We see two reactions to the recent addition of Farrow and Ball Paint and Wallpaper to our product lines. Some people walk through our door and do a little dance of joy when they see the Farrow and Ball case. These people have heard about the Farrow and Ball products, and they are thrilled to have a retailer in Birmingham.
Other customers walk in the door and follow the natural progression around our showroom. They look at our Shelby Line, Pratt & Lambert, and our PPG Pittsburgh products. These customers are looking for a great paint at a great value. When they ask about price, you can see them categorizing each option in their minds. Entry level paints start in the $20- $30 range. At this point they are usually surprised that our prices are so competitive with what they might have seen in Home Depot and Lowes. Mid range products fall in the $40-$50 range. Premium specialty paints start around $60.
And then there is Farrow & Ball at $118 per gallon. We have seen more than a few customers get wide eyed when they hear that price. Either there are a lot of people painting who have more money than sense, or there is more to this story. We are here to tell you that not only are there great reasons why this paint costs what it does, it is a GREAT VALUE at that price.
How can we say this? Read on to see the Top 5 reasons we carry Farrow and Ball Paint and Wallpaper.
The Top 5 Reasons We Carry Farrow and Ball
Reason #1: We get so many requests for this paint.
Designers ask for Farrow and Ball. Homeowners ask for it after seeing the perfect design idea in Birmingham Home & Garden. People ask about it after seeing the ideal color in a friend’s house. We get a lot of requests for Farrow & Ball Paint. There is no hotter name in paint and wallpaper nationwide, and now it is available in Birmingham. We are the first Farrow and Ball dealer in Alabama because we live up to the incredibly high standards and expertise that they require of their retailers.
Now, when you read that January Jones from Mad Men loves Farrow & Ball Paint in the Architectural Digest at the dentist office, you can come look at their products locally.
Reason #2: Farrow & Ball is focused on quality.
Many homeowners have noticed that the name brand paint that they used for a project in 2011 didn’t work as well on their more recent projects. They don’t know if they made a mistake, failed to prepare the wall properly, or if they used the wrong roller covers.
Here’s a tip: It’s not you. It’s the paint!
We recently discontinued the most popular paint in America because they chose to increase profits by raising their prices AND lowering quality across all of their paint lines. We understand offering low cost paint, and we understand charging a premium for quality paint, but we don’t understand charging an arm and a leg for a bucket of…well…let’s just say inferior paint.
See reason #5 to understand why we take this so seriously. Farrow & Ball has gone the opposite direction. Their company empowers their engineers and scientists to pursue every idea in a non-stop quest to make the best paint in the world. The good news? They have succeeded.
Reason #3: Farrow and Ball covers so much surface area!
Farrow & Ball costs a lot less than the sticker price might lead you to believe. Are you guys ready to do some math?
Let’s look at paint #1. Let’s call this one “The expensive but inferior paint that Rainbow Paint won’t carry any more.” Their premium line is $68 per gallon, and it covers 400 square feet. For those of you scoring at home, that is $0.17 per square foot.
Paint #2 is Farrow and Ball. A gallon costs $118, and it covers 600 square feet. That comes to $0.19 per square foot. And those numbers are based on real world experience, not some fluffy marketing calculation.
That puts any initial sticker shock in context! Cheap paint becomes very expensive when you use more gallons on the first coat, and it becomes even more expensive when you have to do multiple coats. That is why we say proudly that Farrow & Ball is a great value!
Reason #4: We value repeat customers.
As a small business in a world of mega-chains, we watch our sales each day to keep an eye on how things are going. But our daily sales are not the primary measure that we use to measure our business. We have succeeded over the years because our customers come back to us every time they start a new project.
We only carry products that our customers will enjoy using. We know that when you use Farrow & Ball paint, you will remember this project in a more positive light than the project that started with a bucket of paint from Lowes. That is why our customers come back over and over again.
Reason #5: Farrow & Ball fits our store philosophy
We carry the industry leader that offers the best value in each product category.
There are so many options for paint, wallpaper, concrete stain, and other products that it can make you dizzy. It is challenging for an individual to wade through all of the marketing spin to find the right product for their project. That is where Rainbow Paint & Decorating can help. We talk to thousands of customers, and we listen to their experience. Our customers tell us which projects went well, and which ones didn’t. They tell us about their experience with our products, and they confess their remorse when a project goes south because they got the wrong product at Home Depot.
When you see a product on the shelves at Rainbow Paint, we are endorsing it as the right choice for jobs like yours. Farrow and Ball products fit this philosophy perfectly.
We will talk with you about the pros and cons of each product, and we share tips that will help you at every step from product selection to checking the project off of your to do list. We are experts who understand the tools and the techniques that will help you feel great about your next project.
Conclusion
We are proud to offer Farrow & Ball Paint and Wallpaper. Is it the right paint for every job? Absolutely not. But you can shop at Rainbow and Paint with the full confidence that we have applied the principles in this post to every product we carry, from contractor grade paint to concrete stain to wallpaper to the top of the line Farrow & Ball paints.