The Best 7 Steps For How To Touch Up Wall Paint With Painting Tips

You Don’t Have To Hire A Painter Or Redo An Entire Room In Your San Diego County Home Because Of A Spot Or Two

We love your DIY attitude! Being able to touch up wall paint without hiring a painter is a great skill to have.

In this post, you’ll find our 7 steps for fixing blemishes in wall paint. You’ll also find some handy tips that can help you get the result you’re looking for.

That Didn’t Sound Good…

“Of course it didn’t, the table just scraped the wall paint,” sighs David.

Michelle sucks her teeth. “And I thought we were doing such a great job rearranging. Oh well, guess we’ll need to fix that now.”

David pauses. “How? I don’t know about you but I don’t know how to paint a wall, much less how to touch up wall paint.” Michelle shrugs. “Me either, but I’m sure we can Google it and find out. Let’s just do it right now.”

She picks up her phone and starts Googling. “Here we go, a local painter in San Diego County has a blog post with steps and tips. Come take a look.”

Here’s what the couple discovers:

How To Touch Up Wall Paint In 7 Steps

Prepare the area for painting
Clean your walls
Repair any damages
Sand the surface with 120-grit sandpaper
Clean any dust off of the area
Prime
Touch up wall paint

Painting Tips And More For These Steps

The paint. For the best job, you’ll want the same brand, color, and sheen. If you can’t find the same paint you can always use the same color and sheen.

Preparation. Proper preparation will help. This includes having a cloth on hand to wipe up any paint dribbles. You might also want to use drop cloths or painter’s tape to mark off areas you don’t want the paint to get on.

Cleaning a painted wall before touching up the paint

Cleaning. We find the best wall cleaner is a mixture of warm water and TSP (trisodium phosphate). It gets the dirt and oils off your walls. This helps the paint bond more strongly to the wall.

Damages. You may want to fix any wall damages like water damage, holes, and dings. Painting over them allows the damage to get worse. Damages can also make the paint crack and peel faster. You can fix most damages with some spackle and a putty knife.

Sanding. Sanding gives the wall some texture again. This helps the paint stick better and last longer.

Priming. Prepare the spots that need touching up with some primer. This is where you’ll want to turn on a fan or open some windows for ventilation.

Painting. Finally, touch up your wall paint. We find it best to use a brush and the right amount of paint, and less is more here. Lightly brush the paint on, starting in the middle of the area and feathering out. This means painting more lightly as you get closer to the edges.

It’s a good idea to check it during different times of the day with sunlight and artificial light at multiple angles. This way you can see how it looks at different times.