SW Paint

KellyND04

Can someone explain to me why SW paint is so much preferred? It's not like it costs a little more than other brands, it seems like it's twice as much...I'm just wondering what it is about the paint that makes everyone rave and willing to spend so much more on it. Thanks!

TheLinkBride

I love SW paint, mainly for the coverage, the colors, the smoothness, and how well it cleans.  We have one room that we didn't paint with SW and it doesn't clean near as well.  I see far more spots on it and I think you can spend just as much by needing to do more coats of worse paint.  I've also really liked the service I've had there.

We use it a lot too so I recommend getting a preferred customer card and looking out for email coupons and sales.

I've seen other good reviews of Benjamin Moore as well.

May242003

I'm not sure.  We used SW for our living room but then after reading other posts and due to price, we used Home Depot's Behr for our kitchen accent wall, guest bathroom, and our bedroom.   Each of those rooms only needed one coat just like when we used SW and the paint went on smoothly too.  Needless to say, we're Behr people now.  Plus, they have good rebates around the holidays, like Memorial Day and July 4 (actually, they have it this weekend). 

MizBiscuit

Here at work (I work for a construction company) we almost exclusively use SW. It covers smoother, looks cleaner, and needs less coats then other brands. In the end the price evens out though, we pay twice as much but use half as much per can as other brands.

Mrs.Buzly

You might want to post this over on the Decorating and Renovating Board too--I'm sure those ladies would provide lots of helpful info/advice as well.

I had always heard great things about SW paint and when we painted our living room, we went from yellow to red-drastic changes. Honestly, in some places if you scrape up against it, the paint chips off I think its because of the primer that we used, but I'm not really sure. 

Since then, we've used a mixture of either Lowe's paint (Valspar) or Home Depot (Behr) in our house. It doesn't go on as well and usually requires two coats. When we first moved in, we were working with a tight budget as we were starting new jobs, facing a mortgage for the first time, etc. so we went with the 'cheaper' paint.

I chose the SW paint for the cabinets because the cost to replace them would have been astronomical! I could definitely tell the difference! 

I think its all a matter of personal preference. For us, Lowe's is much closer--one exit away. Plus, the woman who works at the paint counter allows me to bring the paint back as many times if its not the color I like To go to Home Depot, it requires traveling near more traffic and I don't really like their customer service as much. If money is tight, we stay away from Sherwin Williams. It all depends on the circumstances at the time!

 

bridz2be

When we first moved in to our house, we painted our bedroom with Valspar. It has marked up quite a bit, compared to the rest of the house done in SW, which takes more wear and tear.  There aren't any markings at all. We also find that SW goes on a lot smoother and we don't need a second coat usually. Also, I have much better luck with their color selections than elsewhere for whatever reason. It is more pricey, but worth it in the end.

enkeli224

TheLinkBride:

I love SW paint, mainly for the coverage, the colors, the smoothness, and how well it cleans.  We have one room that we didn't paint with SW and it doesn't clean near as well.  I see far more spots on it and I think you can spend just as much by needing to do more coats of worse paint.  I've also really liked the service I've had there.

We use it a lot too so I recommend getting a preferred customer card and looking out for email coupons and sales.

I've seen other good reviews of Benjamin Moore as well.

This. It just tends to be a very 'friendly' paint -- for covering, for not showing marks, for cleaning up well, etc.

My grandmother painted house interiors for 30 years, and she always swore by SW, so that's what I use as well.

I also love the experienced staff at Sherwin-Williams stores. I've already had the brain-dead-glazed-over-teen at Lowes not know the answers to my questions. It's nice having someone know what you need/want for what you want to achieve.

jjenkins

I once asked a paint expert why the Behr paint rated so high on consumer reports and he told me the test only looked at certain things to base its results.

I used Behr when I first painted our living/dining room.  The previous owner had used Behr so I thought we were good to go.  I was covering light blue paint with a darker, warmer color but still decided to prime first.  It took me primer plus 2 full coats to get good coverage over that light blue paint.  I went through 3 gallons of paint.  I haven't used Behr since then.

When I repainted the living/dining room earlier this year I used my go-to SW Duration Home.  Didn't prime it and was going to a lighter tan and it only took 1 coat and 1 gallon of paint. 

Their Duration paint is the most expensive they have (aside from your specialty paints like the Proclassic...at least from my understanding) so it can definitely be some sticker shock but considering how much of a PITA is it to repaint some rooms I would rather pay a little more to get better quality.

Lauryn216

I've tried many different kinds of paint and have never found ANY (even with primer) that I felt I could leave at one coat (including SW).

Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but no matter how careful I was, there were always spots that needed a little more coverage.

So since we generally do two no matter what, we go with Behr b/c it is cheaper and we are very happy with the results, it's easy to clean, etc.