Part of the price of my constant furniture rearranging and thrift store transforming is that I always manage to ding up the walls when I’m moving things around. Always. Between myself and my three-year old son, our walls have lots and lots of scuffs and dings. And my husband can always find a new scuff on the wall as soon as he walks in the door after work. Always.
Don’t you hate that? Scuffs and marks on our walls and trim make our homes look worn, used, and abused. What’s worse is that I put off touching up my paint for as long as I can, and then I either forget the places that needed to be touched up or spend too much time having to touch up all of my marks. I know I’m not alone in that, right?
Recently, I had an idea: instead of saving all of those marks and dings to touch up once a year (’cause lets be honest, it didn’t happen much more often than that), why don’t I touch them up as they occur? Since we all tend to start overlooking flaws after just a few days, touching up problem areas as soon as we see them will help keep our interiors looking freshly painted.
Touching up paint is really a quick and easy process when you take a few simple preparations and have your tools ready in advance. Follow these quick steps today so that you can be ready for what life throws at your walls tomorrow!
1. Gather a few small lidded glass jars, such as baby food jars. If you don’t have an infant at home, check Craigslist or Freecycle for people in your area giving away these types of jars for free. Or if you don’t mind spending a few dollars, buy a couple of baby food jars at the grocery store and empty the contents. Regardless of how you obtain your jars, make sure they are washed and dried. You will need one for each paint color on your walls.
2. Fill each jar about 2/3 full of left over paint from your original paint can. If your paint is more than a few years old, you should have a new can mixed (you can take it to a home improvement store to have a paint match if you don’t know the name of the color). To make filling the jars a lot less messy, use a small plastic cup, such as a disposable bathroom cup, to dip into the can and then pour it into the jar.
3. Close the lids tightly on the jars and label with the name of the room (or location) where you have used that paint. Keep jars in an easily accessible location, along with a collection of 1″ foam brushes.
Now, whenever you scuff the wall or ding the trim…
…just take a few minutes to grab your coordinating jar of paint and a foam brush, give the jar a good shake to mix up the paint, and take care of the touch up immediately!
When you are finished with your touch up, close the jar and wash out the foam brush (or if you are like me, throw it out because they cost about 40 cents each). Within minutes, your paint will be as good as new…and your husband will never know you scuffed the wall!
Dawn says
Great tips! I always keep a quart of paint on hand in the colors that I use, just in case.
Hugs from Eventually Cottage!
Emily@remodelingthislife says
Great idea! I have dings and scuffs all over my walls!
Kelly B says
What an obvious idea that I did not think of!! You are too awesome!! 🙂 Thank you! I have 5 kids and my walls are crazy scuffed and I hate dragging out all of the big gallons of paint, so I never do it. This will totally work!! 🙂
Kim @ Everything Etsy says
That’s great! And I love those foam brushes!!! I’ve been using them for years on everything I do. I don’t clean brushes!
~Kim
Songbirdtiff says
GREAT tip. I wouldn’t have thought of this, but it would be so much easier than getting out the whole gallon and mixing it all up. I’m terrible about dings and holes from hanging stuff. I usually manage to patch the holes, but it takes me a while to actually paint over them.
A Touch of Country says
Great tip! I use q-tips for paint touch ups. That way I don’t go beyond the mark because for some odd reason you can always tell, then I just throw the q-tip away.
Living With Lindsay says
Ooooohh, I LOVE that q-tip idea! That’s great! I’ll have to try it.
marty (A Stroll Thru Life) says
I love the small jar idea, so much better than trying to use the big paint can. Thanks. Hugs, Marty
Kathie @ Just a Happy Housewife says
Excellent idea!
the BLAH BLAH BLAHger says
LOVE it!!!
Amanda @ Serenity Now says
Good tip!!! This would save my marriage. 😉 😉
Mandi @ Finding Home says
You are definatly not alone. I’m sooooo doing this. I have more scuffs and dings than I know what to do with. Well, now I know what to do with them. Thanks!!
Rachel@oneprettything.com says
YAY! Just this weekend I lugged out the gallon to touch up a windowsill. I can’t wait to try this. I’ll be linking as well.
C. Beth says
What a great idea, Lindsay! My paint is in terrible condition–embarrassing, since our house is only a year and a half old. I need to go through and just do a ton of touch-ups. I love the idea of keeping easily-“openable” paint jars in a convenient place.
Chrissie Grace says
This is a GREAT tip. I just got done painting 3 bedrooms and a hallway, have a bathroom to go. I will be doing this before I put everything away.
Thanks!!
Kendra says
Love it Lindsay. Your blog is so full of great ideas. Thanks for sharing.
If I could find my glue gun, I could make some tassels!
Ashley @ Domestic Fashionista says
This is perfect! Thank you!
Shannon says
This is SUCH a great idea. I just painted several rooms in our house that I definitely need to make touch-up bottles for like you have – thanks!!
Controlling My Chaos says
What a great idea. I'm not too proud to admit that I don't even touch up once a year. I PLAN to, but it just never happens. Thanks for the great idea.
Jen says
Great idea! Thanks!
Anonymous says
Nice idea, but it does not always work, paint fades over sime, espechialy if sun light shines on it, so if you touch up the paint and it is to old, you will see the difference fairly fast.
Lacey C says
Thank You!!! I just did this!! It is such a great idea!!