I have never painted brass before, but my mom painted some brass lamps a few years ago. She just washed them and spray painted and they have held up well.
We went by home depot last weekend to see what we should do for the bed (I also researched online and found conflicting information - some people had instructions with like 20 steps!!) and they guy in the paint department said to just wash, sand off any corrosion with fine grit sand paper (the finishing kind) and then spray paint. He recommended Rustolium paint, as it is good for just about any metal, so that's what we got. We are going to do a metallic gray/silver, since our bedding is blue and brown.
I will post before/during/after shots when we are done!
Re: Xan re: painting brass