Would never use SW Cashmere paint again. Does not cover well.Went back to the store and the sales rep told me I needed to use a 3/4" roller for flat walls. What? I have never used a 3/4" nap for flat walls. Back to Behr paint.

Sherwin-William has wonderful in store pros that help you fine the right product,offer professional advice on primer,brushes or rollers,paint and when sales are. The color base on paints are different from company to company. Will change the color appearance from samples from other companies.Ask a Pro

the only time I ever used sherwin Williams, 30 years ago, I hated it! I thought terrible coverage, way to thin, way over priced. hated it so much I've never thought about buying it again.

if you find a color you like it can be mixed in any brand at a good store doesn't have to be that brand only

Cheryl all paints have changed big time in 30 years. Quality & thanks to the EPA

I like SW paint, but it's not worth the money IMO. They do run 40% off sales periodically, though.

I think how well your contractor preps the surface makes a huge difference in the outcome of the final product, but I personally recommend Sherwin Williams paints over other paints because some of the houses I've painted years ago look brand new today. It's especially important when you choose to paint brick. Sherwin Williams has a primer that designed for brick and it works great. I've never had an account with any paint wholesaler to sway my decision. I know this makes a difference to some contractors. I love their Emerald paint. I only paint my personal home with Emerald. It's professional quality and worth stocking up when they have the 40% off. You can buy the shelf product at the sale and they will mix the color you want later for no charge. I don't work for Sherwin Williams and I don't have friends who work for them. I just like the consistency of the product. If it's humid, cold, hot, dry etc.. It stays consistent unlike some other products I've seen. Make sure and read the labels. It tells you the ideal climate for the paint you are purchasing.

My spouse drove me crazy over the years with the time he spent on " prep" while I wanted to start painting! Now I see experienced painters repeatedly validate what he was trying to impress on me. So, regardless of your paint choice...prep prep prep!

You can't use the paint that they have in the sample pots... it's not formulated correctly to be used on walls. I've been told this many times!

Just finished painting an inside house. Would never buy SW again. Light soft tan going over white wall. Had to paint at least two if not three coats per wall. At 50.00 a gallon, the coverage should have been better. Never again

sterling hawk my experience exactly. one mistake, never again. so bad first impression, I won't ever give them a second chance. I've found even very cheap paints that have better coverage.

BEHR works for me. SW completely overpriced and not worth it.

Sherwin Williams is the best if price is no problem! Behr and Benjamin Moore are solid and cost less than SW. Long term painting solution you can't go wrong with either of these 3 but SW is a notch above all! Most real pro painters will use SW and charge about the same as you can get the other 2 per gallon. For instance..... I get SW paint at 40% off because I work for them. In addition... SW stores employ people that know exactly what they are talking about! SW, BM and Behr are the only 3 paints I will use until something better comes about at an affordable cost!

Used to swear by Benjamin Moore - now it is just too expensive @ $90.00/gallon!!!! - who can afford that??? Absolutely outrageous!!!! They will end up putting themselves out of business!! Would like to try Sherwin Williams but can't find anyone who sells it in our area.

Depends what you are using it for. Almost every brand has a professional paint grade.

Consumer Reports tested paint and Sherwin Williams wasn't listed. Don't know if they tested it or not.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/01/don-t-buy-a-beautiful-shade-of-mediocre-paint/index.htm?loginMethod=auto

If you read the report, they tell things like coverage, and whether aggressive cleaning will change the sheen. It is good to know things like that.

Valspar is what my brother used and it still looks good since 1998.

For those saying you can get smaller sample sizes of Sherwin Williams paint, while that is true, you do not have your choice of finish or choice of SW paint line. So if your room is in flat Emerald, that sample size, while the same color, probably isn't going to blend in real well.

I have been in love with a very specific Behr paint color for my exterior for some time (you don't want to know how many paint samples I've taped to my home's shingles so I could see how each looked in different light over different days...).

I have interviewed four painting contractors and all use Sherwin Williams. After the first told me SW gives them a 40% discount I thought 'So that's the REAL reason all the pros use SW. A fat discount.'

Behr Marquee is rated as high as it gets and though I haven't used that grade I have used the standard grade on every room inside my house and it has always been amazing.

I don't trust any comparison where one brand has an unfair advantage (40% off the cost is VERY significant) over the others and trying to diminish Behr paint altogether because it comes from a "big box" (code for big corperate) as opposed to a boutique store is silly. Especially when that big box offers a superior product that they can afford to part with for substantially less of my hard-earned dollar BECAUSE they're big.

It will be very interesting to meet again with the contractor I choose to discuss this impasse. But I fully intend to get exactly what I want (color matters so much and SW colors left me unimpressed) and to be present through every stage of the game to make sure the painters don't skip the primer and pocket the difference. My neighbor's contactors used SW but I'm told the unprimed surface is the reason the paint peeled off in sheets after she moved out. Clearly, paint brand and grade isn't all that matters.

A painting contractor is going to get a significant discount on the paint from ANY brand they choose to work with. Could be Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Dunn Edward, etc. If they are using SW it is most likely because they prefer to use SW.

I don't know what your profession is but I'm sure you have a preference for products that help you do your job best even if they cost more.

If a painter uses SW it doesn't mean SW is "best" for everyone (no such thing) but you can bet it probably means that's what the painter prefers to use for that specific job. Might use a different brand in a different situation. If you research online you will read opinions from lots of painters and even when asking each other for advice in painter forums, they genuinely seem to be trying to find the product that will have the best result. Many think the cheaper paints like SW Promar 200 are just as good as the much more expensive stuff. Others disagree. There's little consensus other than they will not use big box paints regardless of what Consumer Reports says.

My painter usually uses Dunn Edwards but I picked SW colors and prefer my paint to come from SW rather than have the color matched because I read color matching is never 100% accurate. So he is getting a fat discount at SW just like he does at DE.

Bottom line is don't discount what your painter is telling you just because they are getting a price break. If they are good painters they are using the products that they believe will do the best job. But if you have a good painter and you insist on a different paint you should still get a great result as long as you're picking a good product.

Behr will make SW colors. SW will likely make Behr colors. Most painters use SW due to their superior formulations - and some of this may be due to coverage rather than bottom line $. Behr ranks well in CR studies, so their formulations have merit as well. Bottom line, pros will use paint you supply, but if they have a cash flow issue, SW will carry their balance / rolling charges where HD will not. Work with the pros and get the color you want in two ways: supply the paint yourself and ask for a labor only price, OR allow SW to produce the behr color you want.

I'll push for a brand interior, but I never tell a painter what product to use exterior. Never.

Because they're the ones who have to guarantee the work. So whatever brand and product they want to apply and stand behind is what's used for the exterior project. That way if something fails they can't say it was because of the brand/product they were forced to use.

To chime in, I've problems with SW samples matching the actual gallon colors. At first I thought I was brilliant buying SW sample sizes at Lowes and then the actual paint at SW. That didn't match so I moved to buying the "sample quarts" at SW. That didn't work because the type of paint used in sample quart is not the actual type of paint you will be using, so I moved to the actual line of paint in a quart which also didn't match the gallon! So I have to buy I gallon to test the color? Really? I don't know if this is a problem with other brands too or not? Something to consider.

I love Benjamin Moore paint hands down. But I live in a very low humidity area and I think air moisture makes a difference in how the paint covers and dries and ends up looking.

One thing I learned on Houzz is that each brand paint has a differrent .....undercoat formula in their paints. I believe that BM has a blue red base tone while SW has a yellow undertone, so using a BM formula on a SW paint will give you a differnt 'color' on the finished wall due to the base undertone in the paint formula.

Plus I do not like the way SW paint flows/ goes on the wall. I love BM hands down and the price is well worth the added price over time.....expecially when you are patching up paint scuffs on your walls a few years down the line.....BM always matches. And a few hundred dollars over all is not that much money for what you end up with. Just sayin'.

Each brand's base is a different degree of whiteness and that can change based on raw ingredients at any given time. The sourcing and the base-making are complicated and I find it boring so I don't know that much about it.

What I do know is the end-game target colors never change. Bases may change, colorants may change, VOCs may change, etc. but the colors don't. That's why you have color collections that are 40+ years old still going strong. Ben Moore's Classic Colors, for example.

Do you have any idea how much and how many times the ingredients have changed over the course of decades? Yet year after year, Benjamin Moore figures out how to make Revere Pewter look like Revere Pewter despite all those changes, don't they?

If individual components like the color of the base and colorants mattered so much, how come the colors remain constant year over year through innumerable changes in ingredients?

Think about that for a minute.

It's because individual ingredients don't matter - at all. You can mix the same color with different combinations of colorants and they figure out how to do that with spectral data, a color's DNA. That's one of the major reasons why referencing a paint color formula to try to determine how a color will look is a complete waste of time. (despite opinions you'll read on this forum)

Every major brand has formulas to mix their competitor's colors. However, competitor's colors aren't the end-game target colors when a brand has to change up their ingredients. Which is why having one brand's color mixed in another brand's paint is inconsistent sometimes.

Also, some colors cross brands easily, others not so much. It's the luck of the draw. And we can't ignore the fact that some paint brands do use specialty ingredients and chemistry methods which are difficult if not impossible to duplicate in another brand with different ingredients and color-making methods.

Which is why it's wise to buy "your color" in its home brand unless you know you'll be okay with a close enough match.

For best color matching results, it's handy if you can have a colorist to do it for you by eye. They may start with the formula from the computer, but they will use the same end-game target, a paint chip; a paint chip that's been generated using the same spectral data that all the chemists and color scientists use to make necessary adjustments when ingredients change.

A big deal is made about using real paint to test colors, but paint chips are actually very consistent because no matter the brand, no matter the sheen, no matter the flavor of paint, the paint chip born from spectral data is the target everybody uses in the entire paint and color-making workflow.

I order the larger paint chips for my clients more often than we paint up samples. And that's coming from someone who designed a circle-shaped color sample decal and sells kits for painting up samples to test colors.

Think about the irony here.... What do paint store mixer people use to check the accuracy of the color samples they mix?

A paint chip.

Exterior best is valspar best easy coverage and durable not near as messy as other paints and safe you time

interior vslspar is awesome too for doors I recommend adding a little water or thinner depends on paint to get a little smoother texture

ive painted a lot of house and exterior I recommend Valspar only and it's not the name just best quality

Just painted most of my house with Duration Matte. Love how it looks. Primed and did 2 coats but it went on so smooth and looks gorgeous. A joy to paint with and I got it for 40% off (they have this sale frequently) I don't plan on painting again for a long time so it was worth it to me! No regrets.

I have long been a devout Behr paint fan. I found a SW color that I bought in a paint sample can at SW. I took the can, with the color formula on the can, to a big box store and asked them to match it in Behr paint. That was a total failure. The supposed color match wasn't even in the same ballpark. I bit the bullet and bought a gallon of SW paint in my chosen color. Yes, a gallon was $50. Am I happy? Yes! Happy enough that I am probably going to re-paint my entire house with SW paint!

Where can I buy Sherwin Williams in Europe? UK or Germany?

thanks

Saying that Sherwin Williams paints bad is like saying that a Volkswagen is bad. There are cheap Volkswagen models for $30K and there are high end Volkswagens for $80K. Sherwin Williams sells cheap, moderate, and very high end paints. Just like Benjamin Moore and Behr. They all have the lower end paint, mid range paint, and the very high end paint. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. If you purchased the cheapest line of Sherwin Williams paint then you got what you paid for. However there high end pant is fantastic but expensive.

I have used see duration all over on my first two floors. I was disappointed that the paint doesn't stick and impossible to get fingerprints off it. I go to put a fixture on and the paint rubs off or creases. very annoying as I did the whole house in this paint

I've used SW paint for years. I've tried other paints deemed "good quality" and had the worst experience ever with Behr paint. From Indiana's brutal winters to Florida's sun SW delivers. I keep touchup paint in screw-top containers for quick repairs and the color is always true for years after initial painting. The SW store keeps track of all the colors I've used so I can easily order more when necessary and the colors always match. That means the initial paint does NOT discolor or fade like inexpensive paint often does. It's worth the little extra you'll pay up front for years of durable, consistent use.

Further to my comment about Sherwin Williams paint not sticking to surfaces like new walls that were primed by a professional painter, here is the post with others experiencing the same issue: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/sherwin-williams-paint-peeling-ruined-my-walls-dsvw-vd~1064789

I prefer to buy paints at a store that specializes in paints compared to a big box retailer. I have found the service & experience is soooooo much better. My last few attempts at big box retailers was so frustrating. I had to wait so long to get someone to help. When I finally got help, they really didn't know as much & we're obviously overwhelmed due to being under staffed. They were frustrated and so was I. I showed them a painted piece I wanted to match & they told me go find it yourself & get back in line!? What? I truly needed help on this project. I left.

So, I went to a local McCormick Paint store. Wow! What a difference! Friendly staff walked with me to pick out samples, explain lighting effects, and different paint shines, etc. Surprisingly, The price was the same, too. From now forward, I'm going straight to a specialized paint store from now on. Just wish I did before wasting time at the big boxes.

What is the cost differential between SW and less expensive paints.

It would seem to be a minimal savings to buy inferior paint since labor for a great paint job would be the main cost.

Avoid the cheap paint. Especially the paint that once dry can wipe your hand across & it gives a chalk residue.

Usually the better paints spread better & needs less paint to get the job done right the 1st coat. 1st coat coverage also saves time.

Also, usually better paints are more durable & therfore last longer. Last longer = more $ upfront, but quality often lasts longer.

When unsure what paint to get, buy samples & experiment on surface to be painted. Let it fully dry. Colors change when drying. Then do the wipe over test, to test durability. Then buy the paint with the best results in confidence.

I highly suggest buying an extra pint or gallon for future touch up. Store in a climate control room. I lost a couple of paints stored in an outside shed in the shade 1 hot summer. Lesson learned.

A side note for this thread, most paint companies have entry level through high end product lines. Sometimes it’s not just the brand you are using, it’s also the product line.

WOW your Duration paint is crap how do you get away with selling it. The coverage is horrible 3 coats over a green trim and it is still bleeding through. I told the Customer that this paint was crap but she listened to the false reviews. now she's gonna spend twice as much on paint and labor cause I'm not doing 2 extra coats for free.

We have always used benjamin moore and farrow and ball in our 1926 tudor, and this last go round our painter used SW emerald paint and it is fantastic! It looks velvety soft on our plaster walls and honestly i could just give it a hug! Very happy with our decision to try SW paint. We also found their birmingham michigan store to be exceptionally well stocked and their staff was very helpful.

We use SE Emerald regularly on our projects.

We love Behr Marquee! Excellent coverage in 1-2 coats, love the velvety finish, & the $42 price point, without having to wait for a sale, can't be beat. They can match SW & BM colors.

Why would anyone use other brands (like Behr Marquee), which requires as many as 2 coats per those who use it, when you can use Sherwin Williams paint and KNOW it will cover in ONE coat? We live in a very humid area with brutal summers. Florida is known as the sunshine state, but it rains nearly every day during the wet season. Rain and sun are really tough on paint. We painted our home 10 years ago with SuperPaint exterior acrylic latex. Our neighbors have had to power wash green mold from their homes annually, but we don't because SuperPaint resists mold! We've power washed the lower area of our home where the rain splashes dirt which stains other homes, but our paint cleans off easily. We touch up areas and NEVER have a problem matching paint because our SuperPaint never fades. If you have to put TWO coats on to cover, you MUST multiply the cost of the paint you are using by 2! Couple that cost with the high cost of labor, and Sherwin Williams beats them all! Our painter said our paint should last 25 years, and though I believe Florida's climate may shorten that time, we feel we should see another 10 years easy from our paint. That makes Sherwin Williams SuperPaint worth the cost!

I used Behr Marquee interior paint in a light beige/gray to cover egg yolk yellow. It only took one coat.

Good to know, partim. I was sharing information on an exterior paint. If Behr Marquee is only an interior paint, my apologies for comparing it to an exterior paint. I've only used one Behr exterior paint and it performed terribly. I painted a pergola and it bubbled. I had to scrape and repaint the entire project, which was a real pain! I do have to say I've been very pleased with Sherwin Williams interior paints as well. They too cover with one coat and withstand the abuse my two grandsons and family give it. Glad you are happy with Behr paint, but I'll never trust it again.

Majority of the time the brand doesn't matter when it comes to hide.

It's the color.

Some colors naturally hide better than others.

Whether a color is able to hide the previous color well in just one coat or not kind of doesn't matter because you need to two coats any way.

Every brand, every color is 'engineered' to render true to the chip with two coats of paint - at minimum - some colors also require a tinted primer in order to render true to chip. Primer is about helping the NEW color render true. Tinted primer is not about hiding the old color. Everybody thinks about tinted primer backwards, the wrong way. But I digress.

Again, it's more about the color you choose than the brand.

Just because a color rendered with good hiding ability is no indication of the quality of paint it was mixed in.

Knowing stuff like this is a big part of my job as a color expert.

For example, I'm not going to specify a color of white that I know takes 3 coats to render true to chip for a young family with 3 kids DIYing their family room.

I used SW super paint to paint my interior. Color was great no problems. If you sign up for their emails they have a sale almost every weekend. Usually 30% off and a few times a year 40% off. Brings it to about $35 gallon, very affordable.

I love Lori A. Sawaya's comment and applaud the care she gives customers who don't want to break the bank to paint a room. I was a realtor before I retired and we also built custom homes for many years. Having helped many people prepare their homes for the market, helped commercial owners revamp abused properties, and having worked with several professional painters, everything she indicates is true. It also depends on the color you are trying to HIDE. That child's bedroom painted school bus yellow, teen's room painted midnight purple, and the 60's man cave covered with paneling all require different types of paint and often require more than one coat or a primer or even a skim coat. The professional painters have correctly instructed me you can often lose more money using a lower quality paint if it does not cover well, does not last long, or isn't resistant to mold and staining. I've seen their work in action, sold and resold homes and seen a TRUE test over many years. Now that I'm retired, I take their advice to heart. I use Sherwin Williams because it saves me the most money in materials and labor in the long haul. I'm old enough to understand what the "long haul" entails. ;-)

My contractor uses SW Sherscrub flat type paint. I have not been a fan of flat paint because it is difficult to clean and touch up, but have never used this particular paint. We are building and I want to make sure this is a good paint choice. Can someone who has this in their home please reply and give me your opinion?

Tammie Dean, I use SW Cashmere for the walls in my house. I haven't had any issues with cleaning the walls. I have a Great Dane, and I regularly have to wipe my walls down. I hope this helps.

I was very disappointed in SW paints the last few years. I repainted a porch area in repose grey. The original color was a light beige. I primed walls first with Bin primer. It didnt cover well and thought it was very thin. I like Behr paint much better!

It is unquestionably worth the sherwin williams paint cost. What sets it apart is its commitment to quality and durability. When you invest in Sherwin Williams paint, you're investing in a long-lasting finish that not only looks great but also stands the test of time. The color selection is extensive, ensuring you'll find the perfect shade for your project. It excels in coverage, often requiring fewer coats, saving you time and money. Ease of application is another key advantage, making it suitable for both DIY enthusiasts and professionals. Furthermore, Sherwin Williams has a strong reputation for color matching, ensuring you get the precise hue you desire. Overall, the value you receive in terms of quality, longevity, and aesthetics justifies the cost. When it comes to your home or business, Sherwin Williams paint is an investment in excellence that pays off for years to come.