Bedroom, Decorating, DIY, Painting
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Benjamin Moore #paintlikenoother

Benjamin Moore

Sorry for not posting last week. I’m sure you were all refreshing your inboxes every 30 minutes wondering where my weekly post was? Call off the search party everyone, i’m fine, if a little stiff around the ole joints. I’ve done the equivalent of 39 step classes this weekend, working hard on the decorating of our bedroom makeover. Remember our proposed new bedroom colour that divided opinion?

Bedroom Moodboard The Nude Room

Nude Bedroom – Moodboard

Now let me make it clear from the off so the ASA don’t come and arrest me, I was gifted the paint for this project. BUT I chose the paint and colour, Benjamin Moore‘s ‘Fox Hedge Tan’, before i’d secured a collaboration. I’ve been wanting to try Benjamin Moore’s paints for ages and always prefer to try new products in my own home before recommending them to others to try in theirs. After i’d bought a tester and settled on the colour, I emailed Benjamin Moore to see if they’d let me review their paints on the blog in exchange for a few litres of Fox Hedge Tan.

Benjamin Moore

Let me give you a bit of backstory…. If you don’t know already, as well as Making Spaces, i’m also the co-founder of the Interior Design Collective. The IDC has Trade Partners, brands that the IDC highly rate who also offer our designers exclusive trade discounts. Benjamin Moore is one. You will have heard of them before i’m sure, it’s one of the largest North American paint brands. Benjamin Moore’s colours are referenced all over tinterweb, in particularly Pinterest and a lot of high profile US designers only spec’ BM paints for their projects. Luckily for us here in the UK, Shaw Paints brought the Benjamin Moore brand over to our shores in 2015.

IDC Benjamin Moore Workshop

Benjamin Moore IDC Workshop – Photo by Serena Pitchers

Three years later, in 2018 Benjamin Moore came on board with the Interior Design Collective. Everyone i’d spoken to about them had all kinds of good things to say about their paint, but i’d never used it before and was keen to get to know a little more about it. Luckily, IDC members were invited to a workshop where we learnt all about the brand, their paints, finishes and colour palettes. It was truly fascinating. You can read more about that here.

Now you might be sitting here reading this thinking, well what is there to learn about paint? It’s all the same isn’t it? And you’d be completely and utterly wrong. I wrote a post about two years ago all about paints and the problems people were having, since the change from oil based to water based paints. It’s still my most read post EVER with over 63,100 views, that’s more views than my flipping blog’s home page!! I’d highly recommend reading it if you haven’t already as it looks at several paint brands, the experiences i’ve had with it, along with comments, questions and feedback from over another 80 people. Two years later and i’d still not found a water based eggshell that didn’t chip or peel when painting over oil based painted surfaces. Until now.

I’m so excited to have tried Benjamin Moore’s paints for a few reasons. Firstly, because i’ve finally found a brand whose water based wood and metal paints actually stick. And stay stuck. It’s flipping brilliant. I’d say my default, is a state of mild disappointment in most things, i’m rarely impressed by anything. But I can quite honestly say, Benjamin Moore paint is the best paint I have ever used.

See that crappy phone pic above? That’s after one coat of paint. One.

Another reason it’s now top of my ‘paints to use’ list is, coverage. And coverage will be a big consideration over the next few years, especially for those moving from the dark side (of interiors) back to  the lighter, neutral tones that are quickly moving back into vogue. Benjamin Moore’s Aura finish from their premium range covers almost like a one-coat paint. Painting over dark teal walls with a tan toned paint aint easy, I was genuinely dreading having to paint over these walls (and ceiling).

Dark Interior Design

Bye bye teal – hello tan.

My fears were quickly waylaid as this Aura stuff just rolled straight over. I couldn’t actually believe how well it covered.

Aura® delivers remarkable durability and offers the most advanced way to bring colour to life. Using our exclusive Colour Lock® technology, Aura paint brings you discernably richer, truer colour. Visibly thicker, Aura paint covers like no other, even in the deepest shades.

And it’s true. This paint and primer in one covers like a 13.5 tog duvet. I’ve actually only used half of the paint that was calculated. One and a half pots, about 6 litres, and this room is done!

The third thing that’s actually a bit of a game changer for me is the paint’s ‘seamless touch up’ finish. You know when you dink your wall and try and touch up a tiny spot? Well my experience of that is that you just see a blob of paint on top of the layer beneath. Well I don’t know how this paint does it, but let’s say you paint half of your ceiling and bugger off for a bit to do something else (have a lie down)….

Welcome to my world – that’s just one coat btw.

…. then come back the next day to finish off the other bit, there’s normally a bit of extra work involved to blend it all and get rid of dried roller tracks.

No brush or roller marks with this paint. It’s magic. It just all dries completely flat and seamless. Great for people that are really crap at decorating… or get tired after doing half of the ceiling.

Fox Hedge Tan – Aura Matte (don’t smoke kids)

The Aura comes in a washable finish, so great for tiny, jammy fingers, but like i’ve mentioned if you do need to touch up where little Johnny has practised writing his alphabet on your wall, you should be able to go over a small area without having that noticeable “this is where we painted over the Sharpie”.

I don’t think there’s much more praise I can throw at this paint really. I like it. Very much. And will be advising all of my clients to jump onto the Benjamin Moore band wagon. It is a little pricier per litre than F&B and Little Greene, but you need less of it. So the time you’ll save by using this paint will more than make up for it. If you’re paying a decorator by the day, what little extra you’ll spend on Benjamin Moore paint you’ll save on time and labour costs. No doubt. But don’t just take my word for it, you can read more reviews of the Aura paint here. 

So to recap, my four favourite things about Benjamin Moore’s Aura paints:

  • Coverage – almost like a one-coat paint
  • Matte and washable
  • Seamless touch ups
  • Water based wood and metal paint that doesn’t flake, chip or peel. Finally!

I’ve not even mentioned the range of colours, which is immense, probably a little too big for the UK market tbh. But I dare you to not find the colour you’re looking for in the finish you need. Benjamin Moore are slowly rolling out new stockists across the UK, so keep an eye out, but if you can’t get to a store, you can order any of their paints online for next day delivery.

Thank you to Benjamin Moore/Shaw Paints for kindly gifting me the paint for this project. All words, opinions and images are my own (unless stated).

13 Comments

  1. Caroline says

    I think it looks lovely Karen. A very warm and cosy feel but light, bright and clean at the same time! Can I ask where your black wall light is from and the door hooks?
    As ever I love reading your blogs 🙂

    • Karen Knox says

      Thanks Caroline 🙂 the wall light is from Made.com, think it’s the Ogilvy…

  2. Anonymous says

    Ooh this is such a lovely colour! I’ve been looking for the perfect shade to use alongside my Woodsman Wallpaper and think this might be close. You know it, dontcha 😉 What do you think? Is it in the ballpark?

    • Karen Knox says

      Not quite, you need something with a bit more yellow in it. This is very pinky-tan. I’ve just put the tester up against the Woodsman and it doesn’t look awful with it, but I think you could get a much better match. Good luck!

  3. I have wooden window frames and sills that were waxed years ago. I really don’t like them and was thinking of painting them. Do you think I could use Benjamin Moore paint on them without using a primer?

    • Karen Knox says

      Definitely email them directly to ask what product would be best to use!

  4. You know, I was prepared for your pic of you actually decorating to be so ‘professional’ – everything out of the room, the rest piled up and covered in dustsheets – wow, you’re just normal, aren’t you?

    I love that colour. It looks very calm, warm and peaceful. And thanks for the paint review!

  5. Kathryn says

    I love the new colour, did you just do one coat? If you were painting over a pale for a ample could you get away with one coat? I like the sound of that…

    • Kathryn says

      Sorry that didn’t come out right, “pale grey for example” is what I should have typed

    • Karen Knox says

      I wouldn’t do one coat, there will always be the tiniest areas that need a second roll over. I’d go as far as to say you’d need 1.5 coats. A good and thorough first coat followed be a more carefree second coat to achieve the final depth of colour.

  6. Anonymous says

    Hi- I love this color. Is the door a lightened version or a different color? Thanks!

    • Karen Knox says

      No it’s the same, it’s just the eggshell finish which reflects the light slightly differently to the matte finish

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