Paint recommendations for exterior woodwork please?

[thetigerwhocametoteax]

We have all hardwood window frames which are in good nick other than the old varnish starting to peel. They are mahogany stained and varnished at the moment but I was hoping to paint them cream. I was wondering whether anyone had any recommendation for good exterior wood paint? Also any advice whether I need to completely remove all varnish (please god no....) or just give them a good clean and sand off the flakey bits. Getting myself very confused about primers, undercoats, gloss etc. We are South facing and live in a very exposed (read windy and rainy) location. Any advice very gratefully received!

Just sitting down with a coffee before I go out to sand my (flaking) windows, so this post caught my eye!

Ours are painted white, and I have been using Sadolin Supadec (think that's how it's spelt). I've tried conventional undercoat and gloss, which seems to work better on the windows which are more shaded. Where the windows are in full sun, the Supadec has been better and hasn't cracked or flaked.

I'm not sure if they do cream .. but it might be worth going to a proper trade paint supplier (Cane Adam, Brewers etc) to get some advice.

Unfortunately, I think whatever you use you will have to rub down the old windows thoroughly to start with.

Thanks, have just looked at Superdec, but actually Sandolin seem to make another exterior wood paint called Woodshield that needs less prep and no undercoating - sounds good to me! Anyone used it?

Bedec do a multi surface paint in lots of colours and also have gloss, satin and matt finishes. You could call them to check you could paint over the existing finish. They also send out colour / finish swatches and are very helpful.

www.bedec.co.uk/