Painting over varnish - how much to sand off?

[bluecarrot]

Ive been given a lovely dresser that ooks exactly like this one and its got a few coats of varnish on it. Quite excited about doing it up but....

Should I be sanding all the varnish off, back to bare wood, or just mking the surface rough, priming it, then painting?

When Ive painted anything before its just been paint so needed roughed up a bit. Help!

I thought it was the same as gloss in that you only had to key it a bit with sand paper
if it turns out that you need to strip the whole thing personally I'd have it dipped!

There are loads of threads on this sort of thing in property/DIY. Look for the thread on Annie Sloan paint - no prep required at all. No sanding,no primer etc. it's really good.