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I had a bit of painting to do and was trying to figure out what brand of paint to use. Our painter, who retired a few years ago, always used Benjamin Moore paints.
I rummaged around in the paint cabinet in the basement and found a can of "ben", which is a combined primer and paint. I figured if it's good enough for Mike the Painter, it's good enough for me. And it looks great in the rooms where he used it. So that's what I bought.
Great stuff! Covers extremely well (I was going over something pretty dark) and went on incredibly smoothly; the brush marks just disappeared.
Highly recommend to anyone who is not attached to their current brand of paint.....
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I like everything about Ben Moore paint except the price. Their finishes are exceptionally smooth.
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Mr SK has been pleased with Sherwin Williams, but he always primes first. I think he prefers doing it that way (given his approach to crafting etc.), he’s kind of a traditionalist.
But I will tell him about the combo kind for future reference.
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@Steve-Miller said in Paint:
I like everything about Ben Moore paint except the price. Their finishes are exceptionally smooth.
A gallon of "ben" in matte was around $50. What's the going rate for other paints?
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@ShiroKuro said in Paint:
Mr SK has been pleased with Sherwin Williams, but he always primes first. I think he prefers doing it that way (given his approach to crafting etc.), he’s kind of a traditionalist.
But I will tell him about the combo kind for future reference.
From what Mike told me five years ago, paints are very different than they were even 10 years before that. He thinks the coverage and color are much, much better. And he was a prime-then-paint kind of painter.
Maybe Mr SK can try a primer/paint combo next time the inside of a closet or the garage walls need painting, just as an experiment.
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Maybe Mr SK can try a primer/paint combo next time the inside of a closet or the garage walls need painting, just as an experiment.
That’s a good idea. The thing for him is, he’s got his technique down, he knows a lot about paint, and he’s very good and pretty fast. So although he didn’t say as much, he probably thinks “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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Just bought a gallon of BM Regal Select yesterday. About $80. Been a fan for 30 plus years.
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I’ve never seen BM paint under $80/gallon.
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Moore has a lot of different grades of paint.
"ben" runs from $51 to $54 at Ace. The paint store was about $5 more a gallon.
Like I said, the "ben" worked fine for me, and the bathrooms that were painted in it five years ago still look great.
Regal Select ranges from $71 to $81 at Ace, depending on which finish (flat, matte, etc.) you go with.
Aura runs from $94 to $97 at Ace.
Ace has a promo for 10 percent off your first online order if you are an Ace Rewards member. I didn't bother to sign up but would consider it if I had a big project to do.
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Yeah I don’t think we’ve ever paid full price for SW paint.
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SW seems to have major sales multiple times a year.
I've only used SW once, when I had to repaint a hallway wall in our house in Door County before putting it on the market. At the time there was no BM store, but SW was readily available. It was ok, but I much prefer BM. But I'm not much of a painter (I hate doing it), so take my observations with a grain of salt...
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Well the thing is, Mr SK has only ever used SW, so if he tried BM, he might end up liking it more. But in addition to sticking with what he knows, once you have a particular color, it’s just easier to stick with that brand when you need more. Also, he hates going into a new store (because of the language barrier) so when we were prepping the old house, we went to the SW store together, got an account set up and then he could go there by himself. In our new town, we did the same thing, and now he can go there on his own.
Oh, and here’s the main reason he probably wouldn’t switch to BM anytime soon: because the SW results are good and (so far) they’re cheaper.
But still, I will tell him about the primer/paint combo and he may very well be interested in that. I was thinking we didn’t have anything else to paint, but I actually think he may want to do some painting in the exercise room. And that would be the perfect place to try out a new kind of paint or new approach to painting, since it’s not like doing the living room or something.
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A lot of paint stores will give you a discount if you ask nicely. I always tell them I have a number of rooms to paint and was wondering if it was possible to get some kind of contractor discount.
I was a huge fan of Duron but they went out of business --- they had a ceramic paint like 15 years ago that was amazing - to this day, literally any mark that gets on the walls is easily washed off. I've also used SW, Ben Moore, even Ace. I haven't had to paint much in years because I bought top quality paint and it's held up great. But I'm following this thread because eventually I'll need to repaint and all the paint formulas I used years ago don't exist anymore LOL. (Also, the sticker shock from some of these prices - good lord! $80 for a gallon of Regal Select????? I remember being bent that it was $40 back in the day.)
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Wirecutter's top three:
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-interior-paint/
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A lot of paint stores will give you a discount if you ask nicely. I always tell them I have a number of rooms to paint and was wondering if it was possible to get some kind of contractor discount.
That’s how we’ve done it, and I always ask about the sales etc.
And we’re always doing a bunch of things at once so they know we’ll be repeat customers.
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Mention that you own rental properties and SW will give you a discount and open a cash account.
Doesn’t matter if you do or not - they never ask anything about them.
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I probably couldn’t bring myself to say that!
But we’ve always gotten a discount when I said we just bought a house.
