Since this is a piece of furniture I would assume it has a pre-existing finish. If so then how you would address your project would be determined somewhat by what is already on the piece. Unfinished furniture would be quite different. An older piece especially would need to be cleaned thoroughly to be sure there was no wax, oils or spills etc on it. A polyurethane piece should be lightly sanded to neutralize any gloss and primed with a good oil base primer. Other finishes can be trickier and a small out of the way spot should be used for testing first. Any good quality enamel would work as a top coat.

Gor&co