How to prep already stained and varnished crown molding for painting white?

My wife and I are about to buy a house with crown and chair rail in every room. Unfortunately, some of the rooms already have white crown/chair/baseboard, but others have stained wood with a varnish. We'd like to paint the natural colored rooms white to match the rest of the house and to lighten up the rooms. Suggestions on how to prep the crown/chair/baseboards? What type of paint to use?





Thanks!How to prep already stained and varnished crown molding for painting white?
I would scuff up the stained molding using scotchbrite and then paint with a good latex enamel. However I must add I am very old school and I think you are messing up painting the moldings! To me stained and varnished trim is much more classy than painted.How to prep already stained and varnished crown molding for painting white?
Use oil base satin or gloss paint. Just clean the surface free of dust and buff it with very fine #2000 steel wool if there are rough surfaces that need smoothing out. Since you are painting white, you should do the first coat (primer) with KILZ to be sure that the dark stain colors never migrate up through the white paint. Once you primer with KILZ, you can paint with a flat, satin or gloss.
Go to Home Depot and ask this question and then get the best Behr brand paint they have for the application. You will have to degloss the surface and possibly use a primer. Me personally, I would strip the white moldings and re do them instead. Painted moldings have no where near the beauty of the wood grain artwork


that nature made. I have used all kinds of paint in my life and Behr is absolutely the best and easiest to use. If you use poor quality paint you'll get what you pay for(probably less of the important pigments and a lot more water and whole lot more headaches). Good luck.