Instructions for painting wooden furniture

Painting wooden furniture - easy instructions for painting dish, corner and display cabinets

A corner cabinet or glass display cabinet is a great chalk-painting project

If you’re thinking about painting a piece of furniture, you’ll find useful instructions and tips here. Choose Frenchic paint for your project and benefit from its great qualities, such as fast drying time, a beautifully smooth finish, and built-in protective ingredients. Plus, our range of beautiful, soft, powdery shades. 

Wooden corner cabinets are a bit like the wallflowers of the home - sturdy, made of solid wood and durable, but a little lacking in color for today’s interiors.

Try turning a boring cabinet into a cheerful splash of color and a source of pride in your home!

You can try out different painting techniques and personalize the cabinet with wallpaper, stenciled designs, metallic shades, various tassels and other decorations, or even lights!

Read our customers’ experiences and feedback about the Frenchic range here too.

First, prepare the cabinet for painting and wash it with Sugar Soap or a similar furniture cleaner.

• Cleaning: You’ll be surprised how stubborn dirt and grease come off a surface that looks clean. Wipe away any cleaning product residue with a clean cloth, then inspect the clean surface.
• Filling: Do you want to fill the scratches and dents, or leave them to highlight the furniture’s age and history?
• Scuffing: Lightly scuff the surface with a sanding pad and wipe away the sanding dust.
• Taping: Remove the shelves and knobs, and tape off any glass edges.
• Painting: Apply the first coat in a neutral shade if you’ve chosen a light finish color and the base is dark or reddish.

The first coat isn’t meant to provide full coverage or look perfect

What finish color did you choose? Is your cabinet dark brown, and do you now want to paint it white or a light shade? When there’s a big difference between the base color and the chosen shade, you may need several coats. If you chose a dark shade, you can paint directly over the dark base. 

Apply at least two coats of thoroughly stirred paint to a dry, clean surface. 

Here’s a great tip that saves time and paint:

Apply the first coat in gray - it tones down dark and reddish shades, so you’ll need fewer white/light coats. This also applies to pine furniture with almost black knots. A good gray base shade is, for example, the light gray Swankypants or the medium-dark City Slicker. 

Did you make sure to stir the paint thoroughly?

• Let each coat dry according to the instructions, for at least two hours before applying the next.
• The number of coats depends on the painting technique you choose and the base color of the furniture.
• For an even, smooth finish, you’ll need at least two coats.
• Assess the shade only after two coats, once dry.

Decorate and finish boldly

Attach colorful wallpaper or thin fabric to the cabinet’s back panel with Finishing Coat, and highlight beautiful details, decorations, handles, or legs with Frensheen metallic pigment shades.

Finishing Coat dries clear and is easy to apply with a sponge. You can also apply thin coats over the wallpaper to protect the paper surface.

Perhaps you’d like to try colored wax over the wallpaper?

Brown wax gives the surface an aged, patinated look.

Remove the tape immediately after painting so the edges stay crisp

At this stage, it’s a good idea to check for any areas that need touch-ups - inspect the furniture from all sides and think about where you’ll place it: will the back or top be visible? Make any necessary touch-ups. 

If you want to create a Shabby Chic-style finish, lightly sand back the chalk paint around the edges and corners. Finally, wax the furniture.

Add battery-powered LED lights to the cabinet and hang a pretty tassel or another decoration from the key!

Remember to take before and after photos!

You can share them in the official Frenchic Facebook group. Join here!

What supplies do you need to paint a china cabinet or another piece of furniture?

• A cleaning product, e.g. Sugar Soap and a rough cleaning sponge.

• A sanding sponge or sandpaper for roughening the surface

• A gray shade for a base coat, if painting from dark to light

• A high-quality chalk paint shade of your choice for painting furniture, for example from the Trim Paint, Lazy Range or Al Fresco ranges

• Finishing Coat, if you’re attaching wallpaper or fabric inside a drawer or to the back panel of a piece of furniture.

• A kitchen sponge for applying Finishing Coat

• A Frensheen metallic shade, if you’re painting fun gold legs on a cabinet

• A piece of wallpaper, if you want to attach it to the back panel of the furniture or the inside bottom of drawers

• Wax, if you sand back the chalk paint surface to create a distressed look.

• A high-quality brush, such as an oval brush in size M

• Battery-powered lights and a decoration for the key

• Protective paper to place under the furniture to protect the floor

• High-quality tape for masking glass and edges

• Screwdriver, if removing knobs, handles, etc.

• Protective gloves (and glasses), painting clothes

• Paint mixing sticks

• Clean water for washing and wiping