Breathable and affordable paint

[lizziecupcakes]

Hi all
I went to Farrow & Ball today and had a look at colours and chat with the sales people.

I am putting lining paper on our lime plastered walls (original) and then will paint over them. I was thinking F&B would be ideal, until I saw the shocking prices.

It’ll probably cost about £400 to paint the whole house with their paint, with two coats. It might stretch to £500.

I like to make thoughtful purchases and I think we will very likely replaster the walls in 5 years, with wood fibre board and lime plaster.

It’ll mean that all the lining paper and F&B paint will come down and I’m not sure the expense now is worth it.

What do you all think? I am abit concious because I’m wuite a minimalistic person and I don’t really like wasting money. I’m not really a splurge shopper and for us it’s a bit dear. I don’t know if I’m overthinking it though and the finish will be beautiful so might be worth the expense. I’ve never used F&B before and don’t really know anyone who has it in their home.

Are there alternatives to F&B that can do the same breathable job?

The colour we want to buy for the whole house is Wimborne white. It’s basically an off white.

Thank you

 

[mardinor]

Compared to the cost or time-value of preparing, lining and painting the walls, the cost of any paint is truly insignificant.
We’ve had F&B estate emulsion on our walls across the whole house that’s looking good after 23 years. We value the depth of colour and reflectivity every day and so for us has been totally worth it.

But there are people who are happy to colour match it in any old paint and can’t tell the difference. And trade painters hate the stuff for its poor opacity. But we can instantly tell if a paint is F&B. Either you see it, and value it, or you don’t. It’s nothing to do with marketing, you can just tell.

Having said all that, the colour you’ve selected is so subtle you can get equivalents. And two coats is absolute minimum. But breathable paints from other suppliers won’t be much cheaper. Try Aura.

Suggest you just do it. If you find an alternative, perhaps do one room fully in F&B estate emulsion and another in your equivalent and see what you think.

And consider stronger colours. Go on, your house deserves it.

 

[a twig]

If you’re seriously going to be pulling it all down in 5 years, why not just slap a white matt trade emulsion on (dulux or similar) and call it quits?

 

[lizziecupcakes]

We’ve had F&B estate emulsion on our walls across the whole house that’s looking good after 23 years. We value the depth of colour and reflectivity every day and so for us has been totally worth it.

Having said all that, the colour you’ve selected is so subtle you can get equivalents. And two coats is absolute minimum. But breathable paints from other suppliers won’t be much cheaper. Try Aura.

And consider stronger colours. Go on, your house deserves it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Wow, 23 years is amazing! I can certainly see the value in these paints, they do look good. I’ll try Aura though, and see what happens.

I’m just truing to understand the expense and justify it. So you think the paint would look good on lining paper? I don’t know if it would look better in freshly plastered walls but I don’t want to do that.

We are thinking of getting the wimborne white in emulsion finishing for the kitchen, and the same colour but in their “dead flat” finish for the rest of the house.

The “dead flat” is their new super matt finish that is scratch and knock resistant. I’ll have a look at the reviews for it though.

I love colour and w would love to add splashes of it everywhere but I am a bit impulsive with colour and what I like changes frequently. So, if I paint it the pink I want in a room, I will want to change out after a year or two. Instead, we are using furniture, fabric, patterned rugs, texture and art on the walls to add colour. And lots and lots of plants. I hope it will come together

What F&B colours are in your house? I’d love to see!

 

[lizziecupcakes]

If you’re seriously going to be pulling it all down in 5 years, why not just slap a white matt trade emulsion on (dulux or similar) and call it quits?

Thanks @a twig - is dulux breathable? I would if they are. I still want to take care of the walls in the meantime and not have any issues, and also just incase we suddenly don’t have the funds for the wood fibre boards and replastering. I am abit of an over thinker I guess.

 

[Stevers]

Breathability of paints is a spectrum, Contract Matt Emulsion and F&B Estate Emulsion will be in the same ballpark, though Contract Matt being less wipeable might actually be slightly ahead. Cheap Contract Matt brilliant white paint can be tinted - Mixol etc.

 

[Flyfisher]

I've tended to avoid F&B paint after a poor coverage experience, though I also have friends who swear by it (not AT it ). My experience was with a fairly dark colour so perhaps it depends on the colour.

Otherwise, I've used a variety of other paints such as Little Greene, Auro, Bulmer, Earthborn and most recently Lakeland. I've used Auro and Lakeland to colour-match their claypaints to F&B and Dulux colours. I've also used Inglby for linseed paint as well as limewash.

I can't honestly say I've noticed any difference between the same 'type' of paint from different manufacturers.

As for the price of paint, yes it seems expensive, especially in small tins, but it's a relatively small proportion of most decorating jobs, even if you put a modest value on your own time and DIY.

 

[a twig]

At the risk of fuelling your overthinking- members of this parish have used Ingilby as a cheaper alternative to F&B to good effect.

Ingilby Paints | Home

Ingilby Paints are a family of traditional, modern & specialist paint makers. Our small workforce consists of 3 generations who have been hand producing paints for over 50 years.

www.ingilby.co.uk

 

[fernicarry]

All the fancy designer paint seem to be 50 quid a tin and upwards nowadays so if you really want F&B its not going to break the bank any worse. The thing that gets me is that their undercoat is about as expensive as the paint itself which makes me wonder whether I should bother with it.

First time I used F&B was Sudbury Yellow in the hallway and I was really impressed with the richness of it and the surprisingly good coverage after one coat (and undercoat), so good in fact that I left it at that. It should see me out...

The next room I did was a pink shade (can't remember which, we went through at least 20 testers...) and I was expecting the same but I think it took 3 coats in the end to get a completely solid colour. That was probably without undercoat but it was onto all new lining paper. A very different experience however.

I suspect that with an off-white colour you'll be veering towards 3 coats as well. Its easy to miss a spot when there isn't much of a colour change especially with the lack of natural light at this time of year. A good tip is to go around before it dries with a work light at an angle to the wall so you can spot any missed areas and patch them up whilst you have the same mix in your scuttle.

But, tbh if I had a 5 year plan to tear the room apart again I wouldn't be painting and decorating before that...

 

[Kearn]

It doesn’t make any sense.
If you have original lime plaster, just leave it.
Patch repair where necessary.
Then use a genuine product - Ingilby or Rose of Jericho distemper if you want colour, otherwise limewash for pennies by buying putty and mixing.

There’s no point with the expense or effort of paper, I can’t understand why yours do that. Certainly any redecoration in that timeframe renders expense now pointless.

If you must paper, then the adhesive will minimise the benefits of lime and you may as well just slap on any old stuff then rip it off again.

F&B is overmarketed, overpriced and average quality for a plastic paint. Just take the colour card to your local brewers or b&q and match it for the short term throwaway money.

 

[Janela]

From the pictures you have posted previously Lizzie your plaster looks pretty good.

I second Kearn, please don't consider ripping out original plaster if you don't have to. You obviously respect the needs of the building and so I imagine it's age and character charmed you so don't remove that history and charm if possible.

If you are sure to do so just slap any old thing (paint) on now to "tidy up" because it won't make much difference.
If you have doubts about ripping out and replacing and want white then limewash. It is really easy, satisfying and no paint can match that sparkly glow in the way it reflects light.
5 yrs is a very short turn around to be on the second renovation too.
BTW whatever you are going to do to the walls in the future limewash will be your cheapest option too. Don't buy ready made just mix your own and add any colours with pigments - it's cheap and it's really fun tweaking the colours.

 

[Lacan07]

To be honest if you go somewhere like Brewers and colour match with a brand like Johnson it doesn't work out that much less than F&B or the equivalent posh brands. Having said that as you're going for an off-white the colour match should be pretty much perfect and you won't notice the difference as posh paint only really comes into its own with the deeper colours where the superior ingredients show in the depth and reflection.

I agree with Mardinor and without wanting to sound like a privileged elitist £500 to paint your house is a relative drop in the ocean if your in the middle of a renovation. I get why people baulk at paying for posh paint but its a state of mind and they tend to have much more subtle and dare I say classier colours and tones. But again this only really matters if youre employing the darker, richer colours.

I think its also worth noting that many people dispute the true breathability claims of companies like F&B, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon in recent years and it just seems like a marketing ploy. I certainly wouldn't use it on lime plaster.