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With the entire patch covered with joint compound, begin improving the finished appearance.

Take some time and finesse the surface texture to match the existing wall.

If the texture of the patch doesn't match the texture of the rest of the wall, it will stand out as plain as it would if you painted it the wrong color.

This type of texture requires short, curved strokes with the putty knife.

Imperfections in your texture-matching will be most apparent in areas which are brightly lit.

If the texture looks a little too sharp, gently glide over the sharp points with a pad of wet paper towels.

Let the joint compound dry. This will take 4-6 hours.

The seam between the patch and the wall may still be visible due to the compound shrinking as it dries.

Add more joint compound to the seam areas which are still discernable.

It can actually be really hard to tell if the patch is going to be obvious until you paint it.

Once the joint compound is dry, paint it with the same color paint as the wall. Ideally you'll have some of this in your garage, otherwise buy a small amount of color-matched paint and brush it on.

Voila! You are finished! Beautiful work.

If the texture doesn't match satisfactorily, add joint compound or spackle on top of the painted surface or sand it down smoother and re-paint.