painting over gloss?

[high.rise]

We're about to start repainting woodwork. It's currently covered with horrible and unclean (we've just moved in) gloss paint. We'd like to paint it white with a matt finish two questions
1. will eggshell suffice? If not, can anyone reccomend anything that will provide a bright white matt finish that preferably doesn't smell too bad?
2. do we have to strip the gloss off first?

Thanks

 

[katybird]

How old is the original paint? Any chance it is an oil paint?

Go to a hardware store and get a deglosser, just wipe on, wipe off.

Then use a 100% acrylic primer before painting your new color.

 

[Zampa]

Rub it down first and apply a coat of, as Katy says, acrylic undercoat, then a coat of either acrylic eggshell or kitchen and bathroom paint )its the same thing) or water based satin finish.

 

[high.rise]

could be pretty old, person before us bought the house in late 70's and nothing looks like it has been touched since then. Thanks for the advice, we'll give it a go.