hi there i would appreciate advice on the following

I bought a secondhand solid pine bookcase which has some sort of
varnish on it -a light matt one i think - probably acrylic

it has some scratches on the wood so i am sanding it down to get rid
of those

i would like to either revarnish it or paint it but i am not sure what
to use

if i revarnish it that seems straightforward and will probably take it
remove all the existing varnish just by sanding (i think i need to do
that to get a nice finish - not patchy - do i need to do that?)
i like the look of natural wood with a clear finish (but not sure my
son will prefer that!)

so to make a nice design i think it's better that i paint it instead
- so
if i paint it then really i want to end up with a background colour
for the design say white and then being able to paint a simple kids
design on top - say stenciled alphabet etc

does it matter what i paint over varnish with ?

and what do i paint on top of the base colour with ?

i thought i'd use gloss but then i think the colours to go on top of
that won't work ? ie will bleed or not endure

how do i seal in the design ?

it all must be very durable as it's for a kid's room

i think they are always doing this in those tv programs but i don't
get what paints they use

i remember pva being mentioned - is it something to do with that

thanks for any help
and advice on best shop to go to for this kind of stuff

i am a novice on all this

regards
JD

please reply to group - and not email - as email is just a spam bounce
- sorry to much spam from newsgroups

"JD" wrote in message
om...
hi there i would appreciate advice on the following

I bought a secondhand solid pine bookcase which has some sort of
varnish on it -a light matt one i think - probably acrylic

it has some scratches on the wood so i am sanding it down to get rid
of those

i would like to either revarnish it or paint it but i am not sure what
to use

if i revarnish it that seems straightforward and will probably take it
remove all the existing varnish just by sanding (i think i need to do
that to get a nice finish - not patchy - do i need to do that?)
i like the look of natural wood with a clear finish (but not sure my
son will prefer that!)

so to make a nice design i think it's better that i paint it instead
- so
if i paint it then really i want to end up with a background colour
for the design say white and then being able to paint a simple kids
design on top - say stenciled alphabet etc

does it matter what i paint over varnish with ?

and what do i paint on top of the base colour with ?

i thought i'd use gloss but then i think the colours to go on top of
that won't work ? ie will bleed or not endure

how do i seal in the design ?

it all must be very durable as it's for a kid's room

i think they are always doing this in those tv programs but i don't
get what paints they use

i remember pva being mentioned - is it something to do with that

thanks for any help
and advice on best shop to go to for this kind of stuff

i am a novice on all this

regards
JD

please reply to group - and not email - as email is just a spam bounce
- sorry to much spam from newsgroups

You can get theme transfers for kids, that you'll be able to place over any
bad patches on the unit, then apply a clear varnish over the top to seal
them all in.

In the future, when the little one has grown out of the transfers, you sand
off the seal coat, wet the transfers to peel them off, sand back the unit,
then varnish it again to give you another lease of life out of the same
piece of furniture.

thanks i thought about that but i don't want transfers really

"BigWallop" wrote in message ...
"JD" wrote in message
om...
hi there i would appreciate advice on the following

I bought a secondhand solid pine bookcase which has some sort of
varnish on it -a light matt one i think - probably acrylic

it has some scratches on the wood so i am sanding it down to get rid
of those

i would like to either revarnish it or paint it but i am not sure what
to use

if i revarnish it that seems straightforward and will probably take it
remove all the existing varnish just by sanding (i think i need to do
that to get a nice finish - not patchy - do i need to do that?)
i like the look of natural wood with a clear finish (but not sure my
son will prefer that!)

so to make a nice design i think it's better that i paint it instead
- so
if i paint it then really i want to end up with a background colour
for the design say white and then being able to paint a simple kids
design on top - say stenciled alphabet etc

does it matter what i paint over varnish with ?

and what do i paint on top of the base colour with ?

i thought i'd use gloss but then i think the colours to go on top of
that won't work ? ie will bleed or not endure

how do i seal in the design ?

it all must be very durable as it's for a kid's room

i think they are always doing this in those tv programs but i don't
get what paints they use

i remember pva being mentioned - is it something to do with that

thanks for any help
and advice on best shop to go to for this kind of stuff

i am a novice on all this

regards
JD

please reply to group - and not email - as email is just a spam bounce
- sorry to much spam from newsgroups

You can get theme transfers for kids, that you'll be able to place over any
bad patches on the unit, then apply a clear varnish over the top to seal
them all in.

In the future, when the little one has grown out of the transfers, you sand
off the seal coat, wet the transfers to peel them off, sand back the unit,
then varnish it again to give you another lease of life out of the same
piece of furniture.