Painting pine.. advice please?

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

This is probably going to sound like I'm a moron or something but I would like someone to tell me how I go about painting my children's beds.

They are solid, unfinished pine. They were bunk beds but my Dad made them into singles for me and when the boys were younger they scribbled on them. Now they are older and better behaved I would like to paint them to not only cover the pen marks but just to generally make them look nicer.

Do I have to sand them first?
Do I have to use a base coat/primer?
What sort of pain do I use?
Do I need a finishing coat of anything?

Also is there anything else I should know?

TIA

i would give them a quick sand first yes, that will help key the surface so that the paint sticks well
use a primer so that your actual paint doesn't just soak into the wood and also so that you get a nice even cover with your proper paint.

Sorry, no advice to give but can I ask if anyone has any success varnishing pine?

i always varnish pine - prefer it to paint, just rub down and off you go

Well, that sounds easy enough! Will give it a go, thanks.

I was going to varnish but I'm on a bit of a 'new life' kick now we have escaped ex, I promised my boys they could choose what went in their room. I can'r afford new beds so said they could choose what colour I paint the old ones and DS2 just has to have a green bed he tells me! DS1 is between 'Fire Engine Red' and 'Thomas Blue.'

I am hoping to move before the end of the year so I'm getting all these things done so it is all a little bit 'new' for when we do move.

you will need to prime bare pine but then can paint it. make sure you do thin coats and use a nice brush, do you want a glossy finish?

it's expensive, but plastikote spray paints give an excellent hardwearing and smooth cover.