Painting a shed

[SoftFroggie]

Old rough wooden shed. Some currently painted, some not.
All needs a nice new lick of paint.
What do I need to do?
Rubbing down? primer? undercoat? how many coats of topcoat?
fairly grotty old shed, so don't want to go over the top, but if a jobs worth doing ... and all that.
Here's hoping someone here knows.
Thanks.

i would just use a coloured woodstain.

bits that are already painted should be rubbed down ideally... if not the paint will flake off.

how about a new shed?

Thanks starlover - would a coloured woodstain be any good on the painted bits?
It's not so bad as worth replacing. But it needs tarting up a bit so DH doesn't get rid of it before I get my ducks / chickens / goats to live in it.

I wrote: "what do I need to do?" what I should have written is "what do I need to pay 16yr old lad next door to do during the summer holidays?"

hahaha... no, woodstain won't work on painted surfaces... unless you sand it right down to bare wood.

or rather.. unless said 16 yr old sands it right down

bump for anyone who knows how to paint the thing...
or I won't have any work for the lad to do when he comes round after exams are finished, which must be pretty soon.

If it's painted, sand it down, buy some cheap exterior gloss/eggshell and paint it. You will need to prime any bare wood. Is it painted with ordinary paint or does it look like shed preservative type stuff?

Might want to check on suitability of paints if animals are going to live in it, they could chew on the wood, don't want them ingesting something they shouldn't.

Looks like ordinary paint.
So - prime bare wood,
rub dpwn painted areas
1 or 2 coats cheap exterior paint.

Sounds straightforward.
Doesn't matter too much if goes wrong

Animals are currently potential and may not become real for a year or two. They'll be IN the shed, and we're painting the outside, so I would have thought they'd be OK.

Many thanks all.