Posh Paints or Standard Brands?

The makers of "Posh" paints like Farrow & Ball, Fired Earth, and Little Greene would like to lighten our wallets by a considerable amount by suggesting to us that their paints are superior to the normal brands found at the decorators merchant. Are these paints really any better? It depends.....

From a technical point of view, there are some differences. A lot of these expensive paints are formulated using real pigments from natural resources like earth and minerals, which do give a fantastic depth to the colour, particularly with chalky flat emulsions. Standard decorators paints by the big manufacturers on the other hand, use synthetic pigments which can be less vibrant - even if it's the same shade of colour.

Expensive paints have also been made to traditional formulations to mimic the old-fashioned paints that the collections are modelled on. Using evocative names from historical sources, your modern bungalow can also resonate to the grandeur of ancestral piles of the past.

So yes, expensive paints are generally better colours and traditional ingredients, but whether they perform any better in comparison to big-manufacturer paint depends on the context of their use. I have a few problems with their use in several area's:

1/ They are expensive: Ok, if you only want a small tin for a little room it's not going to make a big difference to overall cost, but when we're talking large halls, stairwells etc. the expense of the paint can certainly mount up. And then the temptation is to save in area's like those essential preparation tasks and products.

2/ They are NOT hard-wearing: Paint is made up of (simplified) three things: pigment, Binder (or resin), and solvent. If we ignore the solvent which is going to evapourate anyway, what remains on your wall is lumps of pigment glued together with a binder. The ratio of pigment to resin can determine how glossy or flat the shine is. In a gloss paint there will tend to be a greater proportion of binder to pigment (which is why gloss paint usually doesn't cover as well); in a matt or flat paint there tends to be a lot more pigment. When the paint dries, if looked at through a microscope, the lumps of pigment in a flat paint will make the surface of the paint look lumpy. This lumpiness is what makes the paint appear matt as light is scattered by the uneven surface. Unfortunately, in traditional paints, these lumps of natural pigment at the surface of the paint can easily be scuffed, which shows up as chalky marks on your painted surface. Modern paints on the other hand use harder synthetic pigments and also paint formulations that enable you to paint a matt finish that can even be scrubbed to clean it.

3/They are not interested in painters: All right, a bit of self-interest here! Paint manufacturers have discovered that painters are a cranky lot who don't much like being told how good products are when patently they aren't. Sod arguing about the technicalities, far better to market to the home-owner with advertising that appeals to all those etherial dimensions of life-style, fashion, and then the home owner can impose the paint on the painter. It also saves on the need to give a trade discount  to volume users to attract them to buy your paint.

There, that's over with!

4/Traditional is getting harder to do: Lets not forget that traditional doesn't always mean good. My predecessors would have painted lead paints, washed their hands in turpentine, breathing fume-filled air. Lead is no longer in use in household paints, and recent legislation has drasically reduced the amount of organic solvent allowed in oil-paints. This means that manufacturers will find it difficult to produce traditional-type oil paints without twiddling with them and adding exotic solvent to make the paint behave itself. Modern acrylic paints are high-tech wonders; traditional they aint. I think many will slowly drop the "traditional" banner in favour of "life-style" and celebrity colour pallettes.

So I don't want to go too overboard with critisism of posh paints; the colours are lovely, and some are a joy to apply. But I also feel miffed when marketing departments leapfrog over me to captivate the consumer, and then leave me with the problem of explaining why the top-class expensive paint I put on their kitchen or hallway shows scuff-marks already.