How to Erase Picture-Hanger Holes Instantly with Toothpaste

If you have small holes in a wall – say, from the nails where a painting used to hang – there’s a simple, cheap, DIY way to fix nail holes in a wall with toothpaste.

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This method is easy and quick. It involves a toothpick or cotton swab, a straight edge of some sort – and white toothpaste.

Why not just caulk, sand and paint?

The “real” way to fix a hole in the wall is to shoot some caulk or spackling into the hole, let it dry, sand it with fine sandpaper to make it flush with the wall, and then paint over it if needed.

You may be wondering, why not do this method? It’s not all that difficult. That’s true, but do you have caulk and sandpaper? Do you know how to use them?

The method we show you here is something many of us can do with just what we have on hand. It’s true that caulk will last longer than toothpaste, but unless you stick another nail into the toothpaste, it will keep that hole filled for a very long time, and be very unnoticeable.

So if you’re in a hurry, or you can’t just go buy some spackle, sandpaper and paint, this is another option that really will work!

How to Fix Small Nail Holes in Walls

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Keep in mind: this will only really work with very small holes. Like the ones left by small nails used to hang pictures or calendars. If you have a sizable hole, you really will need to use a patch to repair your drywall.

If you try to do this with a big hole, sometimes the toothpaste will shrink over time. Then it leaves a small hole or the whole chunk of toothpaste ends up falling out altogether.

Apologies in advance for some of these photos. I’m not a world class photographer, and I was trying to do this with one hand while photographing with the other.

It also would have been great to have a non-white wall, but this was the hole in the wall I had to work with.

Apply the Toothpaste

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Squeeze some white toothpaste onto your toothpick (for really tiny holes), cotton swab (for slightly bigger ones) or directly onto the wall.

I used to put it on the cotton swab but now I prefer putting it right on the hole in the wall.

Push the Toothpaste Into the Hole

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Push the toothpaste into the hole in the wall with your toothpick or cotton swab. Really try to pack it into the hole as best you can.

Spread a little extra toothpaste around the outside of the hole to make sure you don’t have any gaps.

Use a Flat Edge to Remove Excess

Use your flat edge (the back edge of a table knife or ruler will do nicely) to make the toothpaste perfectly flush with the wall.

Let it Dry

The toothpaste will need anywhere from 1 to several hours to dry, depending on brand and ingredients.

Color the Wall

Fix the color to match the wall. This is where you get creative.

Matching the Color

If your walls are white, then at this point the hole should be invisible. But chances are, your walls aren’t white.

So now what do you do? It’s simple – you need to apply some kind of pigment that’s the same color as the walls.

If you have art supplies on hand, that’s perfect. Because it’s just a small hole, even crayons, markers, or colored pencils in the right shade can do the trick.

But if you don’t have any art supplies, cosmetics are also great for this. Many liquid foundations will cover on a beige or almond wall.

Lipsticks are great for color – even wild colors – and you can buy cheap lipsticks for around $1 at most drugstores (in the US).

Eye shadows can also work well and have a huge range of color. But since eye shadows aren’t liquid, you want to wait until the toothpaste is fairly dry (just a few minutes, typically) and gently pat the eye shadow onto it until you get the desired color.

You can get some very affordable eye shadows on Amazon.

Colored pencils, crayons and other art supplies can also make the color match. Basically, anything that has pigment will work.

Will it last?

I’ve had patches like this last for many years. In fact, I’ve never had one crumble or fall out. It’s possible your mileage might vary depending on the brand of toothpaste you use, but for very small holes, I think this works even in the long term.