Designers Guild Paint Review

Carrying on with our Designer Paints Reviews we’re going to take this opportunity to review a paint we recently used on a project decorating a restaurant ‘Tibits’ on Regents Street in Central London. Here the client had specified the use of Designers Guild Paint and Wallpaper which we had not used for over a year,  so what do we think of Designers Guild Paint? Was it any good? Does it measure up to trade quality paints or other upmarket paint brands?

In a simple the answer is  YES, GS Decorating were extremely impressed with the paint.

They manufacture three different types of paint:

• A general emulsion for walls and ceilings
• A water-based eggshell for woodwork or walls (that need extra protection such as kitchens and bathrooms)
• A floor paint

For this project, we used their emulsion and eggshell for the kitchen area and woodwork – we here at GS Decorating were impressed by both.

A Brief History of the Designers Guild Brand

Designers Guild was established in 1970 by its founder Tricia Guild and is still run by her and her brother Simon Jeffery’s today. For more information on their history, please click on Designers Guild.

As a quintessential English brand, who has twice been voted Best British Brand in Elle magazine, the Designers Guild not only produce paint but wallpaper, fabrics and furniture, which they sell to trades and the public through their network of stores in Central London, which include stores on Kings Road Chelsea, Marylebone High Street and Oxford Street.

As a leading interior design outfit, you can be assured that the range of colours has been well thought out and always up to date with the latest trends and fashions. For our recent project decorating Tibits Restaurant, we were specified to use the Colours Thistle and Pale Jade. For the range of colours, please click here.

Back to the Paint Review

Right now onto the paint, as high-class painters and decorators in London, the paint is what we are really interested in, and we are here to tell you whether it is worth the price tag or not. Generally, with designer paints such as Farrow and Ball the marketing and hype count for more than the actual quality. Just because they cost twice the amount of trade paint does not mean the quality is any different. Actually, the quality of some designer paints, that cost-an-arm-and-a-leg is actually worse than a tin of good quality trade paint. However, GS Decorating was very impressed by the Designers Guild paints colours, depth and ease of application.

Designers Guild Paint Coverage

The restaurant’s previous paintwork consisted of heavy metallic paint, and due to the time scale implications we were concerned about the how the paint would cover, but we needed not to worry as it covered like a dream. In fact, after just one coat of paint, the colour dried out solid, flat without any grinning (poor coverage).

From the client feedback on the project, they and their customers were delighted with the results. We can’t take the credit for picking the colours, only applying them. However, we have no hesitation in recommending the Designers Guild as a good quality paint, not just a lot of marketing hype! Is it worth the price tag? Well, that’s down to you to decide, all we can tell you is the quality of the product is up to scratch with other leading emulsions.

My one main gripe and I must have one I suppose, was the fact you can only purchase the paint in a 2.5-litre tin instead of, the good old-fashioned 5 Litre gallon. This probably won’t annoy other like it did me, as I had to carry them! and I am just used to 5litre tins, so it’s not really much of an issue.

I would also like to thank the staff at the Marylebone store who helped throughout the project, even giving me a small snippet of wallpaper when we had run out.

In summary, I have no hesitation in recommending it as a quality paint brand.

If you have project painters and decorators in central London where you need a team of quality skilled craftsmen, call us now, to see if we can help.