I’m a pretty good painter. Have painted the interior of three houses. Not too worried about that. Wood is 3/4 birch plywood, and really smooth, no knots or rough spots. Like I said my biggest concern is the issue I had first time around a few years ago with the grain raising up. Good advice from someone with experience. Thank you.

Water-based or shellac? I have experience with BIN shellac in a bathroom that needed lots of drywall refinishing after I removed some old beadboard.