Hi

Am a complete novice to all this so here goes!  I received a painted wooden chest of drawers.

Can someone tell me if I can just paint over the paint that is on there to spruce it up?  

And also if I fancied removing the paint and making it look all lovely in its wooden glory how would I do it???

Thanks

Thanks - think may try the paint job and hope for the best!

You've probably done it by now, but for anyone else following on...

I've used caustic soda for a lot of years. It's VERY dangerous unless you take the necessary precautions to protect yourself by wearing synthetic overalls, rubber gloves, goggles, and have a bottle of clean tap water close to hand - all this because it will attack anything organic, including you, hence the bottle of water to swill it off if you do splash any on your skin - it'll tingle to warn you. It's the stuff they dip furniture in and, yes, that process will loosen glued joints because the joints in old wooden items was organic and made useable by being heated, so the heated stripping process has a go at it in both ways. But this way is far gentler. Applying the caustic soda mix (use the mix recommended on the tin for clearing drains and follow the mixing instructions carefully) with a NYLON brush out of a plastic or metal bucket, just brush it on liberally and wait until you see the paint bubbling. Wash it down with clear water and leave to dry and it'll sand easily, although wire wool is the most effective. Like a job in the town! The really good thing about the caustic soda is that it will get layers of varnish off without all the gunging up you get with proprietory strippers. BUT, and there's always one, caustic soda will not work on synthetic paints and varnishes.