Fix Dried Drips, Runs, and Ceiling Splatter Without Repainting the Room

The Problem

A drip you didn't notice while the paint was wet has hardened into a ridge on a finished wall. Sanding it flat leaves a dull, thin patch; brushing more paint over it leaves a bump with fresh paint on top. The instinct is to live with it or repaint the whole wall, and neither is necessary.

For the record on causes: drips and runs come from too much paint on the roller or brush, and streaks come from too little. Both are loading problems.

The Technique

Dried drips and runs

1. Shave off the bulk of the drip with a razor blade held nearly flat to the wall — take the ridge down, not the surrounding paint.
2. Sand the area even, starting around 110 grit and working up to 220 as the surface flattens. Stop when your hand can't feel the transition.
3. Wipe the dust away with a damp sponge and let it dry completely.
4. Brush a light coat of paint over the repaired spot. Let it dry.
5. Brush a second coat, then work the edges outward with a nearly dry brush to feather them into the surrounding paint.
6. Once that's dry, brush a third coat across a broad section of the wall — well past the repair — so the patch blends into the field instead of sitting in the middle of it.

The third coat is the step most people skip, and it's the one that makes the repair invisible.

Paint on the ceiling

Caught while wet, it wipes off with a damp rag. Once dry, touch it out with ceiling paint and a small brush. Ceiling paint's ultra-flat finish is doing double duty here — it hides the touch-up as well as it hides ceiling imperfections.

Blotchy, uneven color

More coats won't fix this one. Blotchiness usually means the surface was never properly primed, and the cure is to go back to the beginning: prime the wall, then repaint.