Painting an old piece of furniture is the most satisfying of the salvage jobs and the one most often rushed. The finish that peels in a year, or that stays tacky, or that shows every brush mark, almost always failed at a stage before the paint, and the stages are not difficult. They are just slower than anyone wants them to be.

Clean first, and clean more thoroughly than seems necessary. Decades of handling leave grease on every handle, every drawer front and every edge, and paint will not bond through it. Sugar soap or a household degreaser and a cloth, worked over every surface, then a rinse with clean water and a full dry. This step alone prevents a large share of the adhesion failures people blame on the paint.

Before going further, find out whether the piece has been waxed, because wax is the one contaminant that defeats everything else. Old furniture has often been waxed repeatedly over many years, and wax remaining in the grain will stop primer bonding no matter how well the surface is sanded. Wipe an inconspicuous area with white spirit on a cloth and look at the cloth: a brown, greasy residue means wax, and the whole piece needs the same treatment until the cloth stays clean.

Then repair, while the surface is still bare and you can see what you are doing. Fill chips and old screw holes with a wood filler, slightly proud, and let it dry completely before sanding back flush. Re-glue anything loose now rather than afterwards; a joint that moves under a painted surface will crack the paint along the line of the joint within weeks and there is no hiding it.

Sanding for paint is not the same as sanding for a clear finish, and this is where people do too much work. You are not trying to reach bare timber. You are trying to remove any loose or flaking material and to take the sheen off the existing surface so the primer has something to grip. A medium abrasive followed by a fine one, worked along the grain, is enough on most pieces. Then remove every trace of dust with a vacuum and a slightly damp cloth, and let it dry, because dust under paint is permanent.

Prime, and choose the primer for the surface rather than by habit. Bare or newly sanded wood takes an ordinary wood primer. A previously varnished or lacquered surface that you have keyed takes an adhesion primer. Woods with a strong natural colour, and any surface with old water stains or marker on it, need a stain-blocking primer or the colour will bleed through pale topcoats, sometimes not immediately but over the following weeks. Let the primer dry fully and give it a light pass with fine abrasive before painting; that pass is the difference between a smooth finish and an acceptable one.

Paint in thin coats, and expect to need at least two. Thin coats dry more evenly, sag less and show fewer brush marks than one heavy coat, and the temptation to cover in a single pass is the last trap in the process. Work in the direction of the grain, keep a wet edge, and leave the full recommended drying time between coats rather than the time it takes to stop feeling wet.

Finally, be patient about use. Most household paints are touch-dry in hours and take days or weeks to cure to full hardness, and a piece put straight back into service will pick up marks that would not have registered a fortnight later. Handles off, drawers left slightly open, and a week of leaving it alone is the cheapest improvement available to the finished result.