though the fancy brands are 2-3x the cost, it’s not a huge amount extra -especially if it will continue to make me more cash in the long term.

I’ve never used F&B but I’ve always found Dulux to be better than Crown or own-brands. B&Q started selling some other brand that I can’t remember rather than Dulux. Used it once and it was awful.

Don’t go crazy but don’t buy the cheapest.

I’ve painted a few rooms with Little Greene paints. Yes, they’re a fair bit more expensive, but I have to say, the finish is really nice. Covers really well, and has a real depth to it. We’ve got some glass lights with an iridescence on the glass (I don’t really know how else to describe it!) And they now throw the slight colouration of the light into the walls, which they never did before with the non vinyl white Matt we had before.

I will say though that this is their really matt finish, as that’s what I wanted for our cottage. I’m not sure it would make as much of a difference if you didn’t want the super matt appearance.
It does mark incredibly easily though, I’m not going to paint the stair walls and high traffic areas in it.

I used B&Q own brand once, the coverage was awful and needed an extra coat compared with Dulux trade.

Of the cheap brands, I found that Leyland Matt works ok on ceilings as it has good coverage but isn’t durable enough for walls.

I tried dulux light and space in one dark room vs wikes trade silk on the roof and trade matt on the wall.

The room with the silk on the roof is a bit brighter.

They both mark as easily.

The trade matt is my favourite for ease of application.

Not sure how much that helps as they are all white.

If it does help I’ve been house hunting and all the developer done houses are white/ grey/ grey blue on the walls. If I was going for rental fancy dollar they are the colours I’d be looking at. All our rentals are the wikes trade flat white as we thought clean (aka marks painted over) would be easier in the long run. I’d suggest making sure you can get more of what ever you end up with for fixing others carelessness long term.

From my brief time in the industry, I did ask the lab guys and research scientists which paints they preferred. Keeping in mind these were folk that developed paints – none of them could really care about which brand they bought except avoiding the really cheap crap.

But if you’re renting it – surely the answer is trade magnolia? Strong colours will put off as many folk as it will impress and you will need to plan on repainting high wear areas after each tenant moves out.

Rental? plain white or magnolia then, no question.

Go to a trade centre (I use johnstones/leyland) get an emulsion that is wipe clean, it’ll take less coats than the B&Q stuff and will be more hard wearing.

Farrow and Ball is stupit money.

I default to Dulux Endurance here for general walls as it’s hard wearing and can be cleaned with a scourer, I have 2 kids. Coverage is good and it goes on nicely.

+1 for anything not crap.

Although having done way too much DIY in the last decade and asking around it’s harder to be more definite than that.

The worst I had was some branded “trade” white emulsion from Wickes, it took 10 coats to cover a yellow wall, and the estate agent still described it as “patchy” when we let it out a year or two later! Conversely Valspar (the B&Q in house brand) cost 2x as much and I’ve done all the ceilings and a few walls in our new house with it.

I asked the builder what they used when we had a new bathroom put in and he said words to the effect of “whatever is on offer, then keep using it until you get a bad batch, and switch to whatever’s on offer again”. Apparently they all got through phases of being rubbish so there’s little point in being loyal to a particular recommendation.

Dulux Trade Diamond Matt. You’ll never want to paint with anything else again.

Get a shade card from B&Q or whatever in the colour that you want and take it to a Dulux Decorator Centre and they’ll mix it up for you.

Trade paint is, in the main, designed to be of a quality that reduces labour time and leaves a job that you can charge actual money for.

If it wasn’t then commercial decorators would just buy it in vast quantities from another, competing, manufacturer.

Retail paint is usually shite. It is generally designed to sell more retail paint to someone who buys 3 tins a year.

*All opinions are my own and are in no way endorsed by my employer, the largest commercial decorator in the UK

B&Q and Wilko’s posh own brand paint have done us fine. Maybe the finish isn’t as good or durable as Dulux etc, but in terms of value I have no problems with it.

I am not houseproud though, and MrsMC even less so.

We tried the B&Q own brand for our kitchen and it was utterly shite, rubbish coverage, felt like pva glue and required many coats to look anything remotely decent. Stripped it all off as it looked horrendous and went back to Dulux, one coat and looks damn good

I feel like my dog would hold a personal vendetta against me if I used anything other than Dulux again, shes and old english sheepdog (dulux dog).

Farrow and Ball is good stuff and lasts well. Their colour chart is uncorrupted (like many) so you can get a perfect copy in cheaper paint. French grey and Wimborne white, way to go.

We recently painted a room in the B&Q Valspar, not impressed at the cost. Didn’t go on that well, and marks pretty easy.

Did one of the downstairs rooms in Dulux one coat, it was trickier to work with but have a much nicer finish. Touch and go doing the full room in one tin but just managed!

Go to your local trade place – we have a Paint shed in Stirling who are ace.
I use MacPherson and Johnstone’s trade paints for our rental and any ceilings.
Because of choosing colour we often end up with Dulux for walls.

Best bit is they are cheaper than the big sheds and have better quality brushes etc.

How painting works in our house;

– Wife spends shedloads on Farrow and Ball testers
– Eventually picks one
– Decorator gets the F&B colour matched to some child friendly scrub-able paint.
– After job is done the decorator instagrams the job to propagate the lovely aspiration middle class life, including the appropriate F&B colour shout out

#molesfart
#elephantjizz

IF you like a F&B colour get the sample pot and ask them to knock up a colour match in valspar.

Yes and no.

Posh labels, I’ve found not to be worth it.

Trade paint, Dulux, Leyland etc are normally mid priced and I find worth it. The matt scrubbable paint is particularly good.

I’d avoid any own brand stuff – B&Q, homebase, Wickes etc. You will need 3 or 4 coats which is more paint and more time and that is if you can get a good finish.

I have recently finished decorating my entire house and the best advice I could give is find your local trade centre and get friendly with the knowledgable staff in there. In my local Brewers the folk behind the counter really know their stuff and they have helped me save money and get the results I wanted. I used Little Greene ($$$) products for the important rooms, Dulux Diamond paint ($$) for the high traffic areas and good quality trade paint ($) for everywhere else. Farrow & Ball ($$$$) is very expensive but it is nice.

I was a bit grumpy when the wife decided the farrow and ball colour was the only suitable one, as it’s more costly than Dulux/crown which I’ve been happy enough with before. But it did go on well, coverage was excellent and I had to concede it probably saved a tin per room and the time to apply another coat so I’d use it again. In fact, it’s been on line enough now the that I guess it is durable…. Yes pretty decent paint

Some brilliant discounts in the trade places. Just go in your paint splattered clothes I think I got 30% at jonstons just by asking nicely. Their trade brushes are really good too, the pack of 10 for about 30 quid.

They deliver foc too.

If you pick a big brand then paying more for features is probably worth it. So tougher paints you can scrub or light reflective etc.

If you go to a branded trade shop they will probably be able to colour match anything. There will be differences in appearance if you have a gloss colour sample and get a matt paint. But otherwise the process is very good these days.

If you pick a product level there is little difference between brands. I’d go to whichever trade shop is closest.

For a flat I’d go fairly neutral. I don’t know what your rental periods are like but if the tenant is there for 5 years or more I’d have though redecorating when they leave is likely?

Tough paints in high wear areas like halls, kitchens, living room. Appropriate paints for bathrooms. If you are doing wood, skirting etc. then satin is generally less prone to damage and showing defects than gloss.

Thanks for all the tips folks.
Seems like getting a colour I like made up in a durable finish at a trade place is the way to go.

FWIW, the rentals will be AirBnB so going more for the Instagram look as opposed to plain white box.

I just go to my local decorating centre usually with a farrow and ball colour chart and they can mix it on the spot, trade quality standard.

I’ve used ‘skimming stone’, ‘carnforth white’,’clunch’, ‘belligerent penistone’ so many times I’ve lost count

I’d never actually buy an F&b paint time, f that

In fact I’ve just come back from my decorating centre with a ‘powder blue’ off the Crown colour chart. Easy does it. They should know all the colour charts

does expensive paint make a difference

Yes

F&B > *

Better coverage, longer lasting, easy to clean. Don’t listen to the working class and getting it matched with inferior quality paint, it’s just not the same.

I never got on with Crown paint.
Just done my lounge and bedroom with the B&Q “GoodHome” paints and they were absolutely fine. 2 coats with one of the big furry rollers. Finish (silk, not matt, hate matt) is perfectly fine. Great colour choices too.
Only thing I found, when I spilt a bit of white on the coloured stuff and wiped it, the colour came off very easily after having been on for a day or 2.
I have more rooms to do and I’ll probably use the GoodHome stuff again.

But if you’re renting it – surely the answer is trade magnolia? Strong colours will put off as many folk as it will impress and you will need to plan on repainting high wear areas after each tenant moves out.

Totally this. You will need to repaint some areas when the tenants move out and it’ll be much easier with standard paint in a common colour. If you go for posh paint in a custom colour you may end up needing to paint the whole romm again which is a faff and expensive

I know of one medium sized boutique UK hotel chain that decorates a whole hotel in F&B, then leaves the maintenance team with a couple of tins of leftovers with sticky labels on them (masking tape with sharpie writing on them) telling the maintenance team the relevant info for them to get the same results from their local B&Q

What nick says. Matt finish can be touched up easily. Other finishes a small patch up can flash to a different colour and you would need to do a whole room again. Keep a note of the brand and colour as shades vary widely between brands. Valspar from B and A appears to vary widely in quality and application. Dulux is consistently good as is Johnson’s Trade. Use good quality brushes and rollers to make life easier. A tin of quality paint tends to weigh more than cheap shit as it has more pigment in it so better coverage. On trend bold colours quickly become off trend. Light and simple and clean is a winner. Small flat looks smaller with darker colours and feature walls. Paint the window reveals white to suck light into the room.

We used B&q Valspar stuff in the living room. Plus points are the colours match the swatches and contrary to the above went on fine with a couple of coats. Minus for marking and being relatively fragile, had a few bits chip/ scrape off. The crown stuff we used in the daughters room about 5 years before has held up well.

Everything undercoated with Leyland Contract matt, great stuff.

Very relevant to me at the moment…
I usually do mist coats and undercoats with a cheaper (Wickes own trade) then stick on Dulux or something over the top.

Wickes changed their home brand but failed to read the reviews first (I was just collecting something else) and it’s absolutely pants almost no opacity. 4 coats of white over magnolia and it hadn’t even begun to cover… reviews I checked after said the same. Chucked on a single coat of Dulux and it immediately covered.

As above in the main.

In the late 90’s I worked with a superb decorator and learned a lot from him. Trade paints are the way to go, Dulux, Leyland or Johnson. We used to usually use Leyland as he said it was almost as good as Dulux but much cheaper. It’s all about pigment, the better paints have more of it.

Another mate of mine that paints for a living insists F&B is not very special and not up to the best Trade paint standard. He works in Harrogate so you can imagine that F&B is in high demand so he just gets their colours made up in Leyland Trade.

From my days on the brushes I will only use Dulux/Leyland Trade Matt for walls and ceilings and their Eggshell for woodwork in my own house.

Dulux Trade Diamond Matt. You’ll never want to paint with anything else again.

Get a shade card from B&Q or whatever in the colour that you want and take it to a Dulux Decorator Centre and they’ll mix it up for you.

Trade paint is, in the main, designed to be of a quality that reduces labour time and leaves a job that you can charge actual money for.

If it wasn’t then commercial decorators would just buy it in vast quantities from another, competing, manufacturer.

Retail paint is usually shite. It is generally designed to sell more retail paint to someone who buys 3 tins a year.

*All opinions are my own and are in no way endorsed by my employer, the largest commercial decorator in the UK

I might have a try with Dulux Trade Diamond Matt next time!

I just did a couple of rooms recently with the B&Q Good Home stuff. It was fine. Two coats with the emulsion roller. I’ll likely go straight to that range  for the next lot.

The very worst paint I ever experienced was Laura Ashley. Still, I’m sure they sold millions of gallons of the stuff.

The very worst paint I ever experienced was Laura Ashley.

A horrific experience topped only by their wallpaper.

A horrific experience topped only by their wallpaper.

I still have nightmares about Laura Ashley wallpaper. You only have to look at it for it to turn to mushy toilet paper. Terrible stuff

I do a fair bit of painting and tend to get F&B colours made up in Johnstone’s trade or Little Greene. Better paint not only looks better but it’s much nicer to applly.

Johnstone’s Endura every time – even the darkest shades cover in one coat (two it you want a super-solid finish) and it has Class 1 scrub rating. I will never buy anything else ever again.

We have it throughout our kitchen (which is four years old now) and it looks as good as new – any splash of food (including things like curry) clean off easily – I can even use Cif on it for the more stuborn stains.

recently painted our landing and stairs with B&Q own premium brand stuff, covers well (could of got away with 1 coat, fairly inexpensive and a decent enough range of colours. conversely to the above Farrow & Ball love, we got a load of their testers as liked the colours, but they paint covered really poorly and needed three coats to cover the magnolia wall the tester was going on to

Farrow & Ball isn’t as good as Crown or Dulux in our experience.

A colour not seen so often these days fagnolia , often seen in family living rooms of heavy smokers with a paler shading behind a mirror or hung painting