Painting a Fire Surround

[ch134]

Hi there, when we moved into our victorian house there was a bulk standard wooden fire surround, we liked it so we varnished it but now it is looking old and some of the varnish has chipped off. I have looked at buying a new one but basically all I want to replace it with is a white surround.. so I thought why can't I just paint what I have there already, afterall there is nothing wrong with the design of it.

So is it possible to paint over varnish as long as I sand it down properly? What do I need to do then? it is a full working wood/coal fireplace, and how do I stop the white paint getting on my lovely new painted walls?

any advice would be appreciated.. i'm really worried i'm going to do it and its going to look awful (as i'm not the best at painting with gloss). Like I said any tips would be fab.

 

[Robbie uk]

Dont use gloss on the fire surround as it will look garbage!. Give it a good sanding down to provide a key. Give it a coat of Zinnser BIN 123 and then two coats of Satinwood. Should look ok then. If you dont have a steady hand when cutting in the paint to the wall, use some 2" wide low tack masking tape to gently stick against the wall first.