Hi, I use Zinsser Bullseye stain killing primer (it's white, but pigment can be added) on everything before painting and have never been disappointed. You can use it over paint. You didn't say how the paint is on the chairs. I would probably knock off any dirt or loose paint with a wire brush, prime them with Zinsser and paint over them. For metal, I like industrial oil base paint (alkyd). It's available at the big hardware stores, but you may find it at yard sales, swap meets, Habitat Restores, or in the oops paint at the big stores. It's pretty pricey new. Someone you know may paint industrial stuff or farm equipment and give you some. It's very tough paint and doesn't fade for years. Linda

I love vintage kitsch, but in small doses! But if you paint them, they just won't be what they are, which is goofy smiling fruit! My SO would hate them too, but I hate his mug collection and inspiring Vince Lombardo framed quote too. I love, love Nosoccermom's montage, but that would definitely not work in some kitchens. But there might be some place in your house that could use a punch of color, like a half bath or a skinny wall spot next to a door or something. I'd find a place to hang a set of three and rotate them. I have two ceramic parrots that came from my grandma's old house and I'm gonna have to find a discrete little corner to hang them because they remind me of grandma's house and I always like them as a kid. They do not go with the current decor, but they could brighten up a little nook or corner and just be a fun surprise, not dominate the whole room. Grandma had them in a place like that, a skinny wall between a door and another wall. My friend had some goofy old fruit advertising pictures framed in a small plain half bath on one wall.

I'm still learning and trying new things but there are definitely things I wouldn't can again and did in the first place because I thought I would use them. I'm going to stick to plain tomatoes, stewed tomatoes (which I love and can't keep on the shelf), green beans, deer meat, Annie's salsa, pickled beets, pickled onions, various jams, kraut, relish, and a few pickles. I like my corn frozen and prefer refrigerator pickles. I like apples and peaches dehydrated, plus canned sauce. I dehydrated various odd things last year and they are still in my freezer. I also forget they were there. My few attempts at canned tomato sauce didn't turn out that great for all the work involved. I may have over-cooked it before processing but I have no desire to try it again when I can blender a can of toms for the sauce. I've already harvested my garlic and it is curing now. Plan to keep some for fresh and roast the rest with olive oil and freeze in cubes. It is very handy that way! I may try to dehydrate some kale chips, I have lots of kale and can't seem to use it up quickly enough. I still want to try some new things, though!

It's a very "modern", Deco-infused version of the Greek Revival elements. Those elements are there, but stripped down: the coved cornice could be in any 1920's-30s interior. The parlor floor cornices in the 1830s Greek Revival house I lived in where deeply coved but then overlaid with brackets and acanthus scrolls and such. (And then parts of the house were still Federal, more or less). Almost nothing is completely pure, or designed in a vacuum, so whever the underlying style or period is, will often be mixed with whatever else is going on at the same time. Particularly when its a Revival-Revival, like this is, later than the original Greek Revival.