  The bathroom re-do is almost complete: • The painting and all subsequent touching up are finished. I hope. I may look for some funky gold and/or silver stenciling to decorate the tops of the walls, though, because they're looking rather plain. I just haven't decided if that's too gay. (I also have this weird decorating fantasy of stenciling all the Latin conjugations of "to wash" -- lavo, lavat, lavas, etc.
-- around the wall above the shower. But I need to 1) make sure I have the conjugations right and 2) find a cool lettering stencil or 3) develop a steady hand and paint the words myself. So it will probably never happen. ) • Bob went with me to Expo Center on Tuesday after work to help pick out a shiny new faucet and space-agey new towel bars (one of which I had to exchange for a shorter one last night before rehearsal because apparently I suck at measuring). The towel bars are up and sporting towels already; the faucet will have to wait until this weekend when I have time to make the three trips to the hardware store that are required every time I replace plumbing. • I bought new outlets and switches (to be installed this weekend when I have daylight to compensate for the power being off) and even a new doorstop (installed last night). • I still can't find the right replacement bulbs for the vanity mirror. (Damn. Gotta keep shopping. ) • I also can't find a decent-looking metal soap holder to replace the worn-looking one installed in my shower wall. I may just try to polish it and keep the lights low to hide its abject shabbiness. But I bought new grout for it, and nothing spruces up a shabby shower like shiny new grout.
But here's where I need your help: On a recent episode of Queer Eye , Thom decorated a whole wall in someone's house with little three-ish-inch square blocks of wood that he put votives on. It looked totally cool, and I figured it would be a cinch to find those blocky little shelves in practically any store. I figured wrong. I can't find the fuckers anywhere. (Places I've looked so far: Crate & Barrel, Pier 1, Z Gallerie, Expo Center, Restoration Hardware, Bombay Company, Pottery Barn, Home Depot, and a range of google searches for every combination of the words shelf , small , square , votive , candle and curio that I can think of. ) So do you, dear readers, have any idea where to find them? I don't care if they're wood or metal or some wholly unnatural man-made material (I can always paint them).
But my bathroom renovation will be incomplete and all my future bowel movements will be slightly unsatisfying if I don't have a wall of votives on little blocks of wood to stare at as I perch on the throne. Please. I'm on my knees. (And while I'm down here, I see another little spot that needs more paint. Shit.
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