Choosing the Right Paint for your home renovation project

 

Often overlooked is the important of a quality paint product to finish any home improvement project. Whilst budget brands have come along way over the past few years, there is nothing quite like the finish of premium paint – we’ve tried most of them at some point since our company was founded.

When planning home improvements, it is easy to overlook not so much the cost of the paint, but the difference in the labour and work needed to ply different paints properly as it can vary significantly.

Why use premium paint brands such as Little Greene, Paper & Paint Library, Craig & Rose and Farrow & Ball? Premium paints have better quality pigments than less expensive paints. Quality paint has finer pigment particles that provide a richer more intense colour and is a lot closer to the client’s original paint choice than a budget brand.
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Here are a few key points to consider:

  1. What type of room is it?
    You will need to select the appropriate bathroom or kitchen paint versus a  standard product used in all other rooms.
  2. Is this room a busy area? Likely to be scuffed, hand marks, stains from pets or children? We would recommend selecting a stain resistant option or washable such as Dulux Diamond or Johnstone’s Durable for walls.
  3. Are you painting over a dark colour? If yes, then it’s likely that you’ll need several covering coats first to achieve a light colour base.
  4. How do you want the finished product to look and are you looking for something from a semi-gloss, satin, eggshell or a matt flat result? Gloss is the most light reflecting and the matt being the least with shades in between. Generally, ceilings and walls are finished in brilliant white and a coloured vinyl matt emulsion respectively with woodwork being finished in white eggshell (or satinwood) oil-based paint as the standard. Water based paints for woodwork have improved significantly and have the low odour advantage too, but they arguably have less body to their finish that than the oil-based equivalent. Modern gloss white paints tend not to gain a yellowy tinge with age as much as they used to.
  5. Preparation – it’s easy to underestimate just how much care and attention is needed to this part of the project and however good the paint it’s not liable to look good if the full preparation process has not been followed from the outset.

Some of our favourite brands:

Paper & Paint Library

Paper & Paint Library, is a high end designer paint brand.  The Company’s popular products come in five beautiful finishes for interior and exterior projects, they also offer two dedicated primers.  With over 180 shades to choose from, their range boasts 95 “Architectural colours” and 85 “Originals”.

Craig & Rose

Established in 1829, Craig & rose are one of the UK’s oldest paint manufacturers and they are best known for their 1829 Vintage Colour Collection that recreates colours from historic design periods from Art Deco, Victorian, Renaissance and the Ancient World.

Their chalky emulsion is popular for its finish by interior designers.

Farrow & Ball

Around since 1946, this designer brand boasts the finest ingredients and richest pigments.  We like it as the finished product has a stunning ability to bring your walls alive, responding extraordinarily to all types of light, which is often why F&B is favoured by interior designers.

Please note that there are a number of finishes in the range which include: Estate Emulsion, Estate Eggshell, Modern Emulsion, Modern Eggshell, Full Gloss, Exterior Masonry,

Exterior Eggshell, Dead Flat and lastly Casein Distemper.

Mylands

Established in 1884 in South London, Mylands is one of Britain’s oldest family run paint manufacturers.  For over 130 years Mylands has remained one of the best kept secrets of London’s master decorators and interior design specialists.

Their paint has a special blend of china clay and crushed up marble to create their stunning chalky finish.

Mylands have supplied paints for some of Britain’s top 20th century London film studios and sets, including James Bond films, Harry Potter, Downton Abbey and more.

Little Greene

Little Green are an independent British paint manufacturer, specialising in natural paints.  The company’s history dates back to 1773, the Little Greene Dye Works of Collyhurt Wood just outside Manchester.

Early paints would have been natural resins and pigments, similar to that used by some of the iconic artists of the past.  Today Little Greene are still one of the best premium brands for a natural and breathable paint finish, this type of paint can be important for listed building projects.

If you are renovating a listed or historic building watch out for the restrictions in place.  Many historic buildings need a specialist “natural” or “breathable” paint to preserve the building, modern paints can damage the original structure and materials.  Using modern “non-breathable” paints can lead to future problems including damp and physical deterioration.

Making Little Greene even more special, they’ve partnered with English Heritage and the National Trust.  In 2019, they launched their National Trust range featuring 31 colours inspired by properties cared for by the organisation, they also donate paints to the National Trust to help bring colour and life back to some of the nation’s much-loved properties.

If you are planning to do work in your home including decorating, then these points are, some to consider and preparation is the real key to a successful result that you will be happy with.

 

For inspiration see some of our website and Instagram photos as these can really help with inspirational ideas.   If you would like more ideas or advice, then, by all means, drop in or send us a list of what you’d like to achieve, and we’ll advise you as to how to make your budget stretch as far as possible.