Farrow and Ball anyone ?

harrigran I think thats absolutely right. It is simply down to personal preference.

DD used to work in paint manufacture, I asked for advice when I was redecorating the whole house, she said " paint is paint ". She said the only difference is the fancy names they give the colours and how much you are prepared to pay.

Iam64 what do you mean 'it lasts longer'? Does other paint fall off? Fade? No it doesn't. If you're happy with it and for paying so much more for it that's fine but don't somehow think it lasts longer!

That's lovely for you Maryeliza54. We're both happy in our different ways and for different reasons.

F and B is expensive but it looks great and lasts so much longer than cheaper paints. The decorator matched the F and B colours we wanted when he did the kitchen. It looked great but it's not maintaining the colour and any marks seem to be more of a nuisance to clean than on the real life F and B.

I’m not kidding myself that I’ve been ripped off at all - my two downstairs rooms are 17 years and counting. So I’m fine about it.

How the other half live I ve never even seen it on sale round my neck of the woods not had I heard of it

How long did Kevin McLeod 's assessment last? We've had our non F&B painted walls for 6 years so far - absolutely no loss of depth of colour. We got much more than we paid for and don't have to kid ourselves that we haven't been ripped off.

I’ve used F&B for years - the whole house is now Farrow and Balled apart from the hall, stairs and landing( and that’s happening soon). The depth of colour and finish is really long lasting - we have rooms in Lulworth Blue and Breakfast Green downstairs and the colours just haven’t faded. I agree about the price of the match pots - they should knock the cost of any purchase you subsequently make.

I agree the price of the match pots is extortionate. However DH used F and B to repaint kitchen cupboards and dark pine furniture about 7 years ago and they still look good, despite hard use for the cupboards particularly.
Interesting experiment suzied! Does tend to confirm the old adage “You get what you pay for” ?

My daughter has a talent for interior design and having now completely re-decorated the house she bought three years ago has increased the purchase price by over £250k. She has used F&B paints (and equally expensive wallpapers) and when she had the house appraised recently the valuer commented on the quality of decor as increasing both the price and the saleability of the property. He knew the paintwork was F&B without being told, so I wonder if you work in property you get a sense for the original article?
For honesty's sake I have to confess that I have no style whatsoever and wouldn't know one pot of paint from another - we're going to ask advice from our daughter when we next re-decorate, but I don't expect we'll be using F&B paint!

Kevin McCloud ( of Grand Designs) did an interesting experiment where he used a F and B paint and got the same shade mixed up by one of those paint mixing machines, after a while assessed the paints and found a the F and B maintained the depth of colour and lasted much longer than the mix up paint. I like F and B as it uses natural pigment and is made in U.K. ( Dorset I think). The cheaper paints are usually synthetic and mostly shipped in from China. I know they are expensive but there is a reason for that.

Love their colours don't like their prices, my grandsons painted and decorated our living room hall and stairs matching the F & B colours I'd chosen perfectly at a local merchants we were really pleased with the results. I wouldn't pay that price for a tester pot.

Yes they are expensive but on the over all cost of the job isn't nothing . Plus the quality of the paint is so good IMO it is worth paying it .

We wanted a particular F&B shade but our painter offered to match it perfectly using another manufacturer's paint. He did it too. Very good results and much cheaper.