Painting chest of drawers

We have a big chest of drawers that DH has had for years. It's just mdf with painted black. I don't think there is any special coating on it but we are going to use it in #2's room instead of buying new drawers.

BUT I don't like it being black it just looks odd. I'd rather it be a different colour, maybe a dark brown or another darkish colour as I don't think I could get a light colour through the black. My dad I think still has his spray painting gears from when he was a panel beater so I could get him to spray paint it so I'd get a good finish rather than painting with a brush..

What kinda paint would you use for that?!

Do you think it would work trying to paint over black??

We aren't going to do it just yet but I'm trying to work out if this is going to cost money or if its not worth it cause I'm redoing my budget this week to find some cash for the things for #2 since things r going well this time

For shelves or cupboards I'd use a water based enamel paint in either a semi or full gloss - can get them from Resenes or Mitre 10. If you sign up to a Resenes card (it's free) you get great savings, I bought some paint a few days ago and with the discount card and the 12.5% off storewide it meant 25% discount.

As MrsG said, you'd need to sand first not to necessarily remove all the paint but to prepare the surface and fill in any cracks or gaps etc. If you're painting another dark colour there shouldn't be a problem with 2 coats of paint.

If your dad was a carpainter/panelbeater then it might be worth checking out whether he can get some car paint. My stepdad did this with a coffee table he made out of MDF and it came up great! Also meant that the surface was really hard, so less scratches and wear and tear...

Otherwise, yep definitely sand back and that will remove alot of the black and then a primer/undercoat, which will help with getting coverage over the black.

Yep, I agree with what everyone has said, definitely sand and go for a water-based enamel, much harder wearing. But don't go for full gloss, it will show up finger marks, etc much more; semi-gloss or satin finish would be much nicer.