Painting Tips for Touching Up

Touching up paint is something we all need to do from time to time. You may have moved a picture frame, some furniture or your three-year old drove his tractor into the wall. Regardless of the cause, you likely want to spackle any holes or dents, and then repaint the section. This post gives some simple tips to achieving good results.

The first thing you should do is set your expectations properly. No matter what you do you will proably always be able to see where you touched up. The eye can detect the slightest difference on a large wall surface. However, following these steps will make it much harder to see.

The challenge with touching up is making it blend right in. If you have your original wall paint then you are in luck. Otherwise you'll be heading to the paint store to get your color matched.

There are three things you need to consider: the wall texture, the paint color and the paint finish.

Wall Texture:
When repairing any damage to the wall surface, you need to be careful to match the surrounding texture. Many people make the mistake of repairing a spot so well that it is much smoother than the rest of the wall. This creates a shiny spot that will stand out, something you probably don't want. For example, you may want to use a medium grade sandpaper (such as 80-grit) rather than a very fine grit.

Paint Color:
If you have the original paint, then use it unless the paint is too old or the color on the wall has faded. If the wall gets a lot of direct sunlight, then the color on the wall may be very different than the paint in the original can. If this is the case, or if you no longer have the original paint, then you will need to buy more paint.

The best thing to do is to bring a piece of the wall into the paint store and have it computer color matched. If you just did a repair, then you may have a piece. Benjamin Moore paint stores typically have high-end spectrophotometers and expert staff that knows how to use it. Moreover, they'll have the skill to make any minor adjustments to the color in order to get it just right.

If you don't have a piece of wall you can bring in, then go into a closet (or other hidden area) and with a razor knife, cut a 1" square about 1/8" into the wall board. Peel the square piece of wallboard paper off and bring this to the paint store. Then you can easily repair this spot later.

Paint Finish:
You need to know the correct finish of the paint: flat, matte, eggshell, etc... You should also stick with same brand and finish of the paint you originally used. The flat finish from one paint company will not necessarily match the paint finish from another paint company.

Painting:
The trick here is to paint an area larger than the actual area that needs touching up. You want to diffuse the paint so that the painted area gradually changes to the non-painted area. For example, if you were to paint a crisp circle right on the damaged spot, then you would likely see it quite clearly. On the other hand, if you painted the damaged spot and then spread the paint away from that spot, then it would be much harder to see.

If you either cannot accurately match your paint color, or you no longer know the original finish of the paint, then you may need to paint the entire wall corner to corner. Even if your color is slightly different, chances are you would not know it as long as you paint the whole wall surface. The same color looks different on each of your walls anyway, so if one wall is a slightly different color you wouldn't know it. But if that different color were painted only on a section of a wall, then you would.

Happy painting!