THE REAL PAINTBOX COMPANY

Our company supplies paint products to interior designers, professional decorators, cabinet makers, architects and specifiers throughout the UK. The reason they turn to us for their paint supply is because they can rely on our paints to;

 Be durable and long lasting 

Cover exceptionally well

Provide a beautiful finish

 

All of these factors are really important when your client is paying a lot of money and expending a lot of effort for a first class finish. Poor paint can let you down BIG time and is always a false economy.

 

SO, PAINT. We’ve all heard the saying – it’s about as interesting as watching paint dry – well, something amazing IS happening when paint is drying and once you understand what’s going on you will WANT to watch paint dry!

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS PAINT?

In its most basic form, paint would be nothing more than some coloured pigment, bound together with egg white and thinned with water. The pigment gives the paint its colour. The egg white binds it all together to make it into a strong paste that allows the pigment to be dispersed within it. Then the paste is thinned using water. This produces a liquid that can be applied to a surface. 

Paint made like this though, wouldn’t have any of the properties that we enjoy in paint today, like durability, consistency of colour or a smooth finish

 

We need to add things to the mix to give the paint that properties that we want it to have.

 

Using acrylic as the binder will make it much tougher. The more acrylic we use, the tougher the resultant paint finish.

Adding silica will inhibit mould growth.

We can then go on to add anti spatter agents and de foamer agents, all giving obvious properties which will improve the users experience when applying the paint. 

 

 

BUT, whilst all of these products add a particular value to the paint when used in isolation, when added as a mix, they can often act against each other giving undesirable results such as uneven dispersal of pigment, longer drying times or inconsistent coverage. To get the correct balance of additives so that the resultant paint finish is as you want it to be, requires an incredible amount of research. 

Add to that the fact that all of these ingredients are expensive and you will find that, at the budget end of that paint market, only the additives required to make an acceptable paint that sticks on the wall will be used, as every penny counts.

 

Needless to say that paint is a complicated balance of ingredients which takes years to develop before you get it absolutely right.

 

COLOUR, QUALITY AND FINISH

The 3 main issues that producers face are colour, quality and finish.   You need to have all 3 to get the product that you want.    Colour is the exciting bit, so we’ll cover that last.

As a designer, you need to be sure that all of your materials are of the finest quality. Cheap fabrics that won’t line up at the seams, linings that sag and paint that won’t cover, will all reflect badly on you as a designer. You need to ensure that everything that you recommend into a scheme is up to the job when it first goes on site AND 5 years down the line. If your client has paid a lot of money for a project, they won’t be pleased if it starts to look tired and worn within the first year

 

With fabrics, it’s easier to tell a fabric that will last – you look at the rub ratings and the type of material. You know the rules. Avoid silk in a south facing window, unless the client insists on it, and don’t expect a light duty cotton to be robust enough to upholster a sofa!

But, when it comes to paint, how can you tell a good quality paint from a normal every day paint. Well, often price can be an indicator but that’s not always a reliable test.

 

You need to know a little bit of theory behind the manufacture and make up of paint so that you can read between the lines in the manufacturers blurb. In the paint industry a little bit of knowledge can go a long way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS PAINT MADE OF?

It has four main ingredients. These are

pigment

binders

thinners

additives

 

PIGMENTS

These are finely ground particles or powders which are dispersed in paints to give colour, coverage and hiding power.

There are two types of pigment, prime and extender. 

Prime pigments provide whiteness and colour and are the main source of a paints hiding capability.

Titanium dioxide is the predominant white pigment

Using TiO in a paint provides exceptional whiteness by scattering light and so offers excellent hiding power. It is also useful in aiding colour consistency

However, it is expensive and so you won’t find high levels of it in cheaper paints

This is a prime example of the type of choices and compromises that a paint manufacturer will consider when weighing up the cost of production v the quality of his paint. More TiO gives better covering power and colour consistency but it is expensive which will impact on the price of the paint so a manufacturer will balance the quantity he needs to make a paint that’s acceptable enough v. the raw cost of the materials

Then we have the colour pigments which provide colour by selective absorption of light.

These pigments are then compounded in liquid dispersions called colorants which are then used to tint the white base at the point of sale.

 

Extender pigments are used to provide bulk, or body, to the paint. They add much less hiding power than TiO2 but they can be used to impact on other properties such as scrub resistance and colour retention. 

 

These extenders include clay, silica, chalk, talc and zinc oxide. 

Chalk is a low cost, low hiding pigment which would be used in cheap paints to bulk them out, with no real added value.

Other extenders can be used to enhance certain properties of the paint, like durability, colour retention and scrub resistance

Zinc helps mildew resistance and stain blocking

Silica can enhance durability and clay can enhance stain resistance

So, again, you can see there is a choice here for the manufacturer to either add these extenders to improve the quality of his paint or forgo certain properties in order to reduce the raw material cost of his product

 

BINDERS

These are the substance that binds all the pigment together into a tough continuous film. These days we are looking at mainly oil or latex. The type of binder chosen will dictate certain properties within the end product

Top quality flat paints ie matt paints, have a higher binder to pigment ratio. Binders are the more expensive ingredient which is why you will only find this beneficial ratio within the higher quality paint ranges.

The binder, as you may have guessed from its name, is the bit that holds the raw materials together. It has an effect on all of the properties of the final paint

Adhesion power ie. How well the paint covers, and whether the paint will blister, crack or peel after time

Application ie the way the paint flows, the way it levels and its gloss / sheen development

Durability and colour fastness ie how a paint retains its colour and how quickly it fades or yellows

On its own, binder is a clear glossy liquid. The pigment is then added to bring this sheen level down.  So, a gloss paint will have less pigment and a matt paint will have more pigment

But pigment itself does not make a paint durable. For a matt paint to be durable and colour fast, you not only need high levels of pigment (to make it matt) but you also need high levels of the appropriate binder to make it durable and colour fast. If you can imagine – you’ve got all of this powder pigment in exactly the right mix to give the level of colour, hiding power and colour consistency that you require, but just putting that powder onto a wall is just going to wash off again. So, you mix the pigment with some binder to turn it into a tough film. The more of that binder there is around each grain of pigment, the better protection that pigment has against being scrubbed away and fading etc.   But, again, the binder is an expensive component and there is a fine balance between cost and the beneficial properties that certain binders will add to a paint

Depending on which type of binder you use, you will make one of 2 types of paint, oil based or water based

 

 

 

OIL BASED PAINTS

An oil based paint uses oil or alkyds or a combination of the 2 to bind the pigments together. As the paint dries, whatever thinner has been used, evaporates leaving the pigment and oil/alkyd to form a hard coating. 

The advantages of an oil based paint is that it is hard wearing and gives a nice silky smooth finish

 

However, sometimes the film can be so hard that it is prone to cracking and chipping. Also, because of the oil, oil based paints will be prone to yellowing and bleaching.

Also, an oil is not dispersable in water. We all know what happens when we add water to cooking oil, so we need to use solvents as the thinner to turn the binder and the pigment paste into a consistency that can be used as paint. It is these solvents which are responsible for emitting nasty toxins into the atmosphere (these toxins are known as VOCs which stands for volatile organic compounds – you hear a lot about these in the press at the moment) – They are responsible for the smell that is linked to non environmentally friendly paints – the smell is generated by the solvent thinners evaporating into the atmosphere. These solvents emissions are harmful toxins – they’re harmful to the decorator, the occupants and the environment. We actually have a client who had to have 3 days off work every time his house was decorated – this is due to the level of toxins that were emitted from the paints that he was using. Fortunately, he has just started using our paints and during the decorating period, he didn’t even sneeze once so that just shows the impact that these toxins can have. And it’s a very important factor when choosing your paints – particularly if you are specifying for a child’s room, a hospital, a nursery or indeed anyone who is concerned about the environment. The government have passed regulations that, by 2010, all paints will adhere to the minimal VOC policy. A paint that has negligible VOC content would be in the range of 0 – 0.3% VOC content and that should be stated clearly on the tin. 

Be aware that some ‘low VOC paints’ calculate their VOC content BEFORE they have tinted the paint – the tints adding more VOC

 

WATER BASED PAINTS

The other type of paint is a water-based paint. These paints will use latex as their binder. This is not latex as in rubber glove type latex but it is a plastic like material that is dispersable in water. The resultant white liquid looks like the natural latex which comes from the rubber tree and so that’s where it gets the name latex from. So, the pigments are mixed and added to the latex binder and then the mix is thinned with water. The paint is applied and, as it dries, it is this water which evaporates causing the particles of binder and pigment to fuse together with great force to form a continuous film. 

 

Unlike oil based paints, the binder is completely dispersable within water thus it is the water, as opposed to the solvent in an oil based paint, that evaporates into the atmosphere. Obviously, water is not harmful in any way and hence no smell and no nasty VOCs. It is also easy to clean up after using these paints as the brushes are all washable in water

There are 2 types of plastic material used as a latex binder

Acrylic and vinyl acrylic.

Vinyl acrylic is not as hardwearing as acrylic but is significantly cheaper so, again, pure acrylic paints are higher in quality.

When acrylic is used as the binder, you will produce a paint that will

resist mildew and algae attack, 

adhere better so won’t crack or peel,

be much more scrub resistant

have better hiding power

flow and level better

be anti spatter

have better colour retention

            be colour fast and won’t fade or yellow

You can see that all of those qualities are ones that you would expect from a quality paint and that you would want for your clients, your decorator and your design.

 

BREATHABILITY

Breathability of paints is sometimes a consideration – if you have a building which is prone to damp. Oil based paints are not breathable at all ie. Moisture vapour cannot pass through them. A latex paint is more breathable as the continuous film of binder and pigment has microscopic openings which allow the painted surface to breathe. However, if a building is truly damp it may be wise to consider a limewash – the problem with limewashes is that they are mainly pigment and so offer no durability or colour fastness at all.

 

THINNERS 

This is the liquid that makes the binder and the pigment paste into a usable and paintable consistency.

As previously mentioned, the thinner used in oil and alkyd paints is a combustible solvent. For latex paints it is mostly or totally water.

The liquid evaporates as the paint dries leaving the binder and the pigment to form the coating.

 

So you’ve got the pigments and the binder which are known as the solids

And then the solids ₊ the liquids form the coating

 

So, what we’re saying is that the thinners are only there as a carrier to get the paint onto your surface. Once the paint has dried, all you are left with is the solids. Hence, the more solids in a paint, the thicker the coating will be. A quality paint will have a lower ratio of liquid to solids leaving a thicker coating behind once the thinners have evaporated, resulting in better hiding power and durability

Latex paints generally have between 25 and 35% volume solids. Our paint has, on average, 40%

Various additives can be added to the paint recipe to give it certain desirable properties.

Thickeners provide viscosity (thickness) and good paint flow so that the paint can be applied properly. 

Rheology modifiers can be used to help the paint flow out smoothly and resist spattering (especially important when rollers are used) and these will also help preserve the paint.

Specialised soaps can be used to keep pigments dispersed and provide compatibility with tinting colorants so that the exact colours can be obtained

Biocides can be added to prevent mould growing in the paint and on the paint once it has been applied – so that’s especially important in exterior paints

Defoamers break bubbles as they are formed which again is especially important when rollering.

 

We can see that the recipe for a successful and durable paint doesn’t just happen. It is a complicated balance of ingredients which not all manufacturers get right or can’t afford to get right

 

People aren’t always aware of how good a paint can be! They think that inconsistent colour, spattering and foaming, drippy paint, smelly paint, non durable paint, paint that doesn’t cover too well – it’s all part of the package – it’s the way some paints are. But that’s not the case. Paints don’t need to be like that – it’s all down to the blend of ingredients that give a paint these extra qualities.

 

 

 

 

 

IN SUMMARY:

 a quality paint will go on better, it won’t spatter or foam, it will have better flow, and have improved hiding power,

It will require less coats. 

It will last longer in that it won’t fade or yellow and it will be washable and more dirt resistant

It will have negligible VOCs and no odour

You will get better colour consistency and accuracy

 

COLOUR CONSISTENCY AND DESIGNERS

 Colour consistency is an essential property for designers and specifiers who need to rely on the manufacturers sampling system to choose colours. It may be OK within a domestic environment to ‘put up with’ a colour that hasn’t turned out quite like you thought it would when you looked at the shade card but there is no way that a client is going to put up with inaccuracies. If you specify a colour you need to know that THAT is the colour you are going to get.

 

 

You need an accurate and flexible colour sampling system if you are going to be able to do your job quickly, efficiently and accurately.

 

Imagine, you turn up at your client’s house with all of your fabric books. You sit down with them over a cup of tea and come up with the most wonderful fabric combinations and window treatments. Marvellous. You’re on fire. You’re creative juices are flowing. Then they hit you with the million dollar question – what colour should I paint the walls. Ahh! You reach for your printed colour chart with the tiny chips of colour, 7 per page and impossible to view the top one on page 1 at the same time as the middle one on page 67. 

 

The main reason that they’re inaccurate is because they’re printed. A printers ink gets its colour in a completely different way to a paint and cannot possibly reflect the pigmentation of a matt paint. The sheen level on a piece of printed card cannot represent the sheen level of a flat matt paint. The colours are the tiniest samples of the colour and to look at 2 at once is the most awkward thing on the planet. And even if you do manage to choose a colour that is a good match, you cannot be sure that a) the paint you end up with is colour consistent to the swatch and b) that the quality of the paint will match up to your standards

 

If you use the chart as your starter for 10. Choose a few colours that you think are in the right area, it would then be an impossibility to have all of those tester pots ready in your car – you would need to have 1500 tester pots with you to cover all eventualities – that would cost you £4,500.00 to set up and would fill a van. So you leave the client and arrange another meeting to come back with the chosen tester pots so that you can view the colours for real. But when you return, you find your client has been doing a bit of thinking and has decided that she doesn’t want to be quite so bold with her colours – she wants something a little more subtle. At this point you can either tell the client you can’t work with her anymore because she is too fussy or you can get your fandeck out again and have another go at shortlisting some colour possibilities for you to go and retrieve from the local DIY store. 

 

Even when you succeed in sourcing the right colour, how can you guarantee the coverage of the paint, the longevity of the paint and the consistency of the colour reproduction from tester pot to tin    Not only is it time inefficient but it may not lead to perfect results. PLUS – you are only giving them something that they can go and get themselves if they want to. Surely, as a designer, you should be bringing them something a little bit more unique.

 

 

 

So, you need to use a paint company that offers real hand painted swatches, made with the actual paint. But not only that, you need to be sure that the paint is of a high enough quality that the company can assure you of colour consistency from sample to tin and from tin to tin – otherwise the sampling is next to useless.

 

The paint company that you use also needs to offer a colour range which is sufficient for your needs. Most perceived high quality paint manufacturers offer a paint range of about 100 – 140 colours. They are limited to this number because their paint is made in bulk and stocked, which once you multiply the colour range by the available tin sizes and finishes, you can see this quickly adds up to a lot of tins of paint that would need to be stocked to cover the whole range. 140 colours is not quite enough to cover most eventualities, there will be a lot of gaps in a colour collection of that size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COLOUR SAMPLING AT THE REAL PAINTBOX COMPANY

At The Real PaintBox Company we have 316 colours in our range which have been proven to cover most design eventualities. The reason we can offer this vast range is because all of our paints are mixed to order, therefore there is no stocking issue.

 

It’s no good working really hard to get the absolute colour, only to find that it isn’t available in the finish you require to do the job. So you also need your chosen paint range to cover emulsions, wood surfaces, radiators, kitchens and bathrooms, maybe floors and preferably exteriors too.

 

At The Real PaintBox Company we have 316 colours on offer and all our sampling is hand painted with the real paint. The sampling comes in handy boxes with a colour index so that you can easily locate the samples that you need to look at. As they are all individual swatches, it means that moving them around the room to different lights, holding them against fabrics and trying out colour combinations is easy.

 

 

 

 

Our paints have been around for 135 years and so the recipe has evolved into something which is supreme in quality. All our paints are water borne acrylic paints with 40% solids volume. They are coloured with premium quality pigments including the expensive titanium oxide, and have the ultimate blend of additives to ensure they are

Durable, adhesive, anti spatter, colour consistent, with level flow, negligible VOC, high binder ratio, non yellowing, colour fast paints.

 

We have a range of emulsions for walls which are graded in rub value to help you work out which one you need for each job. As with fabrics, our paints are graded for their strength using a rub test – the higher the rub test value, the more scrubbable and durable the paint finish

 

For comparison, a high street paint which you would buy at the DIY sheds would range from 200 – 500 rubs on test. This literally means that you could scrub across it 200 – 500 times before it wore off. 

A Trade paint (from a trade store) would be about 1000 rubs.

Our paints START at 2000 rubs for a matt emulsion – a highly durable paint, which can be washed and washed – suitable for most areas

For areas which really get a bashing like wet rooms, busy hallways, utility rooms where maybe animals are kept, swimming pool areas, and trade applications like restaurants and hotels then we would recommend our semi matt or semi gloss 10000. This paint is actually steam cleanable and has mould resistant properties!

For woodwork

Again, our paints are all acrylic water borne. The film formed is as tough as an oil film but with negligible VOCs and no yellowing or bleaching. This is particularly important on kitchen cupboards where there are so many of them all around a room all suffering varying degrees of light and shade and hence, if oil based paint is used, the cupboards will all be yellowing and bleaching at different rates These paints come in a semi matt or a semi gloss finish

Do remember that if a wood surface is knotty then you will need a knotting primer to seal the knots prior to painting, otherwise the resin seeps through under the wood finish and causes staining. Once the knotting is done, you can use our primer undercoat – this is a paint which primes AND undercoats at the same time..

Our exterior paint is also extremely durable and weather resistant. This is because it is elastomeric, ie it stretches as the building moves which means it doesn’t crack. When paint cracks, moisture gets under the surface and this is what degrades the paint, forming algae and mould and causing peeling. Also, most other exterior paints fade quickly, whereas ours is far more resistant to UV light and in fact is used in the Carribbean as paint of choice.

We also offer floor paints and wood stains too.

So, you can see that our paint ticks all of the quality boxes that we have discussed. Our sampling and colour range will improve your efficiency when choosing colours enabling you to select colours quickly, accurately and with the confidence that, not only will the colour be spot on but the paint you will be recommending is of the finest quality. 

Our range of finishes means that we have a paint for every occasion.

 

So there you have it, the world of paint in a nutshell.