My dog chewed my skirting boards — this is exactly how I fixed them for £5 in under 30 minutes, and you'd never know

I'll be honest, in the grand scheme of things in my house, my skirting boards don't get much of my attention. However, the same cannot be said for my dog, Blossom, when she was going through her teething phase.

While much of my furniture escaped unscathed from her toothy interest, that was not the case for the skirting boards in my kitchen, and for months, my eyes have zeroed in on those chewed and scratched corners whenever I step into the room. Now she's out of the shark phase, I can finally get my skirting boards looking as good as new again.

I didn't want to invest in new skirting or spend hours doing anything too intensive (I'm all for an easy DIY project). Thankfully, this kind of thing is well within the capabilities of a DIYer, and all in all, it took me about 20 mins (plus drying time) and cost me around £10. This is how I did it.

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1. Give the skirting boards a sand and clean

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There were a few minor dents and scratches on the skirting boards as a result of daily life that could have been masked with a fresh coat of paint. However, there were two external corners of skirting where Blossom had gone to town and chewed the entire corner off.

So first off, I gave these areas a quick sand and wipe down to remove any sharp bits and dusty debris. Fair warning though, even though I vacuum round the skirting boards at least once a week, cleaning the chewed areas just highlighted how grubby the whole lot was looking. And I couldn't not pull on that thread, so ended up cleaning the skirting boards in the whole room before I started fixing the chewed parts.

Blossom

2. Build up bulk with wood filler

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Next up, I had some white wood filler (Ronseal Multi-Purpose Wood Filler in White, £5.19 from Amazon) and used my finger to apply it to the areas I wanted to build up. I found it best to do this in layers because of the paste consistency, otherwise, you end up pulling off the filler as you apply it. I did try using a palette knife to apply it, but found that the filler stuck more to the knife than my finger.

I'd read that if you struggle to get your wood filler to stick on the base layer, you could add a bit of glue first to create a tackier surface for it to stick to, but I personally found I didn't need this step.

I didn't try to be neat either. I found that the more I tried to smooth out the filler at this stage, the more it was sticking to my fingers rather than the skirting board.

By the time I was done, it has taken about four gnarly layers to build up the right amount of wood filler, which took a couple of minutes at a time to apply and I let it dry for a couple of hours in between each layer.

3. Sand it down

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Once the wood filler was dry, I sanded the wood filler with 120 grit sandpaper so that it was flush with the main part of the skirting boards, making sure to only sand in one direction to preserve the integrity of the wood filler.

Doing this did highlight the need for some more filler at certain points (although this second round of filler was much easier to smooth on).

This was the most time consuming part, taking me about 20 minutes in total. I'd borrowed a hand sanding tool from my mum, similar to this £12.60 hand sander from B&Q, which I think helped ensure a flush and smooth finish. It was also a dusty process, so I made sure to wear a mask, eye protection and have a vacuum handy.

My skirting boards are simple in design, with just a single groove about an inch down from the top. This was lost after the filler was applied, but was incredibly easy to get back. I simply folded a piece of sandpaper in half, and used that folded edge to run along the existing groove, again going in a single direction rather than back and forth, to re-establish it in the filler. This would be relatively easy to recreate on a more decorative skirting board design using a similar technique.

4. Paint the skirting boards

Although my skirting boards are white, and I used white wood filler, the colours aren't an exact match, so I needed to give the skirting boards a coat of paint. When it comes to the type of paint to use on skirting boards, I had some leftover Dulux Brilliant White that I'd used on the walls and skirting when I last decorated.

My verdict on the results

Considering the state of the skirting boards before, I am thrilled with the results. I wasn't sure I'd get them looking remotely normal again, especially on a tight budget.

Sure, if you got really close, you might still see some imperfections, but I get a sense of pride out of seeing them — I look at them and think, hey I fixed that and that means more to me than a perfect skirting board. Seeing as I already had some sandpaper lying around, it only cost me about £5 to do too!