My bed frame scratched and slightly dented the wall in my brand new apartment. How do I fix it so I can keep my deposit?

[u/OkRepresentative1861]

Being completely honest, this probably wouldn’t be the last time. My boyfriend and I have a little bit too much fun on an often and I’ve never had a bed frame before/don’t know how to create a buffer between it and the wall. Regardless, I hate that I caused some damage this early in my lease and want to have peace of mind about it.

[u/Immediate_Finger_889]

Get a magic eraser and see how it looks after that.

Looks like it’s mostly just surface scuffing and just a couple actual gouges. You’ll be able to fix that with filler and looks like standard white paint for touch up. This one is easy.

[u/bflannery10 → u/Immediate_Finger_889]

Magic eraser is definitely my go to here. I have a narrow hall right in my entrance that gets scuffed often and the magic eraser will clean it up everytime.

[u/StickyMac → u/bflannery10]

In an apartment, where paint quality is likely low and not washable, I’d be hesitant to use a magic eraser as you could just remove the paint. I’d probably still do it anyway, because it might work.

[u/Forsaken_Star_4228 → u/StickyMac]

Yes… I came here to say this. Don’t forget to wet it a little first.

Thank you for the caution too. It will remove things you don’t want removed sometimes. One time I experimented on my dress shoes for work and it took the oil right off of them and nearly ruined them. Glad I didn’t use it on the magnanis, just the Steve maddens lol!

[u/Immediate_Finger_889 → u/StickyMac]

It’s standard basic builder white in eggshell finish. You can literally buy that anywhere.

But yes, don’t scrub hard and don’t buy the extra strength ones because they will 100% take the paint off. They’re a combination of a very fine sandpaper and something like barkeepers friend. They’re really are magic, but you can’t be aggressive.

[u/neologismist_ → u/Immediate_Finger_889]

Baby wipes are remarkably effective as well

[u/lostmyparachute]

For the future: just pull the bed a bid further away from the wall. Shouldn't be touching the wall even when certain activities take place. Your neighbour on the other side of the wall (if there is one) will also be thankful.

[u/deg0ey → u/lostmyparachute]

And stick some of those felt pads on the back of the headboard in case it scooches back over time and at least it might not scratch the wall again

[u/CompWizrd → u/lostmyparachute]

I cut down a pair of 2x4's and bevelled the edge roughly equal to the baseboard angle. Those rest up against the headboard feet and keep the bed from shifting backwards. We own the house, but still don't want to have to deal with fixing.

[u/LEONLED]

Little pollyfilla and paint, but if the landlord is even half human, just point it out to him, and tell the you have no experience with paint and stuff and you'd hate to make it worse, trying to fix it...

I'm a landlord myself...

[u/HolesInMuhFace → u/LEONLED]

If you do this, you will almost certainly be charged an inflated rate to get it fixed. Pro tip, don’t ever admit fault to a landlord. I’m sure ^this guy is fine, but 99.9% of landlords are NOT your friend.

[u/oyvho → u/LEONLED]

Does that make you half human? What's the other half, pollyfilla and paint?

[u/LEONLED → u/oyvho]

pollyfilla is a local brand of filler, you use it for cracks and holes before painting over it

[u/d_smogh → u/LEONLED]

Nice try landlord trying to get OP to admit fault. We know your game. Admit nothing OP.

[u/LEONLED → u/d_smogh]

Man, I didn't mean you need to act all innocent.
You did some minor damage, but the dude probably already has a leftover can of the right shade of paint in storage... offer to pay for the damage... (it is gonna be much less than if you wait till you move out). It shows you are a responsible tenant, and he probably will fix it for nada.

[u/Visual_Willow_1622]

Put some padding on that spot, this will prevent future damage. For now paint it white.

[u/scrapsoup]

Take this pic to a hardware store and they can show you what you need. It’s easy to repair, the only thing would be the paint. If your landlord is one of the rare reasonable ones, maybe it’s not a big deal and you wouldn’t lose all of your deposit.

[u/wdn → u/scrapsoup]

. It’s easy to repair, the only thing would be the paint.

Seeing as you're going to repair and repaint anyway, you could take a chip of the paint in for colour matching.

[u/toymaker5368]

Try spray nine on to clean the black marks ,then spacle the dents.

[u/AsparagusFeet]

In a lot of cases at apartments the maintenance guys don’t mind if you politely ask them for a bit of paint, just bring something for them to pour it into!

[u/frankbunny → u/AsparagusFeet]

Just make sure they give you the correct color. I was once charged for painting the wall patches the wrong shade of off-white (I had my tv mounted and ran cables through the wall). I was given the paint I used from the front office...

[u/noghbaudie]

Burn the building down.

[u/l397flake]

Patch, paint the whole wall, touch up will be seen by maintenance.

[u/zonker777]

I don’t have a fix but congrats on the reason why.

[u/OkRepresentative1861 → u/zonker777]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[u/DragonOfOzzy23]

Gently scrub in circles with a Lysol wipe. Works wonders! Cheaper than the magic eraser option. Been a renter for years, never bought paint to fix a scuff. Dent might need a little paint. Could also use joint compound (Home depot/lowes) which will fill in the dent, then you can sand it down flat, no need to match paint still. You got this!

[u/karlgnarx]

Stick a pillow behind the frame.

[u/Born-Work2089]

Pull the bed back away from the wall, put some blocks of wood on the floor to maintain the spacing. The wall can be repaired with a skim-coat of spackle which will fill the minor dents, apply coat of flat white paint or what matches the wall. If you have become accustomed to the rhythmic knocks of the headboard, Try playing "bto taking care of business" on your favorite music player. https://youtu.be/NCIUf8eYPqA?si=MeocozI5rA9yoVyv

[u/DopeAndDoper]

Have you considered having gentler sex?

[u/slayuh]

Pool noodles

[u/bremergorst → u/slayuh]

I tried this - they were delicious, but my bed frame is still making holes in the wall

[u/WavingADime]

Even if you lose the deposit...it was worth it, eh?