repainting a dash pad

[85sierraclassic]

hey all i got a dash pad from a friend awhile back and its gark grey and looks to be light grey under that but there both the wrong color and was wondering what would be the best way to prep it so i can paint it to mach my interior.

but heres another issue someone had a carpet cover on it and its got double sided tape on it it places. what would be the best way to remove them without hurting the dash and still removing all the residue from the glue?

and im sure you would recomend sem coat to paint it with but im not sure what it had been painted/ dyed with to make it dark grey so im kinda worried how it might react to the sem coat paint/ dye

thanks , bill