Interior wood stained brown. Help!

[MrsExpo]

All the interior wood in my house is stained a sort of mid brown colour. Doors, skirtings, bannisters the lot!! I’m at a loss to know how to make it look better. Have been advised that painting it wouldn’t really work as the brown colour would start to come through, and replacing it all would cost a fortune (biggish 4 bed detached). Any ideas how to make it look nicer without replacing everything please. Many thanks.

Zinsser bulls eye primer followed by two or three coats of paint. Zinsser also do allclad which is primer and paint all in one, it’s great on doors etc but it has chipped on window cills.

Next time I will rub down more.

@fairislecable ... thanks for the recommendation. I'll look it up. Happy to paint the doors and could then probably live with the brown skirtings etc.

I second the recommendation for Zinsser primer before painting. It is thick and it blocks any stain coming through.

The Zinsser recommended, the shellac based one, is brilliant. I've used it to change a darked stained and varnished fire surround to one painted to match kitchen units and on woodgrained cupboard doors. It's worth every penny and I didn't sand either.