craftgrrl | A little help for a (possibly stupid) question?

(Ok, I did check the memories of the communities that had memories, and I couldn't find the specific question I needed answered - if I missed it, though, feel free to yell at me)

I have a big, ugly wooden coffee table that none of my roommates want when we all move out, so I'm taking it and redoing it. I've decided on a decoupage/paint mix. NOW, I already found the answers to my decoupage questions in the memories, but here's my paint questions:

The wood has been finished off with some sort of shiny lacquer already - so for the parts I want to paint over, am I going to need to sand it down and prime it first? And, (this is the stupid question) what kind of paint would be best for painting a wooden coffee table in the first place? And what would I use to finish it? I've only painted little wooden jewelry boxes, and I could get away with little bottles of Acrylic for those, hence my uncertainty. =o)

Thanks for any help(or *thwacks* on the head for not finding this in the memories)!

xposted to craftgrrl, cheapdecor, and hip_domestics