Moving out of rented flat

Lilith1980

Hi all, not sure if this is the best place to post but my DH and I are moving out of our current rented flat at the beginning of August and are trying to tidy it up and get it back to its "original" state, whatever that was!

DH had lived there before I moved in and had hung pictures on the walls in the living room by basically hammering in screws by the look of things :eek: D.I.Y not his strong point :rolleyes:

He reckons we'll need to fill the holes in with polyfiller, smooth the "fillings" down with sandpaper and repaint the walls, but I guess this will basically mean repainting all the walls in the living room to ensure they have to be kept the same colour. This seems like such a lot of work to ensure we get our deposit back....I just wondered if anyone knew of another way to sort the holes out without having to effectively redecorate the whole living room. I don't mind doing it if we HAVE to, but not unnecessarily :rolleyes:

Thanks

Ebe_Scrooge

Filling and sanding the holes is really the only way to do the job. And you're right, to do a proper job you'd have to paint the whole wall over.

However, it's usually possible to do a reasonable "botch job" for something small like covering holes. What you need is to get a small tin of paint that's as near as you can get it the same colour as what's already there - very slightly darker if possible. Then get a small tin of white paint as well. Then get an suitable mixing pot - an old baked bean can, washed thoroughly, it ideal.

Put in a spoonful of the coloured paint, then add a tiny dribble of the white paint, mix it well, and paint it onto a piece of white card. Wait for it to dry - this is very important, as the colour will change as it dries. Then hold the card against the wall to see if it matches ( meanwhile, keep your tin of mixed paint covered with some cling film ).

If it's too dark, add another dribble of white paint and do the same again. If you've already added too much white and it's too light, then chuck away the mix you've just made and start again.

Finally, when you think you've got the right colour, paint a tiny patch onto the wall, somewhere hidden away in the corner, wait for it to dry and check again.

When you're happy that it's right, go over the holes.

A few provisos here - firstly, make sure the paint you're using ( both coloured and white ) is the same as what's already there - gloss, eggshell, matt, whatever.
Wait for each test to dry before deciding if it's right or not.
Keep stirring the mix, as it will tend to separate.
Finally, you're never going to get a perfect match, but hopefully it'll be near enough that you can barely notice unless you really look close.

It's a bit of a fiddle, but probably easier and certainly cheaper than painting the whole wall.

Lilith1980

Thanks for that - we wouldn't have to buy the paint as someone my DH works with has a huge tub of white paint and rollers we can use.

The method you have described sounds good although I think it's going to have to be a case of painting all the walls again. I just remembered on some walls there is a mark where the pictures once hung as the sunlight has changed the colour of the paint as it comes through into the living room of a morning

AdrianW2

I filled and painted a large chip in one of my walls. Conveniently the inventory specified the paint brand and colour, so I just bought a tester pot of that colour (despite all the warnings saying not to) and feathered the edges with a damp cloth. It looked far too bright for the first week or so but then I couldn't tell where it was.

As it happens my landlord decided to redecorate anyway once I'd left and so didn't care what state the paint was in.