Which Farrow and Ball paint is best for furniture?
1 November 2023
Which Farrow and Ball paint is best for furniture?
This is a question we get asked a lot. Sometimes customers get confused with the options available. However, as long as a few simple rules are followed the process of decorating interior and exterior wood and metal can be straight forward, enjoyable and have rewarding long lasting results.
Farrow and Ball offer 3 different types of paint for interior use on wood and metal, they are:
- Estate Eggshell - 20% sheen level, available in all F&B colours, the most popular finish for wood and metal with a fashionable finish
- Modern Eggshell - Formerly called Floor Paint, 40% sheen level, available in all F&B colours with a mid sheen finish, like a satin.
- Full Gloss - High 90% sheen level, can be used both internally and externally and available in all colours.
If you're decorating externally, Farrow and Ball offer an Exterior Eggshell for outdoor use.
The most important part of most decorating is the preparation of the surfaces being painted. Although it is tempting to cut corners at this stage and get on with the fun of applying the top coat, following a few simple rules at this stage can make your decorating a much more enjoyable process.
What primer should I use under my Farrow and Ball?
This is one of the most important things to get right. Farrow and Ball offer an Interior Primer and Undercoat for wooden surfaces, this is especially important on previously unpainted surfaces.
This product is available in 4 different colours, they are:
- White and Light Tones (W<)
- Mid Tones (MT)
- Dark Tones (DT)
- Red & Warm Tones (R&WT)
These 4 different tones have been designed to be used under Farrow and Balls' top coats. On the back of your colour chart, all of the F&B colours are listed with a short description of the colour. It will also tell you here which undercoat is recommended to be used under that colour. This allows us to build the colour up to the top coat, rather than going from a white to a dark blue for example. A dark blue will always struggle to cover a white undercoat in two coats, leaving the user frustrated. However the Dark Tones undercoat would be much more suited as an undercoat for the desired top coat.
Using the manufacturers undercoat is recommended, however if this is not possible we recommend a high quality primer/undercoat in the right colour for your top coat. As Farrow and Ball paints are water-based we recommend a water-based primer. We have seen people use low quality primers and oil based primers with disastrous results.
I would recommend using one coat of undercoat and two coats of your top coat, with a light sand down in between coats. As all Farrow and Ball paints are water-based, using a good quality synthetic brush would give best results. Farrow and Ball do their own brushes, and other manufacturers such as Hamilton do excellent synthetic brushes perfect for water-based paints.
Another important thing to remember is drying and re-coat times. We have seen people in the past rush painting, and not giving the paint time to properly dry before applying another coat. This traps moisture between paint coats and causes the paint to fail. Just because the paint feels dry.
In conclusion as long as these few rules are followed your decorating will be enjoyable and your projects will look super and last for years.
How do I paint my Kitchen cupboards?
The process of painting kitchen cupboards should be treated the same as another other wooden surface in the home as discussed above. Farrow and Ball Estate Eggshell is sprayable, so if you wanted to create a floorless look this is possible, although you may have to find someone with the equipment and ability to do this for you. However many people like the hand painted look, with a few brush marks to give it that hand painted, rustic look.
W McNeice 01/11/2023
