Decent chalky paints

[SiH]

Morning all
I'm after a wall paint with a good coverage, that will give me a very flat, chalky finish. As well as this, it needs to be able to go over Dulux 'Matt'

Long story short, we have an min 19th century cottage, in which all of the walls have just been insulated and skimmed. Now the plaster is dry, I have mist coated with thinned down Glidden Matt white.
Yesterday, I applied 2 coats of Dulux colour mixed 'Matt' to the dining room, stairs and landing, and to be honest, I didn't like the colour (too bleak and sparse), but thought I'd give it time to dry.
Today, it looks even worse - the colour of it is obviously down to poor choice, but the finish is certainly not the 'matt' I was expecting.
So, what chalky matt paints are there out there with good coverage, and a decent selection of warm whites, that will be OK to paint over the Dulux?

I've painted a few houses before, but never paid this much attention, as this is a 'long term' house, so we want it to be 'right'. Budget is always an issue, but if we need to pay more for a decent finish, then that's what we'll do.

The obvious choices are 1829 and F&B, but reading up on these, no-one seems to have a good word to say about them!

Any advice much appreciated

 

[dcdec]

F&B is excellent paint, you do pay a bit over the top for the name. A lot of painters slag it off but what they don't realise is F&B use natural pigment which is finer ground. Dulux and co use synthetic pigments with a coarser grind and this is why the finishes are so notably different. I think i'm right in saying that the finer ground pigment reflect less light therefore giving a flatter finish. You have two choices the estate emulsion which is flat and chalky with around 3% vinyl content or the modern emulsion which has a higher vinyl content (about 8% i think). The latter was developed for the market that wanted the F&B look with a bit more durability. Its very nice paint.

Paint & Paper library and little green are also very good paints and much more suited to period properties as is F&B.

Dulux do a flatt matt and have a heritage colour range and johnstones do some flat finishes as well which are good.

The 1829 doesn't have the greatest of reps and i havn't used it, but that said it could be the same guys that slag F&B, they tend to do that with paints that require dare i say 'educated application'.

 

[SiH]

Thanks for the reply - some useful info
It's a shade of off white we will be going for (undecided as of yet, the Dulux I need to cover up is too 'cold' though) - I don't know how much of a bearing this has on the pigmentation method? I've read a few things suggesting F&B and the like really only come into their own as you head towards deeper, stronger colours?

Someone has suggested Johnstone's Flat Matt, which can be coloured to our needs as well, I'm wondering if this may be the way to go? It's much more keenly priced as well (although this isn't the prime consideration)

 

[dcdec]

Thats a good point actually, F&B are much better in greens and blues and similar and i agree that with pale and whites you wont 'see' your money so much. Johnstones flatt matts are very nice and have a look at little green as well.

 

[SiH]

Will do, thank you very much - Johnstone's look considerably cheaper than Little Green from a quick search - I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the extra now! Sampler time I guess!
If it was only a small area it wouldn't be too much bother, But I think I need about 12.5l.

 

[ic1927]

Have a look at Zoffany paints and also Sanderson paints, I've been using these dead flat chalky emulsions recently in an 18th century house and was quite impressed with both paints, expensive but very good quality stuff.

 

[emilybronte]

I've used Crown Ultra Flat Matt and that was good value, too.

Earthborn have natural pigments and a lovely flat finish - good for period properties - also look at Fired Earth.

 

[emilybronte]

...

When will they tell us how to delete posts?!