Painting wood furniture - any advice?

[Anotherbook]

Have some good quality orange pine furniture and have thought about painting it a sort of greyish white in a 'Swedish' style.

Has anyone done this themselves as I'm a bit hesitant as the furniture wasn't cheap.

The wood needs to be rubbed down
Are you thinking about gloss or matt?

Gloss is better wearing, but not always desired effect

Remember to use an undercoat - and probably 2 top coats

There are kits you can buy in DIY stores.

When I restored a dressing table, it needed sanding (a lot), painting and varnishing.

Prep is the most important part. keep sanding till all the orange varnish gone.

Wipe it with a cloth with a bit of white spirit on it in between sandings.

I would prime it first, then paint with a tough eggshell paint. No varnish required.

Had thought eggshell something like this.Any tips on how to get it looking right?

Just worried about getting to the sanding bit and thinking what have I done!

Rub it down a bit (no need to remove all varnish as you'll be covering it up, you just need to create a key for the paint), paint primer coat then thin coat of eggshell in one shade then coat of eggshell in different shde, then lightly sand when dry to reveal lower coat in areas where you would naturally get more use so it looks worn. You could then spray a coat of flat varnish if you didn't want it to naturally wear further. Easy!

Thanks.I wondered how you get a worn rather than flat look.This sounds great