Painting over varnished wood?

skysky69

We have a lovely nice staircase all with spindles etc, but it is currently varnished in a quite dark varnish. I want to paint it white, can I paint over the varnish?

TheOne

Don't quote me on this, but I believe you can do this: Sand down the varnish a bit with a medium - coarse sandpaper, then I think you can use something like aluminium wood primer, followed by an undercoat and finish (ie. gloss / satin)

d3eep

I had this in my house. I gave it a light sand and then painted on top with a matt white colour 3 - 4 times. Though if you scratch the surface the dark colour underneath will show. I've read painting the surface with a glossy white paint will make it more durable and if you want a matt white finish you can paint on top of the glossy white paint. Ever way I would definitely recommend using a glossy paint.

misgrace

d3eep wrote: »

I Though if you scratch the surface the dark colour underneath will show.

That is very true, what you have to do is rub it down and get the shine of it, you could use wet&dry, it wont scratch as much.
You then would have to undercoat it at least two-three times to get rid of the brown, then finish with a top coat or two of satinwood, which is not as shiny.

I have just done this to my spindles and bannister approx 3 months ago, and so far no paint has come off or any of the darkwood grinning through, but I used oil base all the way.