homes are like art

...in that they are never finished!

My lower back is killing me today, as I spent the day yesterday painting the ceiling of our kitchen. There had been a number of "repairs" done to the ceiling by the previous owners that were painted over in various shades of white paint, some glossy, some not...some questionably close to shades of non-white, etc. Some creative putty work, hole filling, and a half gallon of "ceiling white" paint later, and the ceiling looks decent. Then I was able to hang our two new light fixtures, replacing the contemporary Dusenberg-headlight styled lights that the previous owners had installed (which I discovered were from Wal-Mart, and used weird replacement bulbs that cost $8 each).

There is still much to be done, and every time that I start a new project I run across an underlying problem that needs to be fixed first.

It is a bit difficult living in a small town, as we are limited in our hardware selection, too. We don't have mega-hardware stores like Lowe's and Home Depot battling it out at our high traffic street corners...not that I miss them that much - just their selection.

Fortunately, the internet is proving to be an awesome resource - even for home decor and hardware. In fact, in some cases, I think I prefer the online shopping experience for certain items. For example, when shopping for blinds, you ca spend a bunch of time at one of those cut-while-you-wait and hope-they-get-it-straight stores, or you can just buy some online. Online stores like Terry's Fabrics feature a massive selection of just about kind of blind you could want, such as wood blinds, roller blinds, and of course venetian blinds.

I particularly like some of their faux suede roman blinds, as I think they would fit nicely with some of the remodels we are doing in our dining area.

Considering how much gas prices have been going up, even sites that make you pay for shipping are worth considering, especially if (like us) you'll need to drive 40+ miles to get to the nearest hardware superstore.