I have used Frazee, Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin Williams--the last because that was all my contractor and his paint sub were willing to use. I am out in the country now and we do not have a great variety of g.c.'s from which to choose. Anyway, I was upset about having to use S-W, but I am very happy with how the paint turned out. I used mostly Martha Stewart colors and it worked out fine. I have never tried Devoe. I very much like BM and Frazee (my favorite), but the S-W has been a pleasant surprise. It is withstanding pet marks, too. One thing, when I tried to computer-duplicate other brands' colors using S-W it did not work.

Has anyone used Behr?

Hi...my husband loves the way the Behr paint goes on and we have recommended it to others in our family. Great coverage and really nice colors...we've been happy with it (as opposed to the Lowes American Tradition/Valspar paint, which my husband said "gelled" up into little beads all the time while painting -- constantly had to use a cloth to wipe off the gelled paint balls while painting).

We are currently using SW ProClassic semi-gloss on all our doors and trim, and it looks beautiful and goes on great.

Good luck with your painting ...

As someone who paints sporadically, I don't notice great differences among brands. I used Behr Premium Plus several times and have been happy with it, except for the ammonia odor. There was a long thread similar to this on the Home Decorating board, and I was astonished to find that many people don't like Behr paint for some reason (don't know if they were using the Premium Plus or not). There was a strong preference for BM and SW.

I have always had good luck with color matching. Sherwin Williams has matched Duron, Home Depot has matched Duron as well. And a couple months ago, Home Depot matched some ICI paint.

First of all, any paint shop can match just about any color from any other manufacturer. 99% of the time, they can match it by the brand and the color name. 1/2% of the time they will need the number of the color on the color card. 1/2% of the time they will need the color card itself and they'll use their color-matching machine. It works just fine, I've done it a lot. You should not choose your paint brand by color. Color is a completely separate issue.

As for brands, I won't use anything other than Benjamin Moore any time I'm going to be painting with a brush (such as on trim or paneling). I prefer their water-borne Satin Impervo for it's nice leveling (the paint goes on flat, so you don't see the brush strokes as much). The Sherwin Williams paint I've tried does not self-level at all. I bought their scrubbable Duration paint, and I really don't like how it brushes on at all. Duron paint is horrible stuff, don't touch it. I've thrown the stuff away it's so bad. Behr tends to be thin, so you'd need to put on more coats, but other than that I don't know anything wrong with it.

When using a sprayer or roller, you generally don't have to be as picky (thinner paint is better for a sprayer anyway). The Sherwin Williams rolls on fine, as does the Benjamin Moore. The Behr is thinner, as I've said, so you might need to put up a third coat, especially if you're putting up a dark color or a red or something like that. But in general it'll be OK. Don't forget to prime first -- it really helps adhesion.

I've used nothing but SW professionally for years. Never had a problem with Duration, but then again, I'd rather die than use a brush; that's why sprayers were invented.

I personally didn't like Behr; I used it once or twice, but there was just such a startling lack of consistency in quality from one can to the next that it wasn't usable. Then again, that's kind of the problem with those stores in the first place.

I will never use Behr paint or stain again. I learned the hard way. Today, I find that Benjamin Moore (both interior and exterior)is the way to go. I normally prime all surfaces before painting and I prefer the Bullseys 123 for most applications. BM paint is easy to apply, gives excellant coverage and last and last.

Ditto what jasonmi7 says about about Behr. It's unpredictible, and who needs that?