Fred Porter was a builder in the early 1900’s, when he worked on many iconic public buildings throughout Australia, including Sydney’s State Theatre and Elizabeth Bay House. During Fred’s travels through Europe, his keen eye for design led to his collecting paint recipes and building techniques, recording them in a series of diaries. Many years later, these recipes inspired the very first Porter’s paints.

After discovering the diaries in 1982 Fred’s grandson began making traditional lime washes in his small garage in Randwick, improving on the original versions. Today Porter’s Paints continues to grow and innovate, crafting colour and texture with fine quality ingredients, passion, and imagination.

Environmental commitment

Everything the team at Porters Paints do is designed to minimise impact on the environment — from low VOC paints to ethical sourcing.

The Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that are found in paint solvents contribute to atmospheric pollution and the degradation of the ozone layer. All Porter's Paints are formulated and manufactured with user health and the environment in mind, and we have a range of paint options that are classified as Very Low VOC (<5g/L) and Low VOC (5-49g/L) by APAS (Australian Paint Approval Scheme).

Achieving stunning finishes with Porter's Paints

Porter's Eggshell Acrylic — for an elegant low sheen finish

Porter's Eggshell Acrylic is a premium quality acrylic paint for interior and exterior use that gives walls and other surfaces a low reflective finish with a subtle, natural lustre. This elegant finish is fully washable and is ideal for walls where a very subtle sheen level is required.

The Porter's Eggshell Finish has Global GreenTag GreenRate Level A Certification, which is the highest rank achievable.

Porter's French Wash — for a subtle marble-like finish

Porter’s French Wash creates the look of delicate broken colour — a subtle marble-like finish discovered centuries ago by European masters. This elegant, timeless ragged effect can be created by both the professional painter and the DIY home decorator. 

French Wash is applied over Porter's Low Sheen Acrylic to create a soft broken look, and can be ragged, rag rolled, dragged or sponged to produce a variety of painted effects.

Porter's Fresco — for a trowelled plaster inspired finish

Porter’s Fresco is a hard wearing interior finish designed to replicate the cool lustre of the trowelled plaster walls of ancient European buildings. Porter’s Fresco gives an elegance, depth, originality and sophistication to any wall, and when sanded and polished with Porter’s Stucco Wax, its rich lustre reflects light like fine marble.

For residential projects Fresco is used on entire broad wall areas, or as a highlighted feature wall or chimney breast. Commercially, it is widely used in foyers, reception areas, restaurants and concert halls.

Porter's Stone Paint Coarse — for a stone-like exterior finish

For a textured exterior finish use Porter’s Stone Paint to provide high performance whilst delivering the appearance of softness that comes with completely matt paints.

Formulated with various grades of marble dust, Stone Paint is available in ‘Fine’ or ‘Coarse’ texture. Stone Paint Coarse contains particles of graded quartz and has a coarse texture finish similar to cement bagging. Stone Paint Coarse provides a durable finish resistant to scratches and knocks, and uses UV stable tinters for exceptional colour fade resistance. The absolutely matt finish helps hide surface imperfections. 

Porter’s Stone Paint is fast drying and self-priming on previously painted surfaces, so you can finish the entire job in a day.