I have an old pine writing desk that I found on the side of the road a few months ago:



(Excuse the tools on it, it's being kept in our garden shed)

It has a kind of bread box sliding curved lid thing which is what the two handles at the top are for. I'm planning on just knocking that out coz I hate it, and I love those little compartments at the back for me to put knick knacks in.

I really really want to paint it white and decoupage some pretty paper on the drawer fronts and the backs of those compartments. But everywhere I go people tell me that I should just stain it a darker colour because it will be too hard to sand it back and paint it white. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it's only a really light coating of stain, you can see the individual brush strokes. It's like the people who did it have just done it lightly to give it a bit of an antique look.

I just really want it to be white because I want to place it in my spare room and the rest of the furniture is white. Plus I think it will look so pretty in white, with the nice paper to give it a bit of colour.

 Can anyone advise me what I should do? Like how to get rid of the existing stain, what type of primer to use etc. Would it be okay to paint it with a semi-gloss spray paint, coz I can tell it's going to be hard to get into the nooks and crannies.

Thanks heaps,

Taylor