I bet you put liners in your glass jars, too.

Haha, @inchbranch. It does sound pretty borderline OCD to me though.

I can spend a whole lot of time searching for the perfect item, no matter how insignificant it may seem. I want to love everything in my home. But after so much time I get annoyed with the situation and will avoid any kind of window or actual shopping for a long period of time.

I get obsessed about finding the perfect item and cringe everytime I see my bf's things just randomly left out throughout the house.

I also need to check and check again each and every fire risk (store, dryer, lamps, flat iron) before I leave the house.

I tend to be detail oriented as opposed to seeing the big picture. So I can get one corner looking really nice, and ignore the big pile of crap in the middle of the room.

Did anyone else notice the artwork being hung? For a second there, I thought it was the Human Centipede.

@Doobie: YES. It's the only reason I'm reading these comments, actually.

Um, I do have OCD, but I am also super obsessed with design details which is sort of separate for me). I was actually trying to rearrange a grouping of art this morning before work.

maintaining objects at level is not "design"...
and if you are compelled to do anything that makes it impossible for you to go on to another task without completing it... that is a major ocd.

i think we all have quirks... and if it makes you feel better about it; and it harms no one... then so be it.

A medical diagnosis can label almost any behaviour, but if it doesn't have a negative impact on one's life or hurt some one, then it's probably not a symptom of a disorder. I've enjoyed playing around with furnishings since my first doll house, and see no problem since the tweaking is part of my hobby. Also, I notice that artists, including good ones, often get very detail-oriented about their work, and that it's not necessarily bad for them or their work.

@ Doobie Yes!! How creepy weird is that??

@Blackink: It may not be design in and of itself, but making sure things are level and prettily composed are important parts of maintaining the design of my home. I didn't say that making sure things were level kept me from leaving the house -- it may have delayed me once or twice, though.

Really, though, I'm not obsessive about anything else, and no, I don't put liners in my jars. I didn't even realize such a thing existed.

Oh, and about the artwork: It's a pair of Siamese twins, and it was made years ago (by an amazing artist and interior designer) for an art show with a "freak" theme. I like a little weird in my art collection.

@Miami's Elaine: That's exactly what I was trying to get across in my post. All the designers I know are obsessive about the details.

@ Doobie, it looks more like a Siamese twin conjoin most uncomfortably. The (fetishized?) image of that mythology (in non-medical manner, by non-Siamese "normal" trying to imagine that experience through art) goes further back than HC (Pagan, Browning's Freaks?) Somehow the sparse, restrained composition seems unlikely to be inspired the "excessive" tendencies of HC and those inspired by it in the current pop art orbit.

oh it is the Human Centipede.

and i'm the lady that would have missed the party because i was re-arranging.

i've switched around color schemes and arrangements easily 10 times in our current apartment. and if i have tried all the options out i can think of, and i'm still not satisfied, i move. 10 apartments in 10 years, and counting...

i've learned that if i get paint up on the walls in a color (not a neutral), then it limits my options and makes me deal with what i have. plus then my husband doesn't go crazy when he comes home and can't find any of his things because i rearranged again.

P.S. I apologize for the horrible grammar/brain lapse.

I don't sweat the small stuff in design but dh does and I drive him crazy.... :-)

yes i do. it is the difference between ok and spectacular.

It's my job to sweat the small stuff. Details are freaking important.

It's the difference between an interior looking polished or uncomfortable.

I instantly survey every room I walk in and notice what works and what can be moved/removed to create more balance or interest.

This has been happening since childhood. I rearrange artwork, bookshelves, furniture, cupboards, closets, paint, etc. until a room is cohesive, functional, stylish and comfortable. On weekends when I'm at my boyfriend's place, he'll usually wake up to a reorganized kitchen cupboard or bookshelf or chairs moved around, thankfully he's very tolerant.

I rearrange items on restaurant tables, clothes on a store rack, tea boxes at the office. I can't walk by a crooked picture without straightening it. This attention to detail serves me well most of the time (I'm redecorating a small hotel and doing some graphic design on the side), but occasionally it's distracting and annoying, times when I would like to focus on something other than shapes and colors.

Oddly, I've never been compelled to make my bed, so maybe there's hope for me.

I have probably made this statement, OCD about a zillion times when it comes to design, but I dont let it ruin my social life! Great fess up AnnaMarie, love it.

I totally don't. I would rather have a mediocre apartment and do fulfilling things with my life (I volunteer and spend a LOT of time with friends) versus spending hours straightening things.

Of course, I also don't have the money to find "perfect" items, so I also have a work-with-what-you've-got attitude. I'd rather have people come over to my apartment because they like ME, not my furniture.

Hmm. WEll when I am watching a movie with a cool set I watch the set and don't even pay attention to the plot.

Yes, I sweat profusely about the small stuff. To me, everything either brings the room together OR it tears it apart. It's like seeing a beautiful women with a booger on her face. Immediately, all you see is that booger!

My bookshelves MUST be neat as a pin, but the rest of my home is allowed to be less than perfect.

So, yeah - there's caring about details, and there's compulsion.

I change out artwork a lot, and really, really care about finding pieces that work very well in their spaces, so I spend a lot of time on the hunt and trial.

But a millimeter of tilt isn't visible to anyone - and if you can't see the crooked, why is it a problem?

I work in a school, and we all have to hang bulletin boards with student work all the time. My friend visited another school and came back to report that one of the elementary teachers she saw had a big pile of kids' drawings and a LEVEL and was making sure they were all perfectly spaced. UGH. I predict crying and burnout within 3 years.

As I stare at today's attempt at starting to organize a mere 2 photo ledges to look like they aren't trying too hard to be something else.

I so understand.

Any time I'm home alone something gets rearranged, and every morning in the 10 minutes between when my boyfriend leaves for work and when I leave for work I usually tidy up the living room and put each throw pillow exactly where It's supposed to be and his water glass in the dishwasher, etc.; stupid little things that make coming home after a long day a little more pleasant.

My husband refers to my "interest in design" as my house OCD, so yes, I guess I am also guilty. Confession, I couldn't sleep last night because we went to IKEA yesterday and I couldn't stop thinking about all the things we got. And that is just the last 24 hours!

There is a desire to make things nice and there is an OBSESSION with making things "perfect". If you are into the latter, you might want to consider getting diagnosed and prescribed whatever meds might lighten your load, since perfection does not exist.

If I can't tell something is hanging off-kilter (and I do have a pretty good eye for that), it's straight enough. (We do have one friend who is even more sensitive to crooked paintings who sometimes takes it upon himself to "fix" things, so we let him. No sweat!)

I figure out what I believe to be the optimal arrangement for a room and it stays that way until a change is forced by replacing something, getting something new, or other "outside" factors. I like things reasonably clean, but with pets and people and full-time jobs, nothing is ever perfect -- and perfection is intimidating anyhow, so "good enough" works just fine for me.

But when assembling a new space (I'm the project manager, so to speak, for redesigning our 11,000 square foot main floor space in the public library where I work) THEN I admit to kind of obsessing on getting it right. (For one thing, it it expected to last 20 years!)

We are trying to balance cost, durability, aesthetics, and eco-friendly materials. Working with a budget of under $200,000 for painting, carpeting, hard flooring, and all new furnishings (several specialized shelving units, custom counters, upholstered chairs, etc.) and all the labor (including moving every shelf and book out of the way for the carpeting installation) you learn a lot about discounts, priorities, and finding ways to tie subtle themes together. It's no small apartment, but it's definitely an occasion for attention to detail!

I'm obsessive about the FEEL of my rooms. That often means the OCDD kicks in and I'll spend hours tweaking, moving, rearranging, cleaning,clearing and so on until the itch is scratched for the day.