Craigslist and Happy Finds

So for the longest time David and I have wanted an armoire that we could put our TV in and after months and months of searching craigslist, we found one!  David's Mom, Step-Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law gave us money for our birthdays to spend on one!  We never thought that we would have leftover money......

We picked it up in Grand Rapids yesterday and after much needed help lugging it up to the third floor, it now rests beautifully in our humble abode.  Its in great shape and only has some scratches here and there.  It was bought originally for $1200 and we feel like we stole it since we only had to pay $150!  Yay for craigslist and happy finds.

Both of us would love to paint it white after we move to a new place sometime in the near future and I was curious of anyone had any knowledge of how you go about painting stained wood.  I was thinking that you must need to prime it somehow and then paint over, but neither of us have a lot of knowledge on this.  Our other idea is staining it dark.  What would you think would look best? I can't wait to paint it to fit our style more and David said that until then I can buy new hardware for the knobs on the front....he's so good to me :)

Let me know your thoughts and wisdom! 

ps.  I'm attaching a photo of it, I love acting like its a fireplace and hanging our stockings on it :)