I say -- don't overthink it. I'm definitely an "I'll know it when I see it" person and it has served me well. Don't apologize for it. I really like your patinated chandelier, your comfortably used faucet (it's got some style!) the stove -- it's relaxed, no-fixed-decade. It's no time to get uptight about finishes! I'd say you have a good sense of your own style. TRUST IT. Don't choose a finish you don't like just "to be consistent" or because someone told you you have to. I have polished nickel, antique brass, new unlacquered brass, old filthy dirty brass, stainless steel, black forged iron -- and a few other things I can't remember in my kitchen. It all gets along. In fact the more things you put together, the better it works, because it's not like you have a big beige room with 23 satin nickel handles and one polished nickel one. You have a rich crazy quilt/gumbo of elements and no single dominant one, but your good taste has selected each, and they get along because you know when they don't. I agree with Circuspeanut that some finishes just attract too much attention to themselves, and they tend to be the more modern ones like satin nickel and ORB. But if you love them, and they work in your particular mix, then go for it. Did you look at the Schoolhouse Lighting custard line of shades? Just a thought. Something to consider is that Schoolhouse, and probably some other companies too, may have options not listed on their Web sites, and may be able to make you up a custom fixture. So if you see something on their site that is very close to what you want, but in just the wrong finish, or the chain isn't right, call or e-mail and ask if that thing can be changed. I did, and the cost was like $30 extra for my particular alteration. It's always worth asking. Good luck!

We probably have! He had a lot of family visiting from NY last year, so we had to do all the touristy things. I went to The dang Stockyards more last year than in the past 15 years combined! It is kind of fun seeing it all through other's eyes, though. :) Mmmmm, love that kitchen! And the rug. ;-)

I was allowed to decorate with posters, and as a kid and young teen hung animal posters on my walls I'd get from Troll Book orders. I always wanted to paint my walls and longed for more color and patterns in my bedroom, but our house (walls, floors, ceilings, doors, etc.) was stained fir paneling. My parents painted the ceilings white and the rest remained natural wood. I remembering begging my mom to let me paint the walls, and as a compromise she let me wall-paper one wall when I was in high school. I chose a tree print sort of like this, only with navy blue and brown trees to tie in with all the brown wood of the walls, floor, and trim. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was a compromise and I was happy with it. My bedroom furniture was white-painted stuff my parents got second hand. I knew a "bedroom set" wasn't an option, though I would have loved one at the time. Though I still wouldn't choose the darkness of natural wood walls for a bedroom, I came to love a healthy dose of wood and eclectic furniture. The bed that was in my childhood bedroom is now in my daughter's room, with a wood dresser that used to be in my brother's childhood bedroom. My kids aren't teenagers yet and haven't expressed a lot of interest in decorating their rooms, but it will be interesting to see how their rooms evolve over the years.

I've enjoyed reading your comments, Carol. A scatter of responses: I believe David Austin, too, had objections to 'Mme. Louis Leveque' (and perhaps to a good many of the Mosses), but personally, and in spite of frequently objecting to overstuffed roses, I love it. It helps that it's healthy in my conditions. 'Amelia' and 'Celsiana'--I am coming round to the idea that they're the same rose, but still need to do a side by side comparison--have that simplicity and that clear pink coloration that I admire in the Damasks. I don't know whether the Centifolias had descendents. Seems I read somewhere that all their sexual parts got converted to petals and it's difficult or impossible to breed from them; that's why most of the Centifolia and the Centifolia Mosses are sports. I could see a rose being placed in a certain class on the basis of characteristics, as opposed to ancestry, but 'Anais Segalas' doesn't strike me as particularly like a Centifolia. I do think it has a dose of something besides Gallica in its genes, but don't know what. It's a nice rose, in any case. I never noticed that 'Rene d'Anjou' is remontant, but it could be that it is, or potentially is, but the weather was too dry or I wasn't there to see it. Last tranche: 'Baronne Prevost' I'm not sure this is correct. It hasn't started to flower yet, delayed by its winter pruning. 'White Cecile Brunner' Puny. Like the Bourbons the 'Cecile Brunner' tribe generally don't do well for me, but in their case, I mind. I think it not impossible that I could get them to grow, but so far I haven't succeeded. "Vallunga" Local found rose. The parent plant is a Tea-leaning HP, pink-flowered, strong, and cheerful. It had a young elm growing through it but was still blooming. My plant, a year and a half in the ground, is taking its time getting started. 'John Hopper' Rigidly upright HP, with beetles, blackspot, and pink blooms, but one day it may grow decently. It gets a reprieve. 'Henry Nevard' Two short canes with four stupendous purple red, fat blooms. I'm hopeful this may take off one day, so continue to wait. 'Souv. de McKinley' This is listed variously as a Hybrid Tea, Hybrid Perpetual, or Portland (see HMF); I'd say it looks more like a Portland than anything else. Modest upright growth, substantial bristly-thorny canes, not heavily armed, suckering a bit; flowers soft pink, double, fragrant. Nice. Rosa foetida or variety. Probably from Nino Sanremo, possibly La Campanella. It could be the species, 'Persian Yellow', or 'Austrian Copper', as all three grow in the garden. I haven't seen this bloom yet. These roses are healthy for me and the first two flower well, but they're really slow to start from suckers. 'Sydonie' Nice vase-shaped Damask-y HP, thorny, delicate clear pink double blooms. 'Mlle. Cecile Brunner' As I said above. This is a little more thriving than the white sport. 'Oeillait Flamand' ('Oeillait Parfait'?) I bought this one under the name 'Oeillait Flamand'. This one is complicated. Actually, too complicated to try to explain, and I need to look up Graham Thomas, who's downstairs. My rose, whatever its name, is a clear bright pink fading to soft pink, double, shapely; canes heavy but lax and suckering, as though it can't figure out whether it's a Damask or a Gallica. An earlier tranche included 'Oeillait Parfait', which I wasn't sure had survived, and which only adds to the confusion. It's a nice plant in any case. 'Conditorum' Taller and leggier than some Gallicas, and not showing so far a great propensity to sucker (grafted, like all the Petrovic roses). 'Duc de Guiche' This Gallica is still getting well under way, so I don't have anything to say about it. 'Zoe' The Moss of a thousand names. This looks like the rose I've gotten as 'James Mitchell', and The Vintage Gardens Book of Roses says 'Berangere' is also the same rose. A tall, lanky, suckering moss with tidy smallish pink blooms, flat and double with a neat button eye: a good rose. Rosa hemisphaerica. Similar in growth and foliage to R. foetida. It grows reasonably well and sets buds, but this is the first year it opened them. I'd like to see it get off on its own roots, but see no signs of it so far. 'Rote Krimrose' I just took a look at HMF and they list it as a Gallica, which my rose is not. It's a fair-sized shrub with smooth sturdy green canes with sparse sharp thorns, which flowers in clusters on side shoots, the flowers starting pink with a white base to the petals and fading almost to white. The flowers show all colors in a cluster at once, which is noticeable. I don't know about scent. Leaves matte and large. It looks to me like a modern shrub, though I have no idea what it breeding might be. There are no pictures of it on HMF. It's possible there's a mixup somewhere. 'Orpheline de Juillet' A handsome mound of foliage and grape-purple blooms, suckering outward. Very satisfactory rose, but it needs room. HERE ENDS THE FIRST SERBIAN BED. About the books: my sis is careful about how much stuff she gets and keeps. Normally she relies on the library, but the library was closed. The classics are such a great idea: reading forever! I have a lot of books, too, but try to hang on only to ones I know or think it's likely I'll reread, and pass on the others. After all, if they sit on my shelves, no one else can read them. I've been looking lately into online libraries, too.