Waters & Brown Paint & Decorating

The staff at Waters and Brown are the nicest, most helpful people I’ve ever encountered. They are consultative, patient, and genuine. They pulled out tons of samples to find just the right color for our guest room. We made a mistake in another gallon for our office and they happily spent lots of time tweaking it until we got just the right new color! We will be loyal shoppers from now on!

I couldn’t find the paint color sample card I was looking for so I walked over to the front desk and asked for help. One of the ladies found what I was looking for, told me it was too dark and walked away. I approached her again and asked if she would look at a picture of my room. I told her I wasn’t sure what color family to choose but I had seen an example of a color online that coordinated with my furniture. She found me that sample card and a few similar, answered a few questions and walked away again. She made no suggestions.
I was made to feel like I was interrupting something even though there were no other customers in the store. It was just a waste of my time. When I’m ready to buy the paint,
I won’t buy it here.

First off, I typically do not write reviews. However, Waters and Brown in Salem is a special place. I would challenge anyone to find such amazing customer service in any industry. The staff there goes out of their way to be sure you have the right products. The quality of the products available is second to none. Their knowledge is incredible.
Some examples of how I have been treated:
*Always greeted when I walk in, even when busy. If I go to find something in an aisle, someone magically appears and asks how they can help. They always know the answer and I am in and out.
*They can match anything. They matched interior wood floor stain to perfection. Took my sample piece brought it to their wood shop, cut my sample and custom tinted about 4 samples to ensure I would get a match. All this for a 15 dollar sale.
*I needed to find a pro exterior painter and was having issues getting someone to commit. They took down my number and someone called me within a few days and committed.
I could go on and on here. I would give them 6 stars if I could. I simply will not buy any painting or finishing products anyplace else. If you find something at a big box, grab the chip and bring it here! Everything I have purchased here has made my projects come out better than I ever could have imagined.
DO NOT HESITATE, go here and let them make you look good! It is worth every penny!

Shopping for paint here is an experience unparalleled. Highly recommended. This review brought you by my uncaffeinated and unshowered iBrain, but trust it :).

Wonderful service, knowledgable staff John, and a pleasant service. Just painted a small bathroom and Waters & Brown did a perfect job matching the color of my new
custom-​design shower curtain. You may pay a little more than the big chain stores but the service and advice is worth it!

After a year and a half of getting nowhere with paint swatches and samples from national-​chain hardware stores, we hired Lee from Waters & Brown for a (reasonably priced) color consultation in our condo. He has a masterful eye and the beautiful C2 colors we picked with him have given our condo new life (cliché but accurate). Lee and the Waters & Brown team have been helpful and attentive with every detail and each of our questions. Like someone else noted on here, Waters & Brown is not the cheapest, but you do get what you pay for.

We’ve been doing business with W&B for several years and they have been a pleasure to deal for every project. I have called them several times for advice and product info and they always take the time to patiently answer our questions. Not the cheapest… but you get what you pay for… and I never mind paying a little extra for quality products and great service. We highly recommend them for your painting/​staining/​refinishing needs!

Yes, you’ll pay more for their paint than you would at say, Home Depot but it is so worth it. Don’t believe me? Then try it for yourself! Go to Home Depot and show the guy behing the paint counter a swatch of your granite countertop and ask him what color he would recommend considering you have cherry cabinetry. Then, when he’s done laughing at you, go to Waters & Brown and show your granite swatch to Sam and Lauren (I think her name is.)
That’s what I did and they immediately both thought of the same color, Quahog. So much darker than I ever wanted to go but wow, just the right color. Then Sam suggested Oxygen (a pale blue) for the ceiling and a color called America’s Cup for the trim. The America’s Cup (an off white) threw my husband into fits of worry. Will it be too yellow? Will it look dirty and dingy? Sam, promised it wouldn’t and explained why. .. and he was right.
So right, that my husband went back and asked him what color we should paint the adjoining hall, Sam made a recommendation and my husband walked out with that color paint. This is the same husband who would gladly spend months deliberating every decision, no matter how minute!!! So it is no exaggeration when I say that Sam may have single-​handedly saved my marriage, or perhaps my husband’s life because I was ready to either kill or divorce him.
So as we decorate our entire home over, all I can say is thank God for Waters and Brown, and thank God for Sam!!!

I love this place! We have been coming here for design ideas, paints and all sorts of home decorating products since we first bought our first house last year. Everything has been right on the money and we continue to get compliments on the rooms we’ve completed.
The service here cannot be beat! I have been helped by Evan, Nick, Lori, Sam and others (who’s names are escaping me), and they have provided priceless advice on how to approach our house projects.
The most recent (and highly amusing) encounter involved the completion of our dining room. We chose an absolutely gorgeous wallpaper and took Sam’s advice on a dark paint below the chair rail. When it came time to paint, my husband and I got cold feet and wanted to go w/​a light color. I brought the paint back and explained our position, and while they did say they would try to resell the paint (which was nice of them to offer) Nick, Lori and Sam strongly encouraged us to stick w/​the original paint. They were very nice about the whole thing and gave a very detailed explanation as to why our original color would be best. And not surprisingly, they were right. Our dining room is gorgeous!!!
Even when we were working on the scraping the ceiling, I would stop in there w/​o making a purchase just to get advice on the best approach to our current project. They would take the time to explain everything and recommend techniques that would help us achieve our desired result. And the results in every room have been gorgeous. I know we couldn’t have done it w/​o them.
I highly recommend consulting W & B before any big project, they will show you the right way to get it done.