Farrow & Ball

LOVE.
Susan consulted us in-​house for about an hour ($ 250) regarding changing some colors at our home. Incredibly professional, patient and pleasant. Responded to my emails quickly and well. Took two phone calls, one before the visit and another after the visit.
At F&B at the Mart, i dealt with two ladies (one Juile, forgot the other name). Both really helpful.
Great experience. Lovely colors.
All our paints are top line Benjamin Moore (Aura?) but I think F & B is a different class. So good that a small one floor project turning out to be a four story project, not that was needed.

F&B is great at colors, and if you are painting a flat finish wall, I’d give this paint five stars.
If you are doing wood finish that requires leveling like a satin or gloss. Fogetta ’bout it. F&B’s technology is 10 years behind Benjamin Moore «alkyd» like water based paints. F&B paints start drying as you brush it on. Your brush strokes will be part of the finish. Leveling to get that smooth look, not going to happen. Sales person mentioned paying someone to «spray it on». I know why now. VERY disappointing, particularly at this price point.
In summary, color pallet, unique five star. Flat paints work great, nice coverage.
Semi gloss, or gloss, AVOID!

I love Farrow & Ball. When I was planning to paint my apartment, I was considering their paints for my walls. The colors and finishes are absolutely gorgeous. Of course, their paint is very expensive. If you can afford Farrow & Ball, you should consider them. Their color selection is limited, but they coordinate beautifully.
The only problem I have is the service here. They are patient and helpful. However, they never responded to an e-​mail I sent to them, nor were they happy when I arrived right a few minutes before they closed for an exchange. A customer services associate made a mistake in the purchase and I had to go back to the store. He seemed very annoyed. If it was inconvenient for anyone, it would be me since I had to drive back there. I later brought my boyfriend, who almost got Farrow & Ball paint for his place, but he decided on Sherwin-​Williams due to limited color selection (he wanted a modern green).
Amazing paints, lukewarm service.

This F&B location in the Mart is a convenient way to get sample pots if you don’t want to wait to mail order them (or pay shipping). They also have large pieces of wood painted with each of their colors, which helps give you a much better idea of what the finished product will look like.
As a result of the large pieces of painted wood, and a helpful salesperson, I ended up with a different color than I had planned to purchase. It looks FANTASTIC in my house.
I subtracted one star because the store did not shake the gallon of paint that I purchased and their paint separates worse than any paint I have ever seen in my life. It took me almost an hour to stir it up enough to use. Also, their paint cans are cheap as hell and the metal was basically destroyed by the time I pried it open. I imagine this is to minimize shipping costs from the UK where the paint is made, but make sure you have a bucket to dump paint into so you can mix it, and also something to store the left-​overs in.
The store also stocks large pieces of their wallpapers and they will give you an 8×12 sample of any of the prints so you can take it home to test without lugging a massive book.

Five stars for customer service.
I sent a detailed email (on Saturday) via the website asking for a color recommendation.
My email arrived in Toronto. They called me this Tuesday morning to say that they had forwarded it to Chicago and that Chicago would call me.
They did. And, they offered very knowledgeable and helpful advice as what color I should paint the north wall of our living/​dining area.
This is blow me away customer service.

I am still in shock that this happened. I was walking through the Merchandise Mart on the phone with my little brother. I couldn’t hear him very well so I stepped into Farrow & Ball so I could hear him finish the story from school he was trying to tell me.
I was in the store, which was completely void of customers, for about 5 seconds when a woman came out and rudely asked me if I planned on buying anything. I told her no I was just finishing up a phone call with my little brother as I could not hear what he was saying the main promenade. She then told me that this «is not a phone booth. it is my store.»
Wow! I work with over 150 people about a block away. I can’t wait to tell each of them my story and let them form their own opinions about the quality of service next door.
Thank you for your amazing service Ms. Farrow/​Ball. Best of luck in the future.