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How To Paint Furniture From Target

By Rachel

published 06/23/2022

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Last Updated on March 12, 2024 by Rachel Granholm

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. This cabinet still proves to be super useful in our home now but I am over the teal, so I gave it an upgrade. Follow along as I transform this piece and learn how to paint furniture from Target!

Supplies and Materials Needed- How to Paint Furniture from Target

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

FAQ’s on Painting Furniture

1. What Kind of Paint Do You Use on Furniture?

For this project, I used your regular indoor paint from the hardware store in a satin finish. You can also opt to use eggshell or semi-gloss. However, satin is more durable than the later two and, since this piece of furniture is used a lot, that was the way to go.

2. Can I Paint Furniture Without Sanding It?

You can, yes, but that’s going to lead to more work down the road. In my opinion, it’s better to do all of the prep work up front, like sanding, so that your furniture will last longer without having to go back and re-paint. Also, depending on the wood or finish of the piece, the paint may not stick to it without sanding.

Shop Cabinet Knobs

How To Paint Furniture From Target

Here is the before look of the cabinet. There is nothing really wrong with it 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.

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.

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 using a primer paint first would have been smart 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 four 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 four coats of paint!

Step 4: Tape Off the Glass.

Because the grids were not remove-able, 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 received four 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.

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.

Be encouraged to find hope and potential in the little things and turn it into something beautiful.

Leave me a comment! Is this a project that you would like to tackle? I love hearing from you!

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