Looking for some DIY help painting furniture. Any help?

Don't sand it off. You'll take off too much wood.

You might want to wait for warmer weather to do this, as you don't want to do it inside the house. Get a chemical stripper. Follow the directions and get as much of the old finish off as you can. Run a hot iron with a damp cloth over the wood after stripping. This will raise any deep stain/varnish left and smooth out some dents and bumps. Use a very fine grit sandpaper to smooth it out / remove the rest.

Use a wood stain to get close to the color you want. Be conservative here. Apply one thin coat only. Allow to cure a couple hours (read instructions). Once it's completely dry, you should see the true color. Keep in mind that adding a varnish will "deepen" the color slightly, so knowing that, decide if you want to apply another coat of stain.

Once the stain is set and dry, apply your varnish. Again, thin coats, one at a time. Allow to cure according to instructions, and buff out with a soft cloth (the first 1-2 coats, I actually buffed it out with steel wool). Repeat a few times.

This isn't something that you can do in one afternoon. It will more likely take a few weeks at best. If you want to bring the grain out and get a deep color with good luster, it takes time and patience.

I've done this with rifle stocks with good results. Furniture is more time consuming as you'll want to take it apart as much as possible, all the way down to individual slats on the drawers. That way, you get full coverage with less chances of blemishes.