Farrow & Ball - 1st time user

guitarbloke · 10 Mar 2021

So the wife wants F&B for her home office and therefore that's what she'll have, there's no changing her mind on the matter lol. I know there are a lot of people who dislike using F&B paint for various reasons, but this is for her own little space so who am I to judge!

My question is this - having never worked with F&B paint before, do I need the undercoat that they make as part of their '3 coat system'? Some people feel it's just snake oil and other people - including many in the trade - say it's the best way to get an optimum finish with Farrow & Ball.

The walls in the room have been lined with lining paper and already have a coat of cheapy Crown Pure Brilliant White emulsion on them. Can I paint directly over the top of that, or is it better to cover it with F&B's undercoat?

She wants Ammonite (very pale grey) estate emulsion on 3 of the walls, and Hague Blue (dark greeny-blue) estate emulsion on the 4th.

Thanks in advance!

ktuludays · 10 Mar 2021

F&b reputation is well earned, it's horrible stuff to use. Drags, shows brush marks easily, a right pain in the ar*e to cut in.

Imo opacity is poor. It's over priced rubbish with an excellent marketing department selling it.

guitarbloke · 10 Mar 2021

ktuludays said:
F&b reputation is well earned, it's horrible stuff to use. Drags, shows brush marks easily, a right pain in the ar*e to cut in.

Imo opacity is poor. It's over priced rubbish with an excellent marketing department selling it.

Well thanks for not reading my post and yet giving your undesired opinion nonetheless. I genuinely can't think of a better use of your time.

Lower · 10 Mar 2021

guitarbloke said:
So the wife wants F&B for her home office and therefore that's what she'll have, there's no changing her mind on the matter lol. I know there are a lot of people who dislike using F&B paint for various reasons, but this is for her own little space so who am I to judge!

My question is this - having never worked with F&B paint before, do I need the undercoat that they make as part of their '3 coat system'? Some people feel it's just snake oil and other people - including many in the trade - say it's the best way to get an optimum finish with Farrow & Ball.

The walls in the room have been lined with lining paper and already have a coat of cheapy Crown Pure Brilliant White emulsion on them. Can I paint directly over the top of that, or is it better to cover it with F&B's undercoat?

She wants Ammonite (very pale grey) estate emulsion on 3 of the walls, and Hague Blue (dark greeny-blue) estate emulsion on the 4th.

Thanks in advance!

We painted our kitchen in Ammonite and it’s a nightmare. Un-cleanable, can’t be touched up without the touched up area standing out like a sore thumb and didn’t cover that well.

introduce her to little green intelligent emulsion. It costs more than farrow and ball so will make her feel like it’s a superior product (which it is), covers better, it’s harder wearing, wipeable, has the same chalky finish, and can be invisibly touched up. Can’t remember the colour, but there is one that’s virtually the same as ammonite.

edit the similar colour is shirting

if you have to use farrow and bull, you can paint straight over the existing emulsion without their undercoat.

sxturbo · 10 Mar 2021

For best finish use the 3 part system. It's likely as the wall is already painted that you wouldn't need the base coat, however for the cost of the base coat it's probably not worth the risk, chancing in it, as you will either never be happy with it or have to start again at even greater cost.

At least if you do the full 3 coat system and it turns out tosh you can complain to F & B and get some form of recompense.

it's not terrible paint I think it's more getting used to it. Paints from other brands can also suffer the same symptoms depending on the type and colour, Ive recently had issue with crown vintage paint or whatever it's called.

an out of the box alternative is to purchase test pots of your chosen colours.

Do 2 coats on some lining paper. Take the painted lining paper to b & q and get valspar to do the scan thingy (I think Dulux might have a colour scan too, aswell as Johnstone's/brewers), it worked for me when I wanted to do less work than the f & b and save money at the same time (unfortunately budgets to come into play every now and then).

That said, the lady wants the lady gets, I understand that

guitarbloke · 10 Mar 2021

sxturbo said:
For best finish use the 3 part system. It's likely as the wall is already painted that you wouldn't need the base coat, however for the cost of the base coat it's probably not worth the risk, chancing in it, as you will either never be happy with it or have to start again at even greater cost.

At least if you do the full 3 coat system and it turns out tosh you can complain to F & B and get some form of recompense.

it's not terrible paint I think it's more getting used to it. Paints from other brands can also suffer the same symptoms depending on the type and colour, Ive recently had issue with crown vintage paint or whatever it's called.

an out of the box alternative is to purchase test pots of your chosen colours.

Do 2 coats on some lining paper. Take the painted lining paper to b & q and get valspar to do the scan thingy (I think Dulux might have a colour scan too, aswell as Johnstone's/brewers), it worked for me when I wanted to do less work than the f & b and save money at the same time (unfortunately budgets to come into play every now and then).

That said, the lady wants the lady gets, I understand that

Thanks for the advice

I actually did exactly that yesterday funnily enough! I went to my local B&Q last night for a Valspar colour match on Ammonite - Unfortunately though they weren't able to match very well and the matched sample is very washed out and lifeless compared the the F&B.

It looks like I might have to bite the bullet, dig deep and fork out for the 3 coat system after all. Though I'm beginning to think that the Modern Emulsion might be better for those 3 Ammonite walls, since they are going to have all the furniture up against them - they're no doubt going to be subject to a bit of scuffing when the desk, etc goes back against the walls. She can still have her estate emulsion on the feature wall

Mottie · 11 Mar 2021

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/paint-looking-too-dark.553891/#post-4745702

ktuludays · 11 Mar 2021

guitarbloke said:
Well thanks for not reading my post and yet giving your undesired opinion nonetheless. I genuinely can't think of a better use of your time.

Thanks for ensuring I never respond to any of your posts again. I always ensure I don't waste my time on idiots, you've made that list.

sxturbo · 11 Mar 2021

guitarbloke said:
Thanks for the advice I actually did exactly that yesterday funnily enough! I went to my local B&Q last night for a Valspar colour match on Ammonite - Unfortunately though they weren't able to match very well and the matched sample is very washed out and lifeless compared the the F&B.

It looks like I might have to bite the bullet, dig deep and fork out for the 3 coat system after all. Though I'm beginning to think that the Modern Emulsion might be better for those 3 Ammonite walls, since they are going to have all the furniture up against them - they're no doubt going to be subject to a bit of scuffing when the desk, etc goes back against the walls. She can still have her estate emulsion on the feature wall

It's a shame it didn't work for you on this occasion.

Good luck with your project

guitarbloke · 11 Mar 2021

ktuludays said:
Thanks for ensuring I never respond to any of your posts again. I always ensure I don't waste my time on idiots, you've made that list.

This news has made a dreary looking day that little bit brighter. Thank you.

Lower · 11 Mar 2021

guitarbloke said:
Thanks for the advice I actually did exactly that yesterday funnily enough! I went to my local B&Q last night for a Valspar colour match on Ammonite - Unfortunately though they weren't able to match very well and the matched sample is very washed out and lifeless compared the the F&B.

It looks like I might have to bite the bullet, dig deep and fork out for the 3 coat system after all. Though I'm beginning to think that the Modern Emulsion might be better for those 3 Ammonite walls, since they are going to have all the furniture up against them - they're no doubt going to be subject to a bit of scuffing when the desk, etc goes back against the walls. She can still have her estate emulsion on the feature wall

If you have to go farrow and ball, the modern emulsion is a much better paint in my opinion.

ktuludays · 11 Mar 2021

guitarbloke said:
This news has made a dreary looking day that little bit brighter. Thank you.

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Farrow & Ball - 1st time user

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