touching up paint

[bhnumbers]

Hi! Question about painting... I have a wall that is pretty scuffed up because we used to have our kitchen table beside it and the kids were always scraping the backs of their chairs against it and (somehow?!) food got splattered on it from time to time. We have rearranged and now the kitchen table isn't there anymore and I want to hang different artwork and photos there, but the wall looks absolutely terrible. I still have plenty of that paint color, but do I need to paint the entire wall? Or can I just touch up? And do I need a primer to cover the marks? I've washed the wall pretty well now and that helped, but it still really needs paint. I've just never done this before any BTDT advice for this? 

[darby]

In my experience the touch ups never look the same. Not sure if it’s because of the paint settling, fading on the wall, or operator error, but I usually end up painting the whole wall (or room). You can always try it & see how it goes. Perhaps you will have better luck!

[Susie]

Have you tried a Magic Eraser? Sometimes that gets what mere wiping doesn't.  If you really do need to paint though, I would suggest using a roller not a brush, and doing a lot of the wall.  You don't necessarily need to re-edge if you're using the same color, but I'd go to within a couple inches of the edges with the roller.  That will avoid the "patch" look if you just paint exactly where the scuffs are.  Rolling goes quick, so doing a little extra square footage won't take much extra time at all.  No primer needed.

[InBetweenDays]

If you're going to paint, paint the entire wall. We tried doing touchups in our entry and living room and you can most definitely see the spots. This fall I'm going to slowly make my way around redoing walls that are bad.

I also just did this with DS' room. I puttied and sanded all the spots and then repainted the entire walls with the original colors. I didn't use a primer and it came out just fine. I cut in a bit with a brush (but wasn't too careful getting all the way to the edge since it was the same color) and then used a roller.

[k3am]

How long has it been since you last painted? Does the room get a lot of light? Even if you have the paint existing, the paint on the wall itself could have faded or changed, in which case, touchup likely won't be an option.

Says the lady whose entire house was painted the same color. We color matched the paint, and it's perfect on that wall with no need to paint the entire wall. Other rooms that get more light, the paint color has changed enough that the touch up spots are VERY obvious. Although it's been a couple years and I haven't fixed it yet...