Because I have no access to Ben Moore, PPG Manor Hall, if I could get BM, then Regal or Aura

I'm not a real painter but I prefer Sherwin Williams Cashmere.

I'm a painter and these days, I don't have a favorite. I think they all suck. I just try to use paints with the least amount of downside depending on what I'm painting.

Paintguy.

And here I thought it was just me.
I like your solution. But, what are they?
(the reasonable paints with least amount of downside).

I'm real tired of buying more paint to try it out..

How come no one is talking about the paint quality nowadays (on the net). ?????
It's like business as usual. But, it's not!!
Frustrating....

our government at work

I think most painters are just used to it and a good chunk of them are just painting away and collecting their money. They don't need to look at the final result because so many of their customers won't notice all the stuff that the picky painters complain about. It's not just the government either. For example, Aura used to be great. Now, I can't even apply it without having lap lines and flashing everywhere and god forbid if I have to patch something on the wall, Aura can't prime it. So, we have Aura, which is the most durable of all the BM paints that looks like crap. The cheapest BM paint (Ultra Spec 500) looks the best on the wall, but isn't as durable. I also will use Sherwin Williams Cashmere, but I'm not jumping for joy the way this paint looks on the wall either. Don't even get me started on ceiling paints. I can't even find one on the market anymore that looks absolutely dead flat anymore, which is really odd because back in the 80s and early 90s there were several and it's not like making a cheap ceiling paint should be a hard thing to do. All the ingredients are cheap.

It's not just issues with paint either. The color end is equally jacked up. Bunch of marketing folks with zero (technical/design/physio-psychological) color expertise driving decisions that the end user has to live with.

Inane color displays arranged every which way other than what they should be, which is spectral order. Every paint brand seems to be joined at the hip with the Color Marketing Group. A fine organization but color marketing has not one fat thing to do with color and the built environ. Yet quarter after quarter, year over year, all they ever talk about any more are insipid trends and "color of the year".

There's so much more to color. There's so much more to how it can be humanly supportive in the built environment.

So many gaps, so many disconnects.

agree with both you guys ( paintguy and funcolors)

And as far as why nobody is talking about any of this stuff...

Because these are incredibly difficult discussions to have and any shred of criticism can, and usually is, misconstrued as "being negative". And "being negative" is viewed as social media suicide. The unspoken rule is -totally- if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all because it's too risky to do so.

Keeping it 100% positive is a lovely tenant to live by. But when there are significant issues that desperately need to be addressed, that sunny social media disposition isn't helping anyone. As a result, the same issues just keep perpetuating and growing.

Additionally, not everyone is emotionally equipped to deal with different points of view and disagreement. We, here on this forum, have kind of mastered sharing points of view and respectfully disagreeing. Agreeing to disagree sometimes and then moving on.

That's simply not possible for some people. I encounter people in my own industry of color consulting as well as other sectors that have such low emotional intelligence and self esteem that they are not capable of having a conversation with peers. Instead the whole goal of engagement for them is to push others down so they have something to stand on while they attempt to silence any and all dissenting points of view - because in their minds eye, they're the only ones who are "right" about color, design and paint. No one else could possibly know as much as they do, no one else has done as much as they have, no one else is as talented as they are.... you get the idea.

In a word ego. Ego is at the heart of all of these issues as well and ego is what oftentimes prevents constructive conversations from evolving and contributing to solutions.

PG-

Have you tried ACE's C+K Dead-Flat paint?
There's also a C+K "Flat-Enamel", with just a whisker of a sheen. Looks pretty Flat though.
Above that is the normal "Eggshell".

We sell a ton of C+K, & 99% of our customers love it.

OP-
C2's newer "Luxe" premium is some da*n nice stuff if you can find it! Not very inexpensive, but it'd hard to use other paints once you've used it!

Faron

Farrow and Ball Estate Emulsion for flat. Not a painter, but I paint my own place quite a bit.

My Ellen Kennon Velvet Sheen from, um, maybe six years ago, in Giverny Blue (pretty dark) has held up to everything in my mud room. Has a sheen, though. It was very pleasant to work with, too. Maybe Funcolors can comment on whether the formula has changed. EK used ICI Dulux paint then, but that may now be owned by Akzo Nobel or Glidden. I am not sure.

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 15:48

Nope, never tried C&K, but you know around here painters don't really shop at Ace. Our Ace stores are a joke compared to the ones out there. I'm even scared to get anything tinted there. I will check it out though!

And Funcolors, you are my hero.

I just used some C&K last week that the HO provided and was pretty impressed, it was a little watery but went on nice and covered well

It also depends on your part of the country...I'm in the midwest...But don't have easy access to an Ace. (I have used their products before and think they're ok.)

I like Pratt & Lambert. However my nearest store is 60+ miles away.

I do have easy access to both True Value (EasyCare) and Valspar. For the price,durability, "flow" and coverage, I do like TV. It also has a low odor, which makes it better for use in customer's homes that may have sensitivities.

Valspar...I'll use it if that's what the customer wants. Usually it's Medallion. And I'm just not a fan. It's thick..and smelly, in my opinion, and I just don't like the "flow." Also higher priced than TV and P&L.

I have been painting two houses the last two months..
So far I am in 5 gallons plus 2 quarts of Clark and Kensington. Most of them were satin enamel and using Behr's colors. I bought a quart of High Gloss for my front door in C&K. Nice paint.

I picked up a gallon of Behr Marquee..horrid sticky, icky paint! I cursed using that stuff. It took 2x as long to paint the room than it should have.

I did buy a gallon of the C&K Satin in a Glidden Color, then had to buy a quart a few days later to finish. They were spot on.

I only use a 6" semi smooth surface roller and a Wooster shortcut for cutting in.

My Ace folks are very helpful. I'm sticking with the C&K.