I'm highly sensitive - no surprise there. However I don't let things that are wrong with my decorating bother me. Usually a mistake can be corrected or downplayed - or some choices can be overlooked while I focus on other things.

It does affect my choice of color schemes and accessories etc. as I want my space to be serene. I don't use perfumed candles or scents. Patterns are limited to small doses and my hardwood floors were sanded onsite and then finished so I wouldn't feel beveled floors. Textures are very important and must be wonderfully tactile - nothing rough or sharp - smooth, soft, furry etc.

If you post some of your problems I bet the wonderful posters here can help you make improvements or even lemonade out of your lemons.

Sky

I scored 12. Demands on my attention, energy and patience will drain me, but I'm not overwhelmed.

I'm sensitive (like my life just so), but not *highly* sensitive.

I don't know... I'd think that's normal.

I didn't score as sensitive, but I think of myself as aesthetically sensitive! Things just have to go, as in go together. A lot of stuff doesn't overwhelm me, as long as it has a flow. Jumbles, gah!! get me out of there.

My MIL has a jumble home...victorian floral plates on one wall, a print of a wagon train on the other. 80's style floral drapes and an early american style blue herculon covered rocker. Next to her 90's contemporary striped loveseat. The Coca Cola collection bursting from the dining area competing with the cat mirror from India and the Humpty Dumpty cookie jar. Oh yeah, throw in the beer light and the Danbury Mint Angel Collection, and the primitive style Welcome sign hanging over the door...I get just a BIT sensitive.

Well , I just took it....I must be dead.
My score was 4. I'm sensitive to nothing.

I don't think thats normal......but like Scarlett...I'll
just worry bout it ta-morra.

My score was a 7, so I guess I'm half dead ;) But I do not forget the mistakes I make and I'll notice the slightest little thing that is out of place or doesn't look right and it'll bug me to no end - especially if I don't know what to do to fix it. On the other hand, I have trouble viewing the whole picture when it comes to decor and I'm impatient and want it all done yesterday. Kind of a lethal mix, no wonder I have one foot in the decor graveyard, lol.

I scored 21. Way over the legal limit for sensitivity.

I have to go lie down now in a dark room...

Interesting test. Not too surprising on my score, I guess, but maybe I should feel a little better since apparently I'm not a total freak! Just a 'type.'

Depending ... when it comes to 'decorating,' though, and something being 'wrong' or messy or an incomplete work in progress -- I just block things out and enjoy what's pleasing to me :) My mother comes by and points out the weed sprouting, I see the flowers :)

I think there are syntax issues with that test. It's not a good tool really.

For instance, what does it mean to say "overwhelmed" and what do you feel it means? Do you like to say overwhelmed, but perhaps you're not? Maybe you read the more innocuous statements are something more emotionally intense - the ones that indicate taste, but not necessarily need.

I'm very sensitive to atmosphere and environment, and there are times when I'm not sensitive in other ways... there are times when I'm super sensitive to everything.

lol, I'm not but I was very tempted to send this to my Daughter-in-law if she wasnt so sensitive,

I think they're referring to a reaction of overwhelm. I would call that an emotionally or mentally intense reaction or state. Difficult or too much to process or contain.

As far as taste, I would call that something that can be simply overlooked.

When I took that test, I thought-- whoops! Should have taken it BEFORE I decided to have a third child, LOL. The stereotype is that women are good at multitasking. I am not!

As for my decorating mistakes, the ones that bother me most are things like lighting/color. The wrong lighting/color can really jar me.

I read something on multi-tasking recently. How they are finally figuring out it's not very efficient or productive. Spread too thin. Interruptions. Inattention to details. Small wonder.

It's true, women are typically more aware of their surroundings, as they have to keep watch on their children, for example. So it's natural that they're more attuned to their environments and what's going on around them. I don't think that translates to necessarily being good at juggling a bunch of things, though :)

I responded to only 5 of the questions. I would have thought it would have been higher. But then I'm pretty tolerant of most things, not very tolerant of people.

I scored 25. No wonder I'm fussy.

I agree that this test is more about being overwhelmed with surroundings. I'm not ultra sensitive when it comes to my feelings. I can usually let comments, etc. roll off my back but cannot be in situations where my senses are overloaded.

It certainly has some bearing on my home. I can't stand a lot of clutter. It gets that way but I have to stop and tidy up or I'll feel agitated. I don't like a lot of different colors or patterns going on. I do admire it in the homes of others, but just would not be able to live with it.

I also don't like a lot of noise and find the TV and radio to be very irritating at times. I would say that I am most certainly a HSP!

I scored 22. Did anyone take the child's test? I did very well on that one too. :)

My DH got a 12 though he considers himself highly sensitive because he hates it when anyone laughs at or criticizes him and he can't endure physical pain.

This explains why I have to keep after him to correct tiny details of jobs he's done around the house. For example, he installed one faucet handle in a guest bath just a hair higher than the other, and it's driving me nuts. He can't even see the difference! His sensitivity comes into play when I ask him to fix it.

I scored a 22 also. That was interesting! It would be nice to know the correlation between this and extraverts/introverts and feelers/thinkers, etc. Introverts do not like a lot of noise and outside stimuli much.

That was an interesting test. I scored an 8. The older I get, the more tolerant and "roll with it" I've become. I think I would have scored a bit higher years ago.

I haven't taken the test yet, but I think I'm getting more sensitive to my surroundings with age. We "stole" a print I had over the bed in the MB to put in our cottage and I replaced it temporarily with one I had in the attic. Even though it's a floral still life, the bright red and gold shades in it are just to jarring for me to have in the bedroom. I'm affected by it as soon as I walk in the door.

Will be interesting to see how I score. Interesting thread!

I also wonder how much of it is the times. We get so bombarded with sound, color, light these days; and the noise pollution is just terrible. Plus overcrowding. It's sensory overload, which naturally sensitizes us and deprives us of our need for personal 'space' -- even to be able to hear oneself think!

yes to all 27. yike!!
DH never figured out why I got bothered if people move the sofa over by 1/2 inch :-P
He probably scored 0 on the test! Nothing bothers the guy. Sometimes I am wish I am more like him.

I am trying to becomes less fussy (you gotta be to survive parenthood!) but someday the chaos of our house just make me want to scream :-)

Bliss is a house that looks like Martha Stewart studio. I wonder how high Martha herself would score on this test!!

Still laughing at mclarke and maggie3.
I love humor.

I'm so laid back I can sleep leaning against a wall in a waiting line. Lol

I scored 5, too.

I am very dialled into art, music, aethetics but the only time I'm able to "control" any of that is in my own life, in my own home. So I don't waste the energy fretting about it in the big aquarium we call, "the world". It's a complete waste of my precious time and energy to do so.

I'm pretty good at tuning out distractions and coping with clutter and chaos over which I have no immediate control. I am easily able to focus on what must be done, prioritize things, and get the job done. That ability made me a very good production stitcher and makes me a very versatile worker in a small, very busy shop.

I have a very low tolerance for "stupid" and "lazy", though. Stupid is the unwillingness to learn, lazy is the unwillingness to put forthe any effort to do anything. No patience for either of those. ;)

I scored 22. I hate it when the TV is too loud our when there is too much noise or when something has to be done NOW. Drives me nuts. I am learning to control it though. As others said...have to with kids and I'm about to have 4. Interesting test. Wish I didn't have that little "gem" of knowledge right up front, though, as now it has a label!

I scored 21. I've always known I was quite sensitive, so this comes as no surprise. Heck, I can't even go into a Best Buy to shop -- the bright lights and loud music and other noise emanating from countless TVs, stereos, etc. just make my head spin. In warehouse-type stores where there's so much stimuli and it's all vaulted up into the vast expanse of the space and slammed down on top of the shoppers ... oh gee, I'm getting uncomfortable just thinking about it!

I am envious of those of you who are not highly sensitive. I think I've gotten worse with age and I'm not even in my 40s. I used to teach Kindergarten (no help) with 31 students and was fine. Now that I'm home with my 3 children, ack-- the noises can get to me after 12 hours of them . . .you know, when my 5 yo old suddenly yells BOOM for no reason, the tantrums of my toddler, fussy baby . . .man, I wish I could not care!

mclarke and maggie crack me up too! lol

I scored very high, too. I'm too sensitive and partly because I'm only one of 2 children. My husband, on the other hand, is the middle of 9 children. He's learned to block everything our around him. It's just amazing to me! Nothing bothers him.

Auntjen, I can't stand Best Buy either! I always thought it was too much electronics, too many electrical or magnetic waves going through the air and into my brain. Just makes me jump and twitch. Nowadays I wait outside when my DH wants to go in those places.