Best Paint Brands Used by London Decorators: A Trade Comparison
A no-nonsense comparison of the paint brands London's professional decorators actually use — coverage, durability, finish quality, and value assessed from trade experience.
What Paint Do London's Professional Decorators Actually Use?
The paint brand question comes up constantly. Clients arrive with Pinterest boards featuring Farrow & Ball, magazine articles recommending Little Greene, or a builder who swears by Crown Trade. The honest answer is that professional London decorators use different paints for different jobs — and the best result usually comes from matching product to substrate and situation, not brand loyalty.
Here is a frank assessment of the brands most commonly specified on London residential projects, from both a quality and a value perspective.
Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball is Britain's most recognised premium paint brand and is almost ubiquitous on central London decorating projects. Its strengths are genuine: the pigment density is exceptional, the colour depth achieved with natural pigments produces a warmth that is difficult to replicate with synthetic equivalents, and the flat estate emulsion finish photographs beautifully.
The limitations are equally real. Coverage is lower than trade paints — typically 12–14 m² per litre rather than 15–17 m² — meaning more coats are sometimes required. The water-based eggshell, while much improved in recent reformulations, still requires careful application to avoid lap marks on large surfaces. And the price — currently around £65 for 2.5 litres of emulsion — is steep.
Where Farrow & Ball genuinely excels: feature walls, joinery on high-profile rooms, and any project where the final colour is the primary deliverable and the budget supports it.
Little Greene
Little Greene is consistently regarded by trade decorators as the quality alternative to Farrow & Ball — with better working properties. The paints flow more easily, the emulsions have a slightly more durable finish, and the Intelligent Eggshell in particular is a near-faultless wood and metal paint for period London interiors.
The colour range is broad and historically informed, with deep archive shades that work well in Victorian and Georgian properties. Coverage is comparable to Farrow & Ball. Price is roughly 10–15% lower.
For joinery — dados, skirting boards, architraves, window frames — Little Greene Intelligent Eggshell is the product most professional London decorators would choose if pressed to name a single preferred option. It levels beautifully, dries hard, and withstands the daily abrasion that period woodwork receives.
Dulux Trade
Dulux Trade is the workhorse of the London decorating industry. The Diamond Matt and Diamond Eggshell ranges offer genuine durability, good coverage (typically 15–17 m² per litre), and consistent batch-to-batch colour matching — critical on large projects or where touching in is required months later.
Dulux Trade is the sensible specification for hallways, children's rooms, rental properties, and any space where regular cleaning or repainting is anticipated. It is not as visually rich as Farrow & Ball or Little Greene — the whites are cooler and the pigment depth is lower — but for functional decoration it is very hard to fault.
The Vinyl Matt range is a cost-effective option for low-traffic areas; Diamond Eggshell is the correct specification for woodwork on commercial-grade projects.
Johnstone's Trade
Often overlooked by residential clients but widely respected among trade professionals, Johnstone's offers an excellent suite of specialist products alongside its standard emulsions. The Aqua range of water-based gloss and eggshell finishes is highly regarded for its flow and levelling characteristics.
For exterior work, Johnstone's Stormshield is a well-proven masonry and render paint with good flexibility and weather resistance — a credible alternative to Dulux Weathershield at a lower price point.
Zinsser
Zinsser is not a decorative paint brand in the conventional sense — it is a problem-solving specialist. BIN shellac-based primer seals stains, odours, and difficult substrates that no other product addresses reliably. Bulls Eye 1-2-3 is an all-surface primer for challenging adherence situations. AllCoat is a combined primer and topcoat that performs on surfaces that would defeat a standard two-coat system.
Every professional London decorator keeps Zinsser BIN in the van. It is the answer to smoke damage, water stains, knots bleeding through, and any surface that a client insists cannot be painted but needs to be.
Keim Mineral Paints
Keim occupies a specialist niche but is essential knowledge for decorators working on London's historic stucco, render, and masonry. Silicate mineral paints chemically bond with mineral substrates rather than forming a surface film — this produces exceptional longevity (15–20 years on render) and outstanding vapour permeability. They are non-negotiable on lime render and highly recommended on older cement render.
They are not suitable for interior use or non-mineral substrates.
Choosing the Right Paint for Your Project
The right product depends on the substrate, the room's use, the finish required, and the budget. A client who wants Farrow & Ball Dead Salmon in a bedroom emulsion and Dulux Diamond Eggshell on the skirting boards has made a thoroughly sensible specification — getting the most from both brands without over-spending.
If you would like professional guidance on paint specification for your London property, contact us here. To get a project-specific recommendation included with pricing, request a free quote and we will advise on products and finishes at no extra cost.