Hi Everyone,
A Happy early Thanksgiving!
It has been five years since I updated the Big Farrow & Ball matched to Benjamin Moore color chart. And, I plan on doing it. But, it needs a big overhaul.
However…
It is a monumental task. Therefore, for today, I will review all of the new Farrow & Ball Colors 2022. If time permits, I’ll also do the Colors By Nature and The California Collection.
Actually, I already did a review of the Colors by Nature which you can see here!
Please notice the date; you’ll see why I forgot about this post! However, I don’t believe I did the California Collection by Farrow & Ball.
Before I start, I want to say that I love both paint companies.
This is not about pitting one against the other. I think both make an excellent product, and I would prefer that we not debate the merits of one company over the other. Of course, if you can afford Farrow & Ball, I highly recommend getting THEIR colors from them and no other paint company.
Is there a difference in the look of the paint once it’s up on the wall?
Some insist there is. I am not positive that I can see the difference. Although, I have never seen the same color from each company posted side-by-side.
As for the big Farrow & Ball Chart.
I should be able to complete that in time for Christmas.
Ummm… that is, Christmas 2024. Ha! Just kidding. (Sorta.)
For today, I’m going to keep things fairly simple. Many of the colors will not have accompanying room images. My reviews of these colors are mixed. Although, I don’t think any of the colors are as bad as the previously beaten dead horse– Sherwin Williams-What-Were-They-Thinking-Color-of-the-Year?
Okay, let’s jump in because I know that most of you are either getting ready to go somewhere or are cooking.
The Farrow and Ball colors will appear on the left, and the Benjamin Moore equivalents are on the right.
I’m going to begin with a paint color I consider one of the best colors of the bunch.
Farrow & Ball calls it Tailor Tack.
Tailor Tack is a warm, soft, muted pink. It is very close to one of my Laurel Home Paint Collection colors, Opal oc-27 or 891. This is a pink that most men will like. It’s the pink you can safely paint your daughter’s room when that’s what *she* wants, but you’re cringing at the thought.
One of 40 Palette Boards from the Laurel Home Paint and Palette Collection
Before I go on…
Finding the matches for these colors is not easy. There are 11 paint colors, and it took me nine hours to figure out their equivalent color in Benjamin Moore. Yes, nine.
Part of the reason is that I did a lot of it yesterday at night. In my defense, night comes about an hour after lunchtime now. haha, The problem is it’s two paint companies. And, while the images have improved, about seven of these had to be done over because the online picture was too far off the real-life sample. I pride myself on being crazy obsessive about my color matches.
One of my favorite projects in interior design school was to match an existing paint color by mixing the paints ourselves.
If you had Ms. Fox for color at the NYSID, please raise your hand.
However, a few of the colors were exceedingly difficult to find a suitable match. I find that the most trying are the blue paint colors. That is across the board with Farrow & Ball. Do they purposely choose different colors than their competitors have in their line?
I imagine they do.
Okay, let’s move on with our Farrow & Ball Colors 2022
The first new color is:
Farrow and Ball describe Stirabout as “The perfect oatmeal.”
Stirabout is inspired by the nurturing porridge favoured over many centuries in Ireland.”
Sure, I love oatmeal. In fact, I made some for breakfast this morning. However, I don’t find it, particularly appealing to have it painted all over my walls.
The color on their website looks a LOT pinker than it does on the chip. On the chip, it’s a classic linen. A warm muddy, non-pink greige. I could see this color in an old Irish farmhouse from the 1600s. However, this color could be beautiful in a beautiful, architecturally endowed space.
Our next new Farrow & Ball color for 2022 is:
This was one of the easier colors to match up. In fact, a few were quite close, but the sample for Benjamin Moore’s Terra Cotta Tile 2090-30 was the closest.
Farrow & Ball calls this color A spirited, flame red– A fiery hue. Oh, if they say so. However, my version of spirited and fiery is nothing like this:
Fair Warning.
I very much recommend that you grab a pair of sunglasses first.
Please don’t say you weren’t warned.
By comparison, Bamboozle looks almost brown.
Apologies about the rods and cones overload. I hope I didn’t damage anyone’s retinas. ;]
Our next Farrow & Ball color for 2022 will give a bit of respite.
Well, from the intensity, that is.
Farrow & Ball – Templeton Pink and the Benjamin Moore equivalent, Nature’s Symphony 1152.
I know. It isn’t really pink, is it?
I know what you’re thinking. You’re waiting. You’re waiting for me to say barf. Right?
Well, yes, I could. However, let’s face it. Most of us shouldn’t even be looking at these colors that look like liquid makeup foundation.
This color is “the marmite of paint colors.” The British adore it, but no American should ever try it.
‘Nuff said.
Next up is Farrow & Ball’s Wine Dark. I paired it with Benjamin Moore Evening Dove – 2128-30
Clearly, someone had too much wine when they named this paint color. Either that or they inadvertently mixed this name with Farrow & Ball LAKE Red.
Farrow & Ball Lake Red
Their description of Wine Dark goes like this:
“Our richest blue, it’s the perfect addition to our strong blue family, being more sophisticated than Stiffkey Blue and more upbeat than Hague Blue.”
What???
Hague and Stiffkey are among the most beautiful shades of blue God ever created. This “Wine” color is not rich. It’s barely even blue. Now, does that make it a bad color?
Luxe Magazine – Farrow and Ball – Stiffkey Blue
Not at all! I rather like it. It’s a very grayed-down, very deep indigo. And, yes, I agree that it’s quite sophisticated. However, upbeat, I don’t know.
Next up is Whirlybird.
I knew the instant I saw this color it would give me problems. However, it was a little better in real life than online. The jury is out on this color; it’s not for everyone, but in the right hands, I think this could be a beautiful wall color.
We’re over the halfway mark.
The next color is Selvedge, along with Benjamin Moore Blue Spruce 1637
This was another nightmare to match. I ended up settling with Blue Spruce, although, as you can see, it’s a bit darker. However, it has pretty much the same tonality. I would describe it as a deep, very grayed-down teal. I like this color a lot. It’s one of those colors I could see changing quite a bit depending on the light.
Our next Farrow and Ball color is a green they call Eddy. I paired it with Benjamin Moore Wind Chime af 465.
F & B’s description of Eddy: “This evocative colour creates a seamless connection with nature, perfect for use in a garden room or alongside natural materials. A breath of fresh air…”
That isn’t how I would describe this color. In fact, my description is only one word.
Hospital.
We talked a lot about hospital green in this post.
It’s not always a bad color. It depends on what else is going on.
We have three more Farrow & Ball paint colors.
Next is Kittiwake, which I paired with Benjamin Moore Slate Blue 1648.
Basically, it’s periwinkle. It’s not a bad color, but I think it looks best mixed with some warmer shades of blue and black accents.
However, this color was also a bitch to match up. Most grayed-down shades on Benjamin Moore swayed green. Or, else, they were too gray or too dark.
Benjamin Moore’s new website is absolutely fantastic. They give similar colors that are clickable, and I found that to be quite helpful.
The penultimate Farrow & Ball paint color for 2022 is Hopperhead.
Its Benjamin Moore doppelganger is Flint af-560.
This charcoal gray sits between two wildly popular Farrow & Ball colors, Down Pipe.
via @houseandgardenuk on instagram @jamb_london
And Railings. I love these deep, sophisticated colors. I would paint this color on the walls, trim, and ceiling in a small den or bedroom. These are some of my favorite Farrow & Ball paint colors for kitchen cabinets.
This post has 16 of my all-time favorite Farrow & Ball paint colors.
And, our final Farrow & Ball new paint color for 2022 is Beverly– named after a beloved employee at Farrow & Ball who passed away and is greatly missed.
Beverly is a rich, deep green. It, too, was a difficult color to match up. My favorite twin is Colonial Verdigris cw-530. CV is another beautiful paint color in the Laurel Home Paint and Palette Collection.
Below is a graphic I made of all of the colors side-by-side. Please save it to your Pinterest boards for reference.
Okay, I have a surprise for you that I hope many of you will enjoy.
Do you know the company Samplize that makes the peel and stick paint samples using real paint?
Samplize was a genius idea started about five years ago by an interior designer who teamed up with a young entrepreneur.
There’s no mess, no wrecking your walls. And, it’s less expensive than the test pots of paint.
Plus, the only way you should ever test the paint colors is FLAT against the wall. Another thing I love is you can try your samples on the ceiling. These samples make it so much easier. (Well, not my ceiling. And please have someone do the sticking and another hold the ladder.)
You might be wondering if the colors are accurate.
They are crazy accurate. Samplize rolls the samples with two coats of the actual paint.
I hope you enjoyed this post.
Please have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday if you celebrate.
In the meantime, yes, the entire world is on fire with THE best deals of the year. I told Melissa, my fantastic virtual assistant, it’s like having Thanksgiving dinner three times a day for a week.
We try to bring you the best of the best.
Please check out the newly updated HOT SALES for Black Friday and Cyber Monday week!
And, also, the new
Holiday shop for 2022!
xo,
PS: For everyone who owns or wants to own Laurel’s Rolodex.
There is a new update coming out in one week. This is the most significant update in several years, and I’m very excited to share it with you. Please know that all changes are on my end. Your download link, which you got five years ago, will always give you the latest version of your guides.
I will send out a courtesy reminder and resend your download link when the new guide is in place.
There will also be a new version of the Etsy Guide. I am sorry, there are no automatic updates for this guide because I have to pay a hefty fee to store the guides now, and it’s a tremendous amount of work doing the updates.
There is an update coming out as well for the website (six figure income blogger guide), but that will be delayed by a week or two.
That blogging/website guide does get automatic updates. So, if you get it now, and I recommend that you do, if you have a website, you’ll get the updated version when it comes out. The updates are mainly new sources I’m using for web hosting, email hosting, and website theme sources.
Finally, please note that there will be a price increase for all my guides in January. You can find out more about them by going to the introductory page. From there, you’ll fine links taking you to another page which explains in far greater detail what’s in the guides.
Also, please note that gifting is available for all of the guides. When you go to order, you’ll see a gift icon. Just click that and fill in the deets for your recipient.
xo,
PS: Please check the HOT SALES HERE FOR BLAAAAAAACK FRIIIIIIIDAAAAAY!
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38 Responses
I think a key part of using F and B is making sure you use the appropriate primers as the F and B products work the best together . They are a system – I’ve tried both ways and think the system approach works far better
BM’s Nature’s Symphony is NO WHERE NEAR F&B Templeton Pink!!!! Will never trust your site again!
Teri, we don’t talk to each other in that manner on this website. This is my digital salon and you are an invited guest and expected to behave like a lady with good breeding.
I just checked them and stand by what I said in the post.
I painted my living room in F&B Stirabout and it was so unexpectedly lovely. It changes colors throughout the day as the different light comes in – it goes from oatmeal to gray to pink. I have a stairwell that comes off the living room that I never use and hardly care about- I’m going to color match a cheaper paint, but I know it won’t change color in the light and in a little nervous about the part that peeks into the living room. I think I’m going to try and match the way it looks in artificial light (leans pink) so it matches well in the winter when the days are short? We shall see- thanks for the post though, this was a lot of work and it was interesting to read!
For my own personal use, I love F &B. But I’ve been using Benjamin Moore paints for all my clients for over 40 years. Recently, with my approval, I had a painter Cooke match it with Sherwin-Williams. The reason that you can never exactly color match one companies paint to another is that their base paint is going to be a mix of different colors. It may look the same side by side, but once you get it on the wall, you will see the difference.
Trying to color match a Benjamin Moore to farrow and ball 22 light blue. Having difficulty. Want to matte lacquer a desk with lucite legs and company will only use Benjamin. Can you help? Alternatively I could try farrow and ball 307 if you have a Benjamin match to that. Thanks
I have to thank you for an earlier F&B Pantalon color match to BM Carters Gray. First, my two least favorite colors are green followed by gray. But BM Carter Gray is a brownish grayish greenish deep drab color – and I am in LOVE! It is about to go up on a 105 yr old board & batten entry wall. A large gilt mirror will hang over a wood console table. This is my Christmas gift to MYSELF! So thank you again for inspiring me to look beyond “neutral walls”. Yes, I have sampled it which is why I am so excited.
Long-time lurker, first time commenter. Have learned so much from this blog.
1. Yes, wine dark, I agree is a Homeric reference. I’ve actually seen Lake Michigan (I live in the Chicago area) turn that sort of color in certain lights and weather conditions. Symbolically, wine-dark could also mean dangerous, which sailing could certainly be at that time, the sea reflecting characters’ dark emotions. Google offers many articles by classicists and others about the way the Greeks saw and used colors–for example, they painted their statuary in really bright colors. Sorry to go all pedantic–i was a classics major at one time.
2. Re Wind Chime: I think the color completely depends on the light. I’ve just chosen it for my dining room in a 120 year-old house, which has been painted or wallpapered some shade of green in ALL of those years. Light comes from every side, so the color is very pale and garden-y, looks good with plants and so on. Off-white ceiling and woodwork. Sometimes it goes slightly more duck egg or, conversely, celadon. I can see where it might look hospital-ish in some situations, especially low-light areas.
I have used both Farrow and Ball and BM and SW paint. The price point between F&B and the other premium paints is rounding error compared to the cost of labor. The real problem with F&B is running out of paint and having to wait days/week for more paint to be shipped vs getting more paint while the crew is still there working on the project. Also, I had a bad experience with F&B high gloss paint taking a week for a coat to cure. They also cannot cut the color to paint a ceiling at 25 – 50% like SW and BM. I absolutely love F&B colors but it is about the hassle and not the money…
I’ve painted with every brand out there and I have my favorites, but I will note one thing. I recently painted my dining room ceiling F&B Hague Blue, one of their best colors, IMO. I had Hague Blue color matched at Lowe’s, so I could do the first coat with the matched color. After painting with the matched color, I painted half of the ceiling with Hague Blue (HB) and let it dry to see if there was a difference- and om gosh, the difference was huge. The matched color looked the same on a small paper, but on my ceiling, the difference was more in the paint itself than the color. HB was velvety and smooth- it looked like a velvet ribbon had been painted on the ceiling, it had more depth, and when the sun from my window shined directly on the color, it came to life. I also noted that with F&B, the sheen you pick makes a huge difference. The shinier the sheen, the prettier the color. While I normally prefer flat sheens, bc I don’t like shine, the estate emulsion w/ a 2% sheen, came out much prettier than the dead flat that I started with, ran out and finished w/ a can from 2yrs. ago that I thought was the same sheen, but wasn’t. So I ended up using estate emulsion and the result was much prettier than the color matched version, and even the dead flat sheen in HB.
Oh, yeah. I’m saving this post to read whenever I need a lift. I’ve read it two days in a row, so far, and it’s worked both times. Thankful for that, among many other things.
Your apt description of, “Hospital,” for one of the greens took me back to my childhood. My mother researched nearly everything. That required lots trips to the library which I loved. Computers and Google were not a thing. It was in the era when avocado green and harvest gold appliances reigned. Among other things, Mom set the goal of establishing and running a tranquil home. To that end, her diligent research revealed the exact shade of green hospitals of the time painted spaces used for surgery. It was perceived to calm patients. As a result of this finding, every room in our 15-room home was painted or papered hospital green. Floors in need of area rugs or hard surfaces, such as linoleum, were green, too. Club chairs were green. On it went. Accents were burnt orange or harvest gold. In my 70s, now, unless mineral, flora or fauna, I can abide no green except shades that are very near black. Even mineral is dodgy. My ex gave me 3-pieces of enviable green jewelry. Each has been worn one time over 40-years. Unless the green is next door to black, one finds no green in my home or on my person. I’ve had my fill.
Hi Peggy,
I think a lot of us have aversions to certain colors for similar reasons. My wasband couldn’t stand blue because he had to wear a blue uniform to school for years. I do remember those 70s colors so well. I was in high school. Oh my. At the time, it didn’t bother me. But now, I’m horrified thinking back on the apartment my mom and I lived in, in Madison, WI.
Happy Thanksgiving Laurel,
And a “thank you” for the time & effort you put into your posts. I’ve never used FB paint before. Probably because it’s more expensive.
I had big plans on getting wallpaper for my bedroom. But it’s turning out to be more expensive than FB paint. So now I have rationalized how getting FB paint will be saving me money.😉
I need to order some Samplize samples.
I like your thinking, Mary!
I love these colors! Where to begin? Lake Red reminds me of the color my mom painted our living room in 1965. It has a nice undertone of pink. Maybe I should paint my living room that color. Hmm. Next, all the blues, Hague, Stiffkey, and Wine Dark are lovely, but I painted my bedroom Benjamin Moore’s Blue Echo a number of years ago and still get compliments on it. It’s lighter than those three but still dramatic. It’s the color used on the showroom walls of Maude Woods in Pasadena, California. Last, I painted my guest bedroom Sherwin Williams Livable Green, but I think I like Whirlybird and Seedling more because they are deeper greens.
Hi Karen,
Blue Echo is beautiful! I love those green-tinged blue shades. All of them!
The one thing I told my clients was that the each paint company has their own base color. So even if you add the same colour ingredients, getting an exact color matching impossible.
Hi Deborah,
You are so right.
Thank you for your remarkable thoroughness! The paint colors are lovely.
My only ‘hold back’ comment is that the Greeks first consumed oatmeal and the Scots (NOT the Irish) popularized it. Lol!
Hi Jan,
Those ancient Greeks had a handle on just about everything, it seems!
… but everyone already knew that, so next time I’ll read first.
It is easy to see why this post took so many hours to complete. The color matches are so good. Thanks for all your hard work. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks so much, Elle.
Hi Laurel! I think they called it “Wine Dark” because that’s what the Greeks called the sea in the Odyssey, because they didn’t have a word for the color blue.
Hi Beth,
Maybe they were all color-blind? I wonder what they called the sky?
Great post as always! Very entertaining. I highly recommend Samplize as well. It was great to be able to move the sample on different walls to see how it changed with lighting and daylight versus nighttime.
Thanks so much, Rhonda. I love that it was started by an interior designer. Of course, we’ve all wanted something like this, but making samples is messy and expensive. They figured out a way to do it so that the samples are affordable and reusable.
Just came here to agree about Homer and Wine Dark. Thanks for the hard work, Laurel and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thank you Ivis, and back atcha! This is why you guys are so amazing. We all learn from each other.
BM website is a huge disappointment. All that fuss and other than the similar color layout as you mentioned, there’s not much else. There’s a very weak display of “matching colors”, the light shifting color change doesn’t ground itself with a white color (ceiling, perhaps) so all of the colors look washed out to me and their depth is missing in favor of their *shade* shifting. And on mobile, I can’t even screen shot the name of the paint color w the LRV in the same frame. Poor design! I’m so annoyed! Didn’t anyone there try this before they launched it? Luckily, I still have my health 🤪
Hi NF,
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t see what you’re seeing, but as a website owner, I don’t recommend looking at anything but Instagram on a mobile device. Of course, people do, but I find that the user experience is always going to be better on a larger screen.
A great BIG thank you for all the time, energy, and creativity you put into each of your blog posts! I enjoy reading each and every one. Every time I begin a decor project, I say to myself “what would Laurel do?”
Thanks so much, Doreen. I think, “what would Furlow Gatewood do, or Mark Sikes, William McLure, Steve Cordony, or Gerald Bland.”
There are so many incredibly talented designers. I’ve learned so much from each of them.
Perhaps a blog post? I am doing a dark green / grey in my study. I am testing the colours on the different walls the result is very different colours from the same sample. I decided to just go with it… what would you do Laurel?
Hi Ann,
I’d obsess about it for about a month, and drive everyone within twenty feet of me, crazy. But, that’s not what I recommend. ;]
The color WILL change on different walls and at different times of the day. If you like it over-all, and it makes sense in terms of the rest of your decor and colors, then it should be fine.
Interesting to see what F&B has to say about their colours in English. I received the new colour card a few weeks ago but of course I get it in French. The French version is long on the evocative and short on the informative. But it does confirm that the F&B colour-naming people weren’t high on booze, just on Homer, when they named the Wine Dark.
Hi GL,
Cool about Homer. It’s a little esoteric for me, but at least it makes sense.