What is trade paint?

Trade paint is a higher-quality paint made for professional painters and decorators. Trade paints have many benefits over DIY paints as professionals require a better quality, durable and require a better standard of paint for their customers.

Trade paint is available to all. Our store and customer service teams love helping DIY customers as much as they enjoy helping professionals.

What is retail paint?

Retail paint is commercial paint designed with DIY customers in mind and is sold at high street, commercial outlets and DIY stores. Retail paint is of a lower quality than trade paint and on the surface, often appears to be the cheaper option.

Why should I buy trade paint?

Trade paint has many benefits over retail paint, including:

Coverage

Trade paint always provides better coverage than retail paint and even after thinning, trade paint will still cover more surface area than retail paint will. For example, where a Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt covers upto 17m per litre, the retail equivalent Dulux Vinyl Matt only covers 10-12m per litre.

Higher Opacity

Trade paint offers higher opacity with richer colour pigmentation than retail paint. This means a superior ability to hide the surface that you are painting, be that the colour you are painting over or the surface you are painting itself which means fewer coats are needed.

Durability

Trade paint is more durable than retail paint thanks to its higher quality formula designed not to yellow or fade over time and to withstand higher levels of wear and tear. This means it lasts longer and it can be wiped clean without compromising the finish. If you wipe a retail paint clean, you will remove the paint very easily whereas with a trade paint, you can gently wipe stains or marks off without damaging the finish or colour. Some trade paints even offer a specific durable range that can be scrubbed repeatedly without damage.

Easier to Apply

Trade paint is easier to apply than retail paint thanks to its advanced formula that ensures optimum performance and finish. Professional decorators need their paint to perform to a consistently high standard which is why they use trade paint. Retail paints will often drag when applying which results in a poor finish. They also can’t be thinned as much as trade paint can, meaning they don’t go as far.

Better Value

Trade paint is high quality, uses less coats, and has a more durable, longer-lasting finish – meaning it’s better value in the long term.

Colour Mixing

If you buy trade paint you can have almost any colour you like mixed to order. You can match a colour from fabric, wallpaper, pretty much anything and have your chosen colour mixed to order. Check out our colour mixing service

Firstly, we would like to thank you all for your continued custom over the last 12 months and we wish you all a fantastic Christmas and a happy new year from all at

Christmas opening hours

We close for the holidays on Monday 23rd December at 12pm,

So our last day for paint deliveries will be Friday 20th December.

We do not open again until Tuesday the 2nd January 2024 at 7:30am for the paint shop and 9am for interior design.

So ensure you get anything you may need over the holidays now.

Monday 16th December – 07:30 – 17:00

Tuesday 17th December – 07:30 – 17:00

Wednesday 18th December – 07:30 – 17:00

Thursday 19th December – 07:30 -17:00

Friday 20th December – 07:30 – 17:00 – (Last day for deliveries)

Saturday 21st December – Harlow 08:00 – 12:00 / Buckhurst Hill 09:00 – 17:00

Monday 23rd December – 07:30 – 12:00

Tuesday 24th December – Closed

Wednesday 25th December – Closed

Thursday 26th December – Closed

Friday 27th December – Closed

Saturday 28th December – Closed

Monday 30th December – Closed

Tuesday 31st December – Closed

Wednesday 1st January 2025 – Closed

Thursday 2nd January – 07:30 – 17:00

Friday 3rd January – 07:30 – 17:00

Saturday 4th January – Harlow 08:00 – 12:00 / Buckhurst Hill 09:00 – 17:00

My old desk.

When I first joined the company in 1987, Mr Johnson had a traditional style “back office” in which sales, accounts and any other staff were hidden away.

We used to listen for the door and jump up like a Jack in the box when a customer arrived.

It seems odd now, we’re mostly out on the shop floor, the ladies in the interior design shop face you when you walk in their shop and the lads and ladies in the paint shops in both Buckhurst Hill and Harlow likewise!

I am now mostly stationed at our Harlow branch, it’s where I can pretend to work and get away with it the most.

And I’m lucky to have an office!

When we changed the shop around a couple of years ago, we moved our accounts office into that back office.

And the old desks that we still had since Mr Johnson’s days were moved into storage in our Harlow warehouse.

Well, this week we’ve established Jason (just before his 20^th anniversary with the company) in the upstairs office in Harlow.

And his new desk is my old desk.

I know, I’m just too kind…

He discovered that the desk was made by Cookes of Finsbury, a Victorian furniture maker who were established in 1885, 102 years before I first sat at that old desk!

And with that discovery, it got me thinking about the things that would have been used to finish and protect such a piece of furniture so that it might last 139 years…

The obvious choice would be French polish…but what else might it have been?

Polyurethane varnish? Maybe, but that wasn’t invented until 1914.

Wax? Possible, but it wears out quickly when used on surfaces such as desk tops.

 Traditional varnish? In my opinion, the most likely answer.

So, I started to think about what we have now that would be the go to for such a job?

Well, we still have varnishes, lacquers, polishes, waxes and all manner of wood finishing products on the shelves, but if I were to renovate that desk (yes, I probably will!) I think I’d turn to Osmo Polyx oil.

It’s the ultimate blend of old and new, it’s eco friendly, it can be applied clear or tinted on our new Osmo tinting machine to one of loads of colours (the only company that offers this), it’s properly hardwearing, (it’s  suitable for floors and worktops) so the old desk is a walk in the park!

It’s microporous so it’ll allow the old desk to breathe and if we need to recoat it, just wipe it down and re-apply! Doddle.

But…the main reason I would choose it for Jason’s new (old) desk is in the product description:

“Highly resistant to common liquid spillages…including TEA.”

Well, it is Jason’s desk..there will be a lot of opportunities for that.

Be well.