This tutorial will walk you through how to paint furniture from Target!
Years ago, before I was into vintage decorating, I purchased a teal colored cabinet from Target. At the time, we lived in a very small apartment so I bought this cabinet to use for storage. I loved the color teal at the time and decorated with it in excess. This cabinet still proves to be super useful in our home now but I am so over the teal, so I gave it an upgrade. Follow along as I transform this piece and learn how to paint furniture from Target!
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Supplies Needed
- screwdriver
- 3/4 inch paint roller
- old rag or towel
- paint tray
- small paintbrush
- electric sander (optional)
- sandpaper
- paint in your chosen color (mine was interior paint from Behr in satin finish)
- new knobs or pulls
- painters tape
How To Paint Furniture From Target
Here is the before look of the cabinet. There is nothing really wrong with the cabinet other than the color. I do like teal but it’s just too loud for my space since my style has evolved over the past few years. I’ve been looking for an antique cabinet for awhile to replace this one but haven’t found one that is just as functional. You see, our cable and internet hook ups are along this wall and there is not an easy way to move them, though I so wish there was. The doors on this one conceal the modems and cable boxes perfectly while still enabling me to decorate on it. I call it my credenza even though it’s clearly not 🙂
Step 1: Remove doors and shelves.
First, I unscrewed the door hinges to remove the doors. It was going to be easier to paint the doors if they were flat on the ground. I also removed the shelves.
Step 2: Sand the cabinet.
I took the cabinet outside and roughed up the surface using an electric sander and 100 grit sandpaper.
I simply went over the surface with the sander to pull up a little bit of the paint. This also helps to get the shiny finish off of the cabinet so that the paint adheres to it.
As you can see in the photo, a fine teal colored powder came off. The sander really did a good job of taking the paint off around the edges which is what I was hoping for.
Here is one of the sides of the cabinet after sanding. That’s about the extent of the sanding that I did! I went over it with a dry rag to remove all of that powder and then used a damp paper towel to get a really clean surface for painting.
Step 3: Paint the cabinet.
I should mention here that I am only painting the shell or outside of the cabinet and the doors. The reason for this is if I painted the whole cabinet, meaning the outside and the inside where the shelves sit, the black boxes from the cable and internet would stick out like a sore thumb against the white. So I’m leaving the middle part teal as well as the shelves that sit inside of the doors. Sounds interesting, right? I think it works! Below is the paint that I chose. I really love the creamy white color of it because it’s neutral enough to decorate around.
Next, I simply poured a small amount of paint in a tray and used a 3/4 inch roller to apply it. I realize I should have used a primer first but there wasn’t any in my house at the time and I didn’t want to make another trip to the store, so it is what it is! There wasn’t an issue with the paint not sticking or being too see through without primer, so if you don’t have primer, it should still work just fine.
I kept applying paint, one coat at a time, until the cabinet looked smooth and finished without any splotches or inconsistency. It took 4 coats of paint total. To get in the crevices and in all of the edges, I used a small craft paintbrush. It worked fabulously!
This is what the outside of the cabinet looked like after 4 coats of paint!
Step 4: Tape off glass.
Because the grids were not removeable, I needed to use painters tape to cover the glass before painting it. This process was a little tedious because I had to make sure the tape was going into every single corner. Luckily it was a beautiful day outside so I didn’t mind!
I kept taping until all of the glass was covered, as seen below. Then, using a screwdriver, I removed the knob.
Step 5: Sand the doors.
To rough up the doors for painting and to remove the shiny surface, I simply hand sanded them with 150 grit sandpaper. I made sure to get along the edges really well as well as along the panes. Again, I used a rag to clean off the dust and then a damp paper towel to prep it for paint.
Step 6: Paint the doors.
To paint the doors, I first started with the small craft paintbrush to get into the crevices of the panes.
Then, using the same 3/4 inch roller, I rolled the top and the sides. Just like the cabinet itself, the doors got 4 coats of paint.
I let the doors dry completely before removing the tape.
Gently, I pulled back all the tape to finish the door! Obviously there are two doors and I repeated this same process on the other one.
Step 7: Attach the new knobs.
I could have used the knobs that came with this cabinet originally but they felt too modern with the new color palette. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up these pretty knobs! They happened to be 40% off that day so I think I paid around $6 for both.
These knobs came with a washer and nut in the back so all I had to do was screw them into the existing hole. Super easy!
Step 8: Reattach doors.
From there, I re-attached the hinges and screwed the doors back onto the cabinet.
Here is the left door back in it’s place!
Step 9: Clean the glass.
I don’t have a picture of this but my husband helped me with this part. As you can see above, there is some paint bleeding onto the glass even though I did my best to tape it all off! He used a small razor blade and scraped off all the areas where there was paint on the glass. This made the doors look so clean and precise!
Step 10: Style and display!
It’s done! After re-attaching the millions of cords to the electronic boxes that you can’t see behind it, I moved the cabinet back in it’s place and started to decorate it.
I love how it turned out. The creamy white on it looks so pretty, especially with all of my vintage decor! The old wooden crate, which holds all of Tilly’s outside items, really pops now against the white, which I adore. I feel like you didn’t even notice the crate before because it was blending in with the dark color.
Having this cabinet white brightens up this whole wall and it’s just gorgeous. The teal that you can still see feels like background noise now and I really don’t notice it at all. It makes my whole living area feel cohesive and all of the areas flow together in a much more practical manner. Also, excuse the shoes…real life over here!
Closing Tidbits On How To Paint Furniture From Target
Re-painting this old cabinet has transformed my living room and it was such a fun project for me to work on…one that I had been waiting to do all winter. I still would like to find an antique wood cabinet for this spot but this will totally do for now. I hope you found encouragement here on how to paint furniture from Target! With a little creativity and a weekend of work, you can turn any old piece from a retail store into something special that fits your style and your home’s aesthetic. May you find hope and potential in the little things and turn it into something beautiful.
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For more furniture painting ideas, tips and tricks, visit Cindy over at Reinvented Delaware! She shares amazing ways of re-purposing and re-painting furniture!
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19 Comments. Leave new
Hi Rachel! This was a great post. Yes, I know exactly what you mean. My style has evolved over the years too. I find that I consistently gravitate toward neutral furniture and use accents for color. (Whereas I used to buy some painted furniture in different colors) And those darn internet and cable hook ups! Ugh! Not decorator friendly. Thanks for sharing an inspiring post. I always love it when we can reuse what we already have on hand.
Thanks, Anna!! I know, right?! Those dang black boxes! I always appreciate your comments, friend!
your cabinet turned out really pretty, Rachel. You went to a lot of work but it now looks like a real antique piece. very mission/craftsman style from the early 1900’s. I love how you left the shelves teal. I love color too, but now in just smaller doses. great job!
Hi Debra!!
Thank you so much! I always appreciate your comments and thanks so much for stopping by today!!
Such a beautiful makeover Rachel! I love how it turned out!
Hi Michele!
Thank you SO much!! I appreciate you stopping by today!!
What a HUGE transformation, Rachel! You did such a great job painting this cabinet. I LOVE the color you chose as well. I’m trying to convince my parents we should paint the interior of my childhood home that same color. It’s really beautiful! Big hugs, CoCo
Hi!
Thank you!! It was such a fun project…thanks so much for stopping by and reading today, CoCo!!
The cabinet turned out great Rachel! It actually makes the room look bigger!
Paula
Thanks mom! It does!
Came out great! I love painting furniture. It’s such a great way to repurpose what you already own.
Thanks Meagan! It is fun and always super rewarding!
I recognize that cabinet!❤️
[…] How To Paint Furniture From Target […]
I’m loving the pop of color on the inside of this cabinet Rachel! You did a great job on this piece! In fact, I wanted others to see it too so I am featuring this post on Tuesday Turn About this week! Hope to see you at the party!
Hi Cindy!
Thank you very much!! I appreciate your lovely comment and the support!! I’ll see you at the party tonight!
[…] until you see what color this Target piece of furniture started out as. The Antiqued journey shares the best tips on how to paint a piece of furniture from […]
Oh Amy! I love this. Okay Swiss Coffee must be a cousin to my fav Mascarpone. Oh I think I am going to regret what I did to my hutch that is now in my office. It went from retailer black, to grey to white and then I painted the glass panes because I painted the interior white and I didn’t like staring at my work paper files etc. Shoot. I may need to paint the interior and scrape the panes! Love the inspo! Thanks Sweetie! laura in Colorado
Thanks so much, Laura!! I’m grateful that you stopped by and found this one helpful! After a few months, I’m still loving how I painted it. It works out wonderfully!