You probably know every scuff and mark on your wall and likely can’t wait to touch up walls around your home. When you’re living in a home, the walls are bound to get bumped, scuffed, scratched and damaged. It’s just what happens. You move a piece of furniture and bam, you hit the wall.
You move back too far in your chair in the dining room and scuff the wall. Your child repeatedly rams his toy car into the wall while playing. It happens! And unfortunately, it’s those spots and dings that you probably end up noticing most. The good news is it’s easy to touch up walls without having to repaint an entire room.
Touch Up Walls – Dealing With Scuffs
A lot of the time, scuffs on the wall can be cleaned away. Here are some things to try before you bring out the paint.
Use a Tennis Ball – Gently rubbing a tennis ball on the scuff can get rid of the mark on the wall.
Wash the Wall – Use a soft cloth with soap and water to try and wipe the scuff off. You could also try making a baking soda solution by mixing 4 tablespoons of baking soda into a quart of water.
Erase the Scuff – You could try using an eraser to erase the mark.
Whatever method you try, be careful to not take the paint away with you. If you do happen to wipe away some of the paint, or can’t quite remove the entire scuff, you could put matching paint in a paint touch up pen and fill in the spot.
How to Use a Paint Pen To Touch Up Walls
For a perfect match when touching up small scuffs, dents and marks on walls, you can use a paint pen. The best way to fill the pen with paint is to do so when you originally paint your walls, or with your original paint.
Most paint pens are airtight meaning the paint you put inside will last for years. Fill the paint pen according to instructions. Once you have the paint right down to the brush you can simply paint over the mark in small, light brush strokes.
To repair and paint over small dents with a paint pen or paint brush, fill the dent with putty so you have a flat surface, even with the rest of the wall and then paint over the putty.
Tip – It’s always a good idea to clean the wall before applying any paint.
Touch Up Walls With Small Holes
You can touch up small holes in the walls without having to repaint the entire space. Here’s how:
- Smooth edges of the hole using a small knife
- Clean around the hole and use a fine sandpaper to sand it down
- Use putty or joint compound to fill the hole.
- Lightly sand again to ensure a smooth finish
- Clean the area with warm soapy water
- Use a small amount of paint to paint over the hole. It’s important you use the same paint. Two or more coats of paint may be needed. Be sure to let each coat dry before applying more.
How to Touch Up Walls When You Don’t Have the Original Paint
If you no longer have the paint or paint code on hand, you can still get an almost-perfect match made from a paint store. But, you will have to get a small sample of paint from the wall to take into the store with you. To do this, you will want to remove a small scraping of paint from the wall. Try and take from near the area that needs painting so you can repair and repaint both spots at once.
Use a sharp knife or box cutter to cut a small square that is at least 2 inches by 2 inches. Keep in mind, the larger the sample, the easier it will be for the paint store to match. Once you have cut the square, gently peel the paint sample from the wall. Take it with you to the paint store. A paint professional will be able to get you a colour and sheen match.
Paint touch ups and small repairs are usually fairly simple. But, if you need help matching paint or find you are not able to do a perfect repair or touch up, give us a call. Home Painters Toronto is a leading painting company in Toronto and provides expert service and painting to our clients.
