Can you remember what colour I had?

By Pat
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Most of us decorate regularly.

Trouble is, for some, regularly means every five or six years!

Trends and fashions change and if you’re like me, memory often fails too!

But, if you’re trying to remember what paint you used as you’re not trying to keep up with fashion, just keep your house looking nice and want the same again, I suspect you’ll find the answer in that massive pile of old paint cans in the shed.

The rusty ones. Covered in spider webs. That got damp. With the faded labels. Hmm…

Ok. So. I’ll ask them in the paint shop. They know me. I’m always in there!

Well, a year ago, we finally entered the 21st century. We now have a system that can indeed, remember you! If you give us your details at the point of purchase we can store them and help out when needed.

But, I still use the most fail safe method I can think of!

When I finish painting, the very last thing I do is loosen the two screws holding the light switch to the wall, pull it away and underneath, on the wall, with an old fashioned pencil write: 

Ceiling: Benjamin Moore Aura Matte Neon Green 2031/10

Walls: Farrow And Ball, Estate Emulsion, Charlottes Locks, 

Trim: Little Green, Intelligent Eggshell, Purpleheart. 

(Go on, I dare you to Google my colour scheme!)

And the date I painted it. 

You can even repeat the process for wallpaper!

Problem solved.

It’s always there and when you decide on a colour or finish change, simply rub it out or paint over it and repeat!

The older I get, the harder it is to remember things, if I need to put something new in, I have to let something old out!

Little things like this make the difference!

Happy decorating folks.

Pat.

Eco Echo…

By Pat
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I have been fortunate enough to have spent 35 years in the shop this year. 

During that time I’ve seen enormous changes to the paints we sell, the way they are sold and the headlines behind why we do what we do.

In 1987 we were still selling large quantities of lead based paint. It seems crazy now but for the next 3 years I was selling it more regularly for exterior paint work than anything that Dulux Weathershield or Sandtex ( a Blue Circle product back then! ) had to offer. Our primary lead brand was Magnet Paints. The argument that it outlasted other paints seemed to outweigh the dangers for many decorators.

I remember the ban in 1990, I had been told by many old decorators that it would never happen but here it was! I also remember at the time trying the new water based gloss from Dulux. It felt and looked like silk emulsion! Nonetheless, the eco revolution had begun and we were all going to be part of it. Over the next few years products such as Hammerite were “watered down” and slowly moved aside by more environmentally conscious replacements. At the time many seemed like short term stop gaps but the march went on.  But now, who would consider Hammerite when we have water based products from companies like Bedec, Bradite or Zinsser that perform just as well with none of the stink? We had the VOC legislation debacle in 2012, I’m sure we all remember Dulux Retail paints going yellow and the Watchdog TV grilling they got. However, we adapted and adopted…

So, this year we will see the removal of paints containing MEKO, an anti skinning agent in solvent based paints. However we’ve studied it, and now, less than 1% of what we sell is solvent based! Amazing! But the real revolution is happening as we not only get cleaner paints but paints that help clean the environment as they work. May I introduce Graphenstone to you? This is a fast forward to the future of decorating. Some of it actually absorbs CO2! We now have their new tinting system at our Buckhurst Hill shop and their full range of the most environmentally friendly paints in the world! Dare I say: the greenest white paint in the world! 

(Other colours are available 😂)

Please ask for a colour card or information leaflet or simply go to Graphenstone’s website and join the great clean up of the paint world!

Be well.

Pat.

“Changed Hands?”

By Pat
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The other day I had a chat with a customer and a paint manufacturer’s name that I haven’t heard in a long while came up – Signpost Paints.

It got me thinking about the merry go round of paint companies and what became of many of them or who owns who now?

I’ve been in the paint industry since 1987. When I first joined the company the most recognisable (and certainly our biggest supplier) was Crown Paints…largely due to being advertised on Liverpool FC’s shirts! Liverpool were league champions twice in my first 2 years here and then they waited 30 years for another one. Must have felt like waiting for a painted front door to dry!

Crown are still one of the biggest players (pun intended) and we’re still proud to be major stockists of all of their brands but they haven’t been owned by Crown Paints as such for a long while.

From memory I’ve seen them change hands 6 times from Crown to Reed, to Williams Holdings to Akzo Nobel to Endless to Hempel….who have recently bought Farrow and Ball!

During that time, the collective owners have bought, sold, closed and shelved such well known names as Permoglaze, Sandtex, Sadolin, Sikkens, Signpost, Magicote, Macpherson, Berger and more!

And Crown themselves were thrown into the ether in 2006 when their owners, Akzo Nobel bought ICI Dulux and as part of the deal had to release Crown, Sandtex, Sadolin and Macpherson into the market which is where Endless (apparently a Mercedes Benz Franchise) bought them. Blimey!

And so, back to the name that started my chain of thought…Signpost.

Well, out of the ashes of Signpost Paints, one of the chemists started a new company with a friend from another defunct company, Ripolin.

That company is the maker of

MSP and Barn Paint! You’ll find a full stock of all of their paints in both our

Harlow and Buckhurst Hill shops!

I’m not sure how many times this will happen again but if I’m still selling paint in another 34 years (I’ll be 84!)  I can’t imagine things will have stayed the same…

I shall update the diary!

Be well.

Pat.