pine knots

We are having our victorian pine floorboards restored and the contractor has used a pale ('natural' shade) ready bought wood filler to fill gaps between boards and damage from nail holes etc. The result (after base coat of varnish) currently looks terrible- huge variations in colour- and looks...

I want to paint some pine furniture (4 chests of drawers). They are 50 years old and finished with a varnish. I will be sanding them down and was going to spot the knots with Zinsser BIN, sand down a little, and then use a water based primer undercoat followed by a couple of water based top...