Cheap paint v Branded paint

When we first started out married life it was in a rented flat where the windows leaked every time it rained. We were not allowed to decorate there which was just as well as it would have needed replacing very often because of the water damage !

A year later we had scraped together enough for a deposit on a tiny flat in town where there was no window in the kitchen. We papered everywhere in wood chip and then painted over it using the cheapest white emulsion we could find tinted with water colour paint. We thought that it was lovely and indeed it was compared to the heavy brown gloss paint which had decorated the flat throughout prior to our ownership.

Ten years later we had a whole house and that was when we learned that it was false economy to buy cheap paint. You had to put on lots of extra coats which we did not have time for and when you scrubbed at it because the children had made a mess it came off on the sponge. So now we buy paint where professional decorators do, at the professionals outlet on the industrial estate. 

It isn't very far away so if you run out you can always get more and they mix the colour to order so always have just what you need. Prices are quoted without VAT so you do have to do a bit of arithmetic and they only take cash, but that is fine by us. They also sell really top quality brushes etc. which you know will last a lifetime if you look after them.

So Master Shoestring and Mr Shoestring went off there and came home with exactly the correct amount of paint to wipe out Miss Shoestring's Laura Ashley style of decor in the larger bedroom so that it can become a teen den ! Master Shoestring has even offered to help with the painting !!

Do you decorate with paint or paper ?