Paint Questions-Ben Moore & Trim Color

[rooster222]

If you are a Benjamin Moore user, which line do you use? I painted almost our entire house with "Ben" but it really hasn't worn well, mostly it doesn't clean up easily. I've tried Sherwin Williams but I prefer how BM goes on. I'm going to upgrade to Regal or Aura but am trying to decide between the two.

All of my trim is Chantilly Lace. I'm considering Swiss Coffee for the walls. They are light gray now but looking for something a little warmer/creamier. Anyhow, I'm considering painting the trim Swiss Coffee as well. Crazy?

As a sidenote, I'll do 90% of the painting myself, so I'm guessing about 2000 sq ft. All trim, doors, walls are getting paint. Not ceiling, I can't deal with that. I don't use tape, except along the floor. I'm thinking painting the trim the same color would be more forgiving and not make me as crazy but maybe I should use a different finish? It's probably obvious I'm not looking forward to this project and trying to make it a little easier.

[Susie]

I am usually a SW user, but I used BM this summer when we bought a house and had one month to paint as much as we could before move-in... and SW was out of product due to supply chain issues. We used Regal in eggshell, and so far I've been satisfied. I have not used BM for trim; I use SW Pro Classic in semi-gloss. It is thick and has more of the BM feel to it than other products I've used. I like that it is self-leveling.

I wouldn't do the walls and trim the same color unless that's the explicit look you are going for. I wouldn't do it just for ease. Honestly I don't think it will make it that much easier since the sheens will be different.

We painted all the trim and doors in our last house, which was around 1950 sf. Ugh, I won't lie, it legit took forever to DIY. Years, it stretched over. We only finished last spring under pressure because we were putting it on the market. It was very much worth it though.

[KellyEasterbrook]

I painted our bedroom BM Swiss Coffee a few month ago. The walls are matte and the trim is semi gloss. I can’t remember if I used Regal or Aura.. I think the trim was Aurora and the walls are Regal. There were supply chain issues, so I just took what I could get. I think I only have used their Ben line for ceilings.

I really like having the walls and trim in the same color, but different finishes. Our house is a mid century ranch, so the trim is pretty basic. It makes the room look a bit taller and doesn’t call too much attention to our boring trim. 😀

[deadwing]

I've used Aura on all of the walls in my house and I'm happy with it. It's been 5 years since I painted and everything still looks fresh and new. I sprang for the Aura Bath and Spa for my bathroom and I'm truly astounded at how well it holds up. The area above my shower surround gets splashed with water every day and there are no watermarks or signs of mildew. One room I repainted from a very dark grey to a light mauve (BM Porcelain) and it covered extremely well in a single coat. It's expensive, but I'm completely happy with BM Aura.

[circa1978]

I've used BM for more than 15 years. Decorators White is my go to for trim or white. I do have a room where the trim and walls are both Decorators White and it looks great so I think your Swiss Coffee idea would work.

[dr.girlfriend]

I use Benjamin Moore Aura, mostly because I was pregnant when we first painted and I think that was supposed to be a safe one. I think I've used Decorators White for trim in the past, but in my new addition I used Chantilly Lace and like it a lot. I painted the walls Pale Oak, which is a nice light griege. We also have a "white" room painted in Sand Dollar.

Sand Dollar:


Same room at a sunnier time of day:


Pale Oak with Chantilly Lace trim / built-ins:


Same wall color in more sunlight:

[boiler717]

I sampled Swiss Coffee at 50% for my basement walls but ended up going with White Dove with Manchester Tan trim. We have White Dove trim upstairs. In the basement I used Advance for the trim, upstairs used Aura. Both semi gloss. My painter preferred Advanced. I have cabinets in both Aura and Advanced, and I think Advanced wears better. I used Regal for the walls in the dining room but I used Scuff X in the basement and would for sure use it in hallways, kids rooms, etc.

[lavender444]

We use regal for walls, and the Advance line for trim, cabinets and doors.

We mainly do eggshell or satin for walls and satin for doors/trim.

[wildrice]

I've done Aura in eggshell and been very happy with it. I painted a couple of rooms over a year ago and they still look like I just painted them. I know a year isn't a ton of time, but I don't see any reason why that would change anytime soon.

[RockNVoll]

We have Aura in bathrooms and Regal (eggshell for walls, semi gloss for trim) everywhere else. Very happy with both. Aura really does make a difference in bathrooms--no streaks from water or steam--but we haven't found it necessary to pay the premium for it all over the house.

[libbygrl109]

We used Ben in our bedrooms and Aura in our bathroom. Both have held up well. When we have our living areas painted, we will most likely go with either Regal or Aura, whichever is recommended by our painter.