<p>When I paint I always use Benjamin Moore eggshell or semi-gloss finish. If I hire professionals and they use Sherwin Williams, that’s fine with me too.</p>
<p>We have been trying to decide between Behr and Benjamin Moore. I had already picked everything out in Behr and then heard it wasn’t as good and now I am deciding whether or not to start over with BM instead. I am still undecided. Judging by the paint cans in the garage, most of our house was painted before we bought it with Valspar and Glidden and looks okay, but only okay-- hard to know if it’s the paint or the painter. </p>
<p>I’d forgotten about Sherwin Williams, not sure how they measure up with the above two but it’s another I would consider. That’s what my parents used in their house.</p>
<p>Paint color question: does the perfect off white exist, one that is warm in tone and does not look greenish in daylight, incandescent light, fluorescent light?</p>
<p>We painted Dad’s kitchen, covering a (ugh) green, and now his off white looks green at times. But I am pretty sure it is the color and not bleed through. I’ve noticed this greenish tint before in other settings.</p>
<p>ema,</p>
<p>As much as I use Behr, I think BM is a better paint.
Also, not that matters, Home Depot does not do a good job on color matching. I have tried many times and compare to others, their color matching is less desirable.</p>
<p>Treetop, my local paint store used to have a white color color chart, comparing various intensities of white with more single color additives. What I learned from one painter is that white with one drop of black is still brilliant, but covers better than pure white. Depending on what else is in the room, I’ve used that slightly off in various tones. Drop of orange for the hallway, drop of brown, etc. </p>
<p>My painter uses Aura. I have noted the trim paint to have less of the hard sheen I prefer for woodwork. Anyone else noticed this, or is it just what my painter chooses? </p>
<p>Interesting discussion.</p>
<p>Treetopleaf, for a warm white I like Benjamin Moore Linen White. It’s warm, leaning towards yellow, never greenish. </p>
<p>The other white I use is BM Super White. This is a very white paint, but it’s warm, not harsh and cold and bluish as many whites can be.</p>
<p>My house had many shades of white trim. As I repaint, I’m using either Linen White or Super White on all the trim. It’s so much easier than having several shades of white.</p>
<p>I always use Benjamin Moore, but Behr has been a Best Buy according to Consumer Reprots fof as laong as I can remember.</p>
<p>My favorite white in Benjamin Moore 876 (now called Alabaster), it has just the faintest pink tinge and looks good with everything. It’s the trim and ceiling in my house.</p>
<p>Mathmom</p>
<p>Behr is reported as “best value” in the consumer report. Yes, it is cheaper, but with the labor costs about four times of the value of the paint, it is not worth the price difference to get cheaper material, imo. </p>
<p>I do use Behr in my projects because i “live” in HD. Its matter of convenience. If I have to drive another 15 miles just for paint, My getting material for the jobs would be delayed.</p>
<p>No, if you have to use more layers of paint I wouldn’t consider it good value. I do know when my nephew was working for a painter on exteriors of houses they liked Sherman Williams the best. All I know is we had a terrible time finding a SW yellow that looked good on my brother’s house!</p>
<p>Behr (Home Depot) gets excellent reviews on Consumer Reports yet my painter(s), as well as myself, do not like it. I would NOT recommend purchasing their paint/primer all-in-one-- ever. I used it to paint over a darker wall in my entry. After removing my blue masking tape (within an hour or so after applying the second coat), it took the paint with it! I ended up having to have my Venetian plaster redone! It cost me $350 and Behr Paint Company in Costa Mesa CA reimbursed me, acknowledging it was not my fault and that the prep work had been done correctly! I’m old school… primer should be for priming and paint should be for the finish coat.</p>
<p>I ditto other posters love for Benjamin Moore. I, too, am a big fan of their Presidential series. My walls are all Monroe Bisque flat with the SCRUBBABLE additive. My trim is all Linen White but I really like their Swiss Coffee as well. BM also has a wider range of color choices than some of the other brands. As a side note, our decorator said that if you paint all your walls the same color they will all look slightly different anyway, since the lighting changes from room to room. Professional painters tend to like the paint brands that are the most conveniently located and that give them the best discounts but they also prefer paint stores over big box stores because they re-calibrate their mixing machines more regularly and have employees who know what they are doing. </p>
<p>I go with Kelley Moore paint on our exterior. In both cases, I only use top-of-line grades since labor is the same. We just had our exterior painted. My painter spent 2 fulls days PREPPING our 2,600 s.f. house before any paint was applied! Make sure your painter not only uses top-of-the line paint but also the premium grade caulk. My painter uses an oil base caulk that he primes before painting with latex paint (latex, never oil, on the exterior for its flexibility) because oil base caulk lasts longer.</p>
<p>I use Zinsser 123 primer over latex and Zinsser green label (cannot remember name) over oil. Zinsser is the BEST primer!</p>
<p>The stuff I got from Home Depot, which was supposed to be their top paint, ran later. It was a bit later and we can see where the paint separated, looks like bleeding. I have a friend who swears by Sherwin Williams so I will likely end up repainting with the Sherwin Williams.</p>
<p>Treetop, I found the perfect white, but I don’t know what it is, other than a painter took the pale yellow I had on the walls, and made it either half or one quarter strength. It is such a luscious white. I just handed the paint can to our current painter, and he matched the shade.</p>
<p>A poster mentioned BM Linen White because it leans toward yellow, so I would check that out.</p>
<p>Whites are difficult because so many of them tend to lean more towards the gray side. They look okay initially, but after you live with it for awhile, it gets depressing. JMHO</p>
<p>I hate Benjamin Moore because it splats a lot and you will not be able to touch up without it looking like you touched up. Even if you go back the next day. I do like their color choices though. </p>
<p>I switched to Sherwin Williams but I am not a fan of their new interior paint called emerald. The matte and semi-gloss is fine but the satin was horrible. It took 4 coats to cover with a darker color than what I had in my kitchen. I like duration though and super paint. You can bring Sherwin Williams colors from other paint companies and they can match them. They are also stand alone stores and they give great customer service.</p>
<p>We have used Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams Duration interior paint and both apply and cover well. I think BM has better color selection, but if you can find the SW color you like, I think the quality is equally good.</p>
<p>Our painter used Dunn-Edwards for the exterior of the house, and it has held up very well over the years. They claim it has some ingredients that hold up better in sunny climates. I don’t know if that’s true, but we’ve been pleased with the paint. I had to repaint our stucco retaining walls this summer where moss grows in the shade and dirt collects. After seven years, the paint in the cans in the garage went on the walls beautifully and you couldn’t even tell where the old paint met the new. I was pretty impressed with that- which meant that the color didn’t change in seven years of outdoor exposure.</p>
<p>Our BM trim color is Dove White. Our 2nd choice had been Linen white and iirc, Dove is slightly brighter, slightly less yellow, but still a soft white. </p>
<p>I agree, wouldn’t shortcut any “important” room with a combo paint/primer. A good primer is, imo, sets the look of the surface. There have been rooms where we actually washed the walls first, to catch any grime that may have accumulated. IMO, a lot of your success rests on the prep. (And double that for woodwork.)</p>
<p>Over the years, I’ve also decided never to scrimp on the cost of the brushes or roller covers. The nap you choose is important in how much paint you are actually laying on. Cheap roller covers can shed little fibers. I think we use 3/8".</p>
<p>Treetop, if you really think it’s the paint color, we’ve done the sample cans, to test how color looks and varies over the day, in light and dark parts of a room. (But, I think they are usually satin, not flat, so you have to account for that difference.) Otherwise, we usually primed first, when going lighter over dark colors. Sometimes, a 2nd top coat also does the trick, depending on how much you care about whatever room. I have had rooms where a 2nd wasn’t needed, especially with BM. But again, that depends on what you’re dealing with and how you do it.</p>
<p>Dunn Edwards. I am in Southern California and would use nothing else. I come from of family that had office buildings and apartment buildings and Dunn Edwards has such a good quality paint you can buy the same color years later and it will match perfectly, it covers great and always seems to do it in one coat. I just recently had my house repainted with DE and it was a color change done with only one coat.</p>
<p>We had painters use Dunn Edwards without properly preparing surface on several rooms in my house. Long story short - new drywall, not properly spackled and sanded first, leaving gouges and scratches. Then they used a brush without feathering it. Touching up the messed up spots is impossible. I am not sure it is the paint - it may have been the prep. I was told it is impossible to touch up spots perfectly even using the same paint unless the whole wall is sprayed again. That seems crazy.</p>
<p>SamuraiLandshark</p>
<p>Some painters will dilute the paint for the sprayer and also if they purchased the paint themselves it saves them money to dilute it. The people that painted the inside of my house tried to dilute the paint and I said no, then they charged me more. Needless to say they were not the same painters that painted the outside of my house. In the Office buildings we had, we moved walls all the time and never primed and an undiluted coat of Dunn Edwards always covered it nicely. You do clearly have to sand the seams first though.</p>
<p>Thanks, jakd. I had no idea they were even spraying it, to begin with. I thought they were going to roll it. The diluting paint would explain why I can’t touch up. </p>
<p>Live and learn - since then, much more cautious about every contractor and subcontractor on our home reno.</p>