Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Ugly Fake Wood Dresser. Help!

I own a dresser/chest of two drawers that is incredibly ugly. It is made out of small fibers of wood pressed together very densly (no idea what this is called) and plywood (I think) and then covered with wood-like looking plastic stick on stuff. Yuk! I'd love to try to repaint it to make it look a little more funky rather than buying something new. Since it's not "normal" wood, I have a feeling that there is more to it than sanding and repainting. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to deal with this monstrosity?

Julia:

Sand, prime, paint.

Sand to rough up the surface completely, removing any loose pieces of plastic.

A good oil base primer (two coats, sanding lightly after each has dried) will give you a good bonding surface between the furniture and the final coat of paint.

You can get a variety of looks by using more than one color for the top coat -paint the edges of the drawers and the edge of the top a contrasting color -or use three colors.

Your only impediment is NOT using your imagination..