Is it possible to varnish on top of paint?

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Currently painting the living room and the walls and ceiling have been done and now it's time for the skirting.

I've tried many paint colours but none seem to please me, so i then tested out some varnish and the results, in terms of colour and style, did satisfy me. That said, the actual finish did not. I found brushing on the varnish to be difficult, it did not spread evenly due to it's thick consistency so the end result was not suitable to continue.

Now my question is, is there any way to use a varnish (or something similar) that would be easy to brush and spread evenly on top of the paint that is already on the skirting? Buying a different type of paint to brush onto the skirting first would not be an issue if that is the solution to get the varnish on top to spread evenly.

I'm looking for a pine or light oak type of a look and only a varnish is able to produce such a finish. Sanding down the paint to the bare wood is not an option as it would be just far too difficult.

All help would be much appreciated!
 
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heeelllooo and welcome Stan33 :D :D :D

if you varnish it it will be as you have now with varnish on top ??
is that what you want??
 
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heeelllooo and welcome Stan33 :D :D :D

if you varnish it it will be as you have now with varnish on top ??
is that what you want??

Hi, thanks big-all :D

At the moment the skirting has gloss white paint, and what i would like to do is varnish the skirting with either a mahogany or pine varnish. Although, i understand i wont be able to do this directly over the gloss.

I have tested the varnish on top of both an undercoat and a matt emulsion, and on both occasions i found brushing the varnish to be difficult due to it's thick consistency. I have since found out, since my last post, that i can use water as a thinner. So i have just tried that and the end results are much more satisfying, but again not perfect. In an hour i will add a second coat and see what happens.

Anyway, in a nutshell, what i wanted to know is, whats the best way i can brush varnish onto an already painted surface? A way that will not be difficult to brush and that will leave an even finish.Sanding the skirting down to the wood is not an option as it will be way too difficult.

Hope all that makes sense.
 
Round where I live council vehicles were at one time painted with Tekaloid paint and overpainted with a varnish also made by Tekaloid so varnishing paint is perfectly possible.
Now , back to your idea. I'll also admit that I have actually tried it although on a door. I painted the door with a creamish coloured paint lightly rubbed down and the varnish on top. I used , if memory serves , a reddish coloured varnish . There wasn't any problem with the varnish taking although it was oil based in my case although getting the grained finish I wanted was slightly more difficult. My first attempt ended up looking a tad garish especially compared with some I'd seen by professional grainers but with a bit of practice it is possible. The varnish needs to be thin enough to allow the paint to shine through and grained with a stiff brush or similar.
 
Thanks for the reply. Would it at all be possible for you to go into a little more detail on how to grain?

You mentioning using a coloured paint sounds a good idea, and is something i've never really considered but may do now.

The thinned varnish i wrote about above now looks even better with the second coat. And to be honest i'm pretty satisfied with the final look, although the mention of using coloured paint has got me thinking if i used the lightest of browns on the frame/skirting first and then varnished it, it could possibly look even better. Because at the moment, whilst i'm satisfied with the final look with the double coated varnish, you can still just about make out the white undercoat underneath if you scrutinise it long enough.

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As you can see in picture 2, the mahagony varnish has gone on pretty well. Although, ideally i would like the pine colour next to it for the skirting/frame. But i'm having trouble finding that colour. That pine colour you see in the picture is actually an old Antique Pine wood dye i had in the back of the shed, it turned out pretty well there but everywhere else it for some reason turns out horrible. So i bought Ronseal Antique Pine varnish to see if it would come out the same, to my disappointment it didn't. The darker brown you see next to the pine is the antique pine varnish, which i just find horrible.

Can anyone reccomend a varnish that would come out similar to the pine next to the mahagony? Would beech varnish or light oak come out closer to that colour?

Sorry for the long posts, but as you can see from the frame in the pictures finding the right colour is torturous, and i just want to get it right this time!

Thanks.
 
I'm not going try to pass myself off as any kind of expert . I made my grain like patterns with a stiff brush which left highs and lows of varnish which after a bit did resemble to a point wood grain. I once visited the workshop of a guy somewhere near Lancaster who had all sorts of brushes , tools, rags , and even feathers to create what ever species one wanted and the results were superb even literally face to face with the paint.
Actually seeing it done is probably better than someone on a forum trying to explain it so have a gander at YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fRpJUyBDg
 

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