For one room in my own project, I painted square feet with two coats and have just under half of a can left. For two coats, that would be under two gallons. Regal Select is a percent acrylic paint with high solids, and a large number of polled professional painters stand behind it and let it represent them and their companies. The sticker shock may be there, but as our experts were nearly unanimous in telling us, in the long run, a more expensive paint will be worth it.
This was the second-most-mentioned paint from our survey of painters, with two of them recommending it above all others. Also, a number of the painters who chose Regal Select mentioned Cashmere as another paint they like and trust.
From what our painters told us, Cashmere shares many of the same characteristics as Regal Select. The volume solids statistics of Cashmere and Regal Select are very similar. Like the Benjamin Moore website, the Sherwin-Williams one is loaded with color selection tools and some other helpful design tips. We also noticed that they have coupons as well. Sherwin-Williams paints are sold at Sherwin-Williams specialty retail outlets, where there is likely to be a knowledgeable expert behind the counter.
They also keep a record of your purchases, so if you need a color match at a later date, they should have the information. The most noticeable difference between Regal Select and Ben is how they cover existing colors.
This price likely has to do with the high amount of solids, ranging from 40 percent to almost 48 percent depending on sheen , more than any other paint we looked at. If you want bright accent colors, that is where Aura is the best bang for your buck. In it, a painter takes a wall from canary yellow to deep purple in about 90 seconds.
In that regard, it looks like an excellent paint, but we also heard from a few painters that it does take some getting used to, due to its thickness. Behr is available only at Home Depot, and not specialty paint stores or smaller retailers, where the majority of our experts recommended purchasing paint. During our research, we noticed that Sherwin-Williams often has coupons at their site. While this is an important piece of the puzzle for determining paint quality, it is also a difficult one to locate.
The percent volume solids changes with the sheen of a paint as well. Typically the flat finishes have a higher percentage than the glossy finishes. We need to stress that percent volume solids should only be used as a general guideline because the quality of the solids also plays a role. Marquee is a percent acrylic paint with solids ranging from 41 percent to almost 46 percent, depending on the sheen.
For volume solids, it was second only to Benjamin Moore Aura. Sherwin-Williams Emerald is styrene-acrylic based and has volume solids ranging from 38 percent to 42 percent.
In June of , the acquisition was completed. A good example of this would be how hardware stores are more likely to have sales and discounted prices from time to time, in comparison to the online Benjamin Moore store. In fact, we all know a hardware store may have a dented or damaged can in the back that you can get a sweet saving on. You can also save money shopping face to face when it comes to color selection and color matching.
Not only do you save time when you go into a hardware store to pick your paint colors and get samples, but you can save money as many stores will also offer free paint sample stripes that you will have to pay for if you order them online.
Another way that you can save money when opting for a Benjamin Moore paint is minimizing the amount of paint you use, it may sound like stating the obvious, but hear us out. Obviously you will want to ensure that you are getting enough coverage on your surface for the paint job to look decent, but there are a few neat tips you can use to maximize the adhesion of your paint.
Another way to minimize paint wastage is to just take it slow. With good practice you will also lose less paint in the process, with less drip, less loss to the brush and more paint going where it is supposed to go. Follow good painting practices is the best advice we can give you to ensure you minimize the possible wasting of your paints, and you ensure you get the best bang for your bucks. So, how much would it cost to paint a room with Benjamin Moore Paint. A vast majority of internal paint jobs are done in living rooms or bedrooms, so lets use these as an example.
If you are painting a typically standard room in your home that does not require high-humidity resistant paint, then the costs for you are all reliant on the square footage of the room.
Yet, if you were to decide to go for a higher-end option, i. Now we know all this, how do these numbers compare with other paint retailers and the competitors of Benjamin Moore.
What about competitors such as Sherwin Williams. These are the two top dog paint brands on the market and their prices will reflect this, However, they are definitely more expensive than a brand such as Behr, and Glidden.
It is no giant difference, and there is neither any massive difference in quality between the two either. But if you are looking to save a few extra bucks on your purchase, while still getting a quality paint product, Benjamin Moore is the way to go, especially if you are stuck choosing between these two sellers specifically.
This is definitely a brilliant paint option for you home improvement projects, inside or outside. Benjamin Moore is one of the best paint brands you can buy from for quality and value, while they are definitely one of the more expensive options on the market, with a higher cost than brands such as Valspar or Glidden, it is like this for a good reason.
Benjamin Moore paints offer a much better coverage, and they offer so any features all packed into each paint that make them a hard to resist option at the hardware store. They are all mildew resistant, low in volatile organic compounds, or have zero volatile organic compounds. I am thoroughly disgusted. Please advise. Am upset enough to hire Atty. Thank you for quick reply. I painted two closets in my apt. My apt. There are many other accounts of this problem online; there was a recall on this paint in July , but my can is from another batch and still had this horrible odor.
My contractor was shocked at the price. Now I wonder if I should change to other brands for my living room. He painted two coats on top one coat of primer on new drywall. I love how the Simply White turns out. I have some dark painted walls that I needed to wash.. I just read all your posts more closely, even though my question comes down to individual choice, I am convinced that I should continue to use BM Aura. I should ask him to try one coat next time, to see if the wall is sufficiently covered.
I recently learned from a Benj. Moore rep that the pints of Benjamin Moore use inferior paint, so they can sell it cheaply for color sampling. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way. I bought a couple of sample pints of BM paint and put it on the a few spots on my wall over the Behr paint to see how the colors would look in sunlight, daylight, etc. While they paint looked fine at first, when I went to paint the wall I discover that the BM paint peeled right off in big strips.
Based on talking to BM there was no compatibility issue. It was suggested that the walls were not properly prepped, but when I tried other brands of paint there was no peeling issue. Only the Benjamin Moore paint in the sample pints peeled. Bottom line is — Benjamin Moore paint is not worth a premium price.
I recommend Behr. Uh… Behr and Valspar are the worst paints ever. To people of course who believe in quality and are attempting to be somewhat green.
Unfortunately you have to spend a little green for it. Have fun!! My dad has been a professional painter for 36 years and i have been working for him for over For what it is, it is quite heavily overpriced. C2 paint kills Aura in every way possible — it really is a far superior paint. I also enjoy when a client asks me to use Farrow and Ball, another vastly superior paint to BM. When you pay for BM you are paying for hefty operating costs…. I love the Aura paint.
I never believe in one coat of paint though but to each their own. C2 is also fantastic paint for interiors, with a wider range of colours— especially brighter and more vibrant yellows— due to their colour tint input system which mirrors the European paint industry. North American paint companies have at maximum twelve input colours.
Obviously non-flat paints mark less easily, so unless you love scrubbing your walls clean ten times a day, choose a practical sheen over a cosmetic one when necessary. Benjamin more marketing strategy is going to put them out of business. I have seen the top of the heap go bankrupt mainly because of greed. I have been painting for 30 years and use Behr paint but I was losing jobs because everyone wanted Benjamin Moore. I respectfully disagree with Peter Painter. It is worth every penny — sorry.
You will spend three times the cost using Ralph Lauren paint because you need that much to do the job. Other colors may be fine. They both matched perfectly the paint job done 10 years previously. And that was with a property west facing direct sunset and covering a dark green glazed paint. Let me tell you as an addendum — the Benjamin Moore paint used — was the original interior paint.
And there was no one that influenced me. So far I am more than happy how the paint holds up, and I have three dogs. The man at the paint store told that that it would be a better deal that getting tinted primer and the normal Regal Satin. I was skeptical, but I decided to try it anyway. I am glad I took the suggestion from the man at the paint store. I was covering up dingy tannish brown by Sherwin Williams that was used throughout the house by the developer.
Every room that I have painted so far required two coats. Not with the Aura. One coat was all I needed. I almost brought Glidden, but after a disaster with Martha Stewart paint the worst paint I have ever used I went back to Benjamin Moore.
Yes, it cost more than the BM Regal Satin, but I did not have to use a primer I had to use a primer on all my other rooms to completely cover this color and in only one coat I was done.
I did not have any of the problems that other people have mentioned. You need to paint using straight up and down strokes. Other people have mentioned Behr on this board.
My experience with Behr was horrible. I painted a burnt orange color over a white wall. The wall soaked up the Behr paint like a sponge. I had to use two coats. There were streaks that I never got when using Benjamin Moore.
Has anyone ever tried the BM Aura exterior paint? Thank you for your advice! Here we go again: paint choice seems to be such a personal decision! One person loves it, the next hates it. When Ben Moore offered their samples free this past spring, I got some to use on furniture.
I loved the coverage and sheen. But, since I am in this remote rural area, a retailer is not close to me. I stopped at a store that carried it when I was in a larger city. I wonder if they hold sales often like other premium paint stores such as Sherwin Williams? I will cough up a few extra to get a better result. Also all the interior designers swear by it.
Absolutely love Aura. Did our living room and dining room a year ago and turned out great. Yes, application is different. Cut the entire room first. After an hour, roll the walls. As you roll, do not backroll if its been a couple minutes since you applied an area; it will lift the paint off the wall.
If you missed a spot, or went on thin, leave it and either cover in with second coat or touch up will blend seamlessly. You will lift off the cut in paint. As it dried, it looked like we had areas that went on too thin, but after it dried, it was flawless. And yes, it took two coats. This paint is amazing. No primer. It dries quick and levelling is awesome. Little imperfections in the wall were gone as it filled them in and dried level. This is by far superior.
Plus, everytime I wash the walls with these paints, the color comes off on the rags. Our bedroom was painted 5 years ago and the wall already has wear-through spots. The thing to remember about paints is the fillers. We are currently doing our downstairs bathroom and decided to try the Regal. The BM rep recommended using Regal as a primer to cover the drywall patches first, then 2 finishing coats.
In all honesty, there are cheaper paints. But I am one of those who believes you get what you pay for. I used B. Aura semi-gloss. I ended up bringing it back. I primed a wood door it dried for one week.
I destroyed this beautiful wood door with the Aura paint. I used an extremely good brush; yet, I could see brush strokes all over. Aura is terrible. I was rolling it on over slight texture, but whereas I normally would do minimum two coats and most likely 3 for total lack of roller shadows, this truly covered in one coat!
Totally SOLD on it. BTW, I used the eggshell finish and it cleans like a dream. On the OTHER hand, after being so impressed with Aura for my walls, when I used the white semi-gloss for trim work, I found it dried too quickly and did not flow out or leave as nice a finish as others, though I am in the process of doing some now and want to try adding their extender to see if that helps.
It did, however, leave a nice hard finish…but found I needed two coats vs the one on the walls. I have used Aura matte to paint the walls and ceiling of my kitchen and walls of stairs and hallways.
I will be using it in my living room. It is by far the best paint I have ever used. The matte finish does an incredible job of helping to hide minor wall imperfections. Significantly the matte color is scrubbable most flat or matte finishes from other companies are not.
This makes Aura matte very attractive for use in a kitchen, particulalry ceilings. Also, I have never used another product that blends touchups as well as Aura. Days and weeks after the original finish is done you can touch up spots and they will blend invisibly after drying. As others have mentioned you must adapt your painting techniques for this product. There are probably better suited specialty trim paints BM makes some.
Having said that, I did use Aura eggshell to paint some crown moulding in my kitchen project and the results were excellent. Ive been using the Aura paint since it became available, I live in a large sq ft home and have pretty much painted the entire home using only BM paints, the original paint the builder used 10 years ago was a flat, dull builders paint.
This is very true as I find the aura could make any bad painter look good! Keep in mind painting is all about the prep, if you just start slinging paint with out properly prepping, taping, cleaning the surface your going to get a poor job.
One trick I picked up at the paint store while talking to a professional painter was to ask for an extender to be put into the aura paint. This extender keeps the aura wet longer and extends the drying time. The sleeves are only 5 bucks so I just use them once and throw them away after one coat.
The extender combined with the roller trick has given me the perfect finish I have always wanted. My current project is the painting of my shop, office and and hallway and bathroom in my basement. I was surprised with the Ben line.
It requires a little more care in application than the aura line, but all in all it went on and looks great. I used the Dijion colour in the BEN, I always use 2 coats with aura, I used 2 with Ben as well, keeping in mind some of my project consisted of fresh drywall and mud. The first coat over the fresh drywall and mud looked terrible, th second coat dried to a perfect finish. Like everything, all companies make a decent top end product, but I was more than happy with the BM mid level and entry level paints.
With the cost of the Aura now around 70 bucks a gallon, and the regal around 50ish, many will go with the regal. I am a painting contractor. Ask ten painting contractors and they will all give you different opinions on the same product.
In my own company there is a division between the Sherwin Williams camp and the Benjamin Moore lineup. The general consensus is there does exist a positive correlation between product cost and quality of paint…. Like almost everything else in this world, you get what you pay for.
And as a finish carpenter who also paints his own work, I can attest to the fact that Benjamin Moore trim paint will make your moudlings look like they are made from porcelain! The rooms I painted 10 years ago still look like they were just painted yesterday. Yep, BM paint is worth the money. Thanks for putting this up! I have been sold on BM products since I painted our second home 27 years ago. The BM retailer made us a new batch and it matched perfectly.
All was done in one coat! We also painted the office a deep burgandy and it covered in one coat with just a few touchups. He said to just touch it up — yeah, with 3 kids under 4!
But when I did touch up, it matched. After 10 years we repainted most of the house for asthetic reasons. I went with BM Regal again in eggshell and loved it. In fact when we sold that house 6 years later, I was able to touch up the picture hanger holes and few scuffs with a sponge brush and it looked brand-new! At that time, I also took a chance and touched up the original 16 year old paint in the dining room that was a deep red that hinted to rust.
My buyer is still enjoying that dining room today 19 years after it was originally painted! Benjamin Moore has the best product quality and color selection of any other brand.
I will not paint with any other brand unless my client insists on something else. The Aura line is great, probably the best paint that I have ever applied on interior walls. It always amazes me how that paint hides the imperfections. It does dry quickly. Do ALL your brush work first. It kills me when people tell me that Benjamin Moore is too expensive. There are a lot of contractors out there that love to use cheap paint just so they can drive up their labor costs…think about it.
I have never had a repeat customer ask me to switch to another product after using Benjamin Moore on a previous project…. It just depends what level sheen you desire.
Generally the higher the sheen the more durable and scrubbable the paint. The Aura Satin is very shiny, some like it that way. Prepping your kitchen ceiling and walls is critical. Wash surfaces with TSP or equivalent. This will not only clean the surfaces well, but will also lightly etch them for better adhesion very important when painting over glossy surfaces.
Good luck. This overpriced product has lots of spatter, poor coverage, very low hideability. I used Cloverdale for my cedar exterior and was very impressed but was swayed by all the b. Never Again! I like the look of hi gloss trim…should I sand the oil based primer painting over dark varnish that has been lightly sanded?
Do I need to sand between coats of paint? Someone mentioned an extender, that could help with my ability to get the paint on and not brush over partially dryed area…. I enjoy reading all the articles and comments, thank you.
Now if I could just make up my mind…. Great blog; I can only get better from your information, prepping experience, and starting small. I started with BM 18 years ago: Linen White eggshell throughout large house with one contrasting color.
This totally frustrated me but I had just paid for a big job and had to deal with it. Nine years ago I moved on to SW, switched to deep color tones. Now about to paint for 3rd time in 18 years due to kitchen redo. This time I want to do the painting myself to save labor and try BM Aura practicing first on old kitchen cabinet doors and walls OR try C2 broad spectrum paints in sky and earth tone palette. Any thoughts on C2 paint btw? I will ask for contractors discount.
I want this interior palette of BM or C2 to last for a long time and know that after prep, paint is too expensive but what are you going to do? Thank you for your comment: mired in bath plumbing, paint has ranked lower temporarily.
The colors were all deeply saturated blues and purples. What a disaster! All the samples were wrong—and I mean wrong wrong, not just a bit off—and none listed the formulas. I contacted Customer Service and they replaced the samples at no charge. So then I ordered three gallons of different colors and two quarts of still different colors.
Second time this happened to me. The paint is runny, it seems to be much thiner than usual. First coat coverage seems to be half transparent.
The walls were primed twice with two coats of BM Aqua Look primer over a very pale shade of gray. Second coat test resulted in half saturated coverage. Last time I had this problem I went back to the store and asked for a replacement. I was given a new can of much thicker viscosity and the paint then covered quite well.
This time I run into a different crew behind the counter and all I achieved was listening to someone trying to persuade me the paint is OK. I am keeping a sample of the paint and go for the next batch to a hardware store two blocks further that also sell BM and then compare both. Someone is cheating there. I am a contractor and use Ben Moore almost exclusively as the store is conveniently close and the selection is good. But after this experience I am ready to look elsewhere. As an artist and colorist I have to say that switching brands of paint as if the colors can be the same from brand to brand is completely wrong.
They will never be exactly the same. I find the Benjamin Moore aura paints to have an incredible scope and breadth to the color. From what I have seen Benjamin Moore paints have more pigment in them. Pigment is expensive so I imagine that contributes to the higher costs.
I believe in paying for better quality to get better results, if you can afford it. I started painting when Morgard was 13 bucks a gallon. Two coats of virtually any B. The exception is of course, RED. Then a medium gray primer will set up the red topcoat, which will still almost certainly require two coats to look good.
When committed to three coats a primer does come in handy because it often drys more quickly than paint. Red without a gray primer can be a nightmare. Well, at least a very bad dream. Aura red over white might make it in two coats or even one, but I would have to see it work on sight before I would bid a job with it, especially at Fortunately , customers rarely paint their entire interiors red.
Certainly a primer will save money on new construction, but of course most new construction paint jobs consist of one prime, one flat, which is why they look lousy and are problematic with repaints.
An eggshell finish will never make it in one coat on a matte finished wall, even white over white. Professional painters know why but amateurs do not. The eggshell will be absorbed unevenly. Because a lustrous finish of any kind reflects light to a greater degree than a matte finish, the uneven absorption will result in flashing on the first pass.
Priced at least a third less that Aquavelvet, do they still make that? Plus I think it makes a truer eggshell finish than the higher priced product.
One more time — primers are overrated and overused. Ian, I totally agree with your comments about the primer and reds almost always three coats. I just hope the room looks as good with Bolero as an accent wall as it will when I paint the whole thing that color.
The other Aura products will not hold up under these conditions. I made this mistake…once. We gave the paint 48 hours to cure before using the shower. I repainted two coats with the Bath and Spa, huge difference. It goes on perfectly. The living room is circular, 16 ft. It backs up to forest land. You cannot imagine the dirt this room collects; nearly every day, I use compressed air on the sills. I wash the walls down weekly and my rags are always black.
But given my previous experience with satin, even though it was on smooth surfaces rather than plaster, I desperately need advice. Worse, the color I want to use is a deeply saturated red cinco de mayo. The one important thing you have to remember is that Aura dries quickly, so you have to work quickly. For your walls, since they get dirty so quickly, I would probably go no less than an eggshell sheen. Remember, the higher the sheen, the more surface imperfections will show i.
One other bit of advice, try to work from corner to corner without any interruption. If you take a break and return to roll over partially dried paint you will be creating a texture and your work will look uneven. Best to just let it dry before you resume. I am about to paint all our new crown molding, door casings, door jambs, baseboards and doors with this paint myself and have never painted trim before.
Have you tried their paint? If so, how do you think it compares to the Impervo that you have come to love? Thanks so much! I never cared too much for their molding paint because it was runny. This is an application preference and not a testament to its overall quality. Painters are a notoriously opinionated bunch, not unlike chefs. Also know that the advice you get from professional production spray painters, like the ones you consulted, look at painting through the lense of production painting techniques, and not through hand painting techniques.
Those are two entirely differnt things with two entirely different results. I was surprised at how candid his reply was. That was back in , so who knows what the deal is now. Paint companies are always tweaking their formulas you know. The BM Aura paint seems very durable so far, so my complaint is not with its final quality, it can handle a good scrubbing. It looks cold and impersonal. So a few gentle brush strokes are preferred, like imperfections in hand-made ceramics.
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