I asked a friend who is a painter and decorator this question and he immediately recommended Valspar paint from B+Q. He says that after 7 days 'setting' time you can really scrub it with no ill effects. You can have it mixed to any colour that you like.

I second the vote for Mylands. Gorgeous colours too!

Hi Laura9

Have read the various posts and surprised no one has mentioned Mylands Marble Matt.
Used by the Queen so pretty tough and definitely dog proof! Seriously, I love F&B but forget it where children are involved (must say sadly that Little Green is even worse irrespective of finish - very expensive mistake on our part...).
We have tried Mylands (and their factory is in Lambeth!) for our daughters' bedrooms and its as hard as nails, dead flat matt, absolutely wipeable and available in some fab colours (check out their "Colours of London" range) and no I have no connection with them!!
In fact I had never heard of Mylands until our builders, Clapham Builders, recommended them and it is quite uplifting (and a novelty in London) to actually go and buy your paint from a local manufacturer.

Hi there,

I used to work for Dulux (granted it was a few years ago) but we used to do a lot of testing against competitors and so I can really vouch for the quality of their endurance paint. Also the fact that decorators really prefer to work with it really says something re. the quality. If you're looking for a special shade there are hundreds available in their mixing facilities in DIY stores which can be mixed with an endurance base.

Good luck!

On the recommendation of the guy in Force Homecare DIY (Balham), we used Little Green Paint Co but had them mix it in some of the Farrow and Ball colours. You can wipe marks off really easily. Can't remember what it is, but there is a finish recommended for high traffic areas such as halls etc. Ultramatt or Ultimatt or something like that?

We have dulux endurance in our house as recommended by our decorator - mellow mocha (which I love but which can look a bit pink/purple in certain lights), malt chocolate (a bit brown for my tastes) and nutmeg white (great in a dark hallway!). The finish is slightly shiny, but you get used to it quite quickly and it is so easy to wipe away coffee and tomato sauce and yoghurt and marks from grubby toddler hands. If there is a colour you like which doesn't come as standard - you can get it made with a dulux endurance base.

Sorry, no time to read the whole thread, but a vote for Dulux Endurance. Had F&B in flat we last lived in and it was a completely pain in the behind. No chance of touching up the inevitable smears/scrapes which toddlers produce.

I used Farrow & Ball Modern Emulsion in my kitchen - no pets - no kids - experienced in refurbishment. Do not do it. You will not be ale to remove marks, maybe very light marks, but if you have the smallest splash of coffee for example, forget it, the best you will do is make it fade - the only thing that will be on your cloth is the paint. Do not think you can varnish over it, it will darken the colour regardless of how good the varnish is, sometimes very very slightly, but it will.
Little Greene Company paints are much more highly rated by the trade than F&B and they do the traditional colours and finishes, just better and harder wearing.

Farrow & Ball's 'Modern Emulsion' is great for rooms with high usage such as kitchens, children's rooms, halls etc. It's got a low sheen and is extremely wipe able.

Thanks very much for the info, Dachshundsrule. I'll chat to my decorator about the shop you've mentioned.

The other thing you can do is use any emulsion paint and you can get F & B paints made up by other paint shops. To protect it put on a dead flat water based varnish from Polyvine (you can put it on top of wall papers as well). It is very quick to apply and goes a long way. There is a paint shop called decorators mate on Streatham high road (by Telfold Avenue) where you can park outside the shop for nothing and they can mix your F & B colour and they sell the Polyvine dead flat water based varnish. I am a painter and have used it for years especially on areas where there is a lot of heavy traffic ie hallways and landings.
I'm sure your decorator will know about this product and you will have a larger range of colours.
Good luck

Really interesting reading all the comments about this- I'm so glad I asked! Thanks for that tip Hattie. I was looking at the dulux website last night wondering about colours. It looks as though the endurance paint has a limited choice of colours, but they look pretty neutral. It's certainly not worth the worry (and expense) of using F&B when little hands, buggies etc so easily mark walls! Will let you know how we get on with it! Thanks again everyone.

I had my sitting room painted in Endurance. I loved two of the F&B colours but it was SOOO expensive. My decorator was able to get the "recipe" from some clever paint computer programme thing and copy the make up with Dulux so I got the F&B colour at the Dulux rate. Worth a try! Try asking in any good Dulux Trade shop (rather than somewhere like B&Q) because they are pretty savvy.

The choice of Endurance colours is slightly limiting but we used Malt Chocolate which is a good neutral that can be used everywhere. We originally wanted Mellow Mocha but upon testing found it too pink.

I was really interested to see your post. Many friends rave about F&B but my parents have used it in their house and I find it so stressful taking my toddler home. Every single mark shows up and unlike other brands you can't touch up, you have to re paint the wall. Although I can't speak about Dulex Endurance I think this is what we will go for in the future. At the end of the day we would drive our selves potty trying to stop the small people touching the walls so the next best thing is to have something that wipes down well and can be touched up as needed. Good luck with the paint job and let us know how you get on x