HA! Yup, me too. Things I never in a million YEARS would have noticed 4 months ago now have become shining beacons which attract my eye like a magnet when I walk into a room.

The really sad part is walking into somebody's home and mentally rattling off the manufacturer and model of faucet/cabinets/granite/appliances/whatever.

I really think I need to get a life! ;)

No, it's absolutely wonderful. You will always be happy to get home to see and enjoy the vision that you have (with help in many cases) created. Just be sure to steer clear of even nicer kitchens, if such a thing is possible.

I hope we aren't stuck in this new world! We need a way to break the cycle of addiction. (Heh - no more money is my cure!) Seriously, though, I wonder how many of us are remodeling recidivists?

I think it's one of those phase-of-life attunements. When I was pregnant, I saw pregnant women everywhere; but I hadn't noticed an excess before. When I was engaged, it seemed like everything revolved around wedding planning. When we were house-hunting, there were open houses everywhere. Now, all I see is paint, counters, and faucets!

I wonder what will be next?

I'm encountering something similar and realize that I have to keep my mouth in check. While at a party... a new young homeowner was talking about her recent home purchase and how she filled it with all "top of the line" appliances, no expense spared. Oh wow I thought. Here's a conversation I could join. So.. I began asking what I thought were simple questions. She had no clue what I was talking about when I asked about convection ,hidden controls, Euro style or heated drying in a DW, cabinet depth, etc. I quickly recognized that I was about to burst her bubble so I back tracked... gushed a little... and kept my mouth shut. I felt so bad when she said, "Gee... I thought I had researched alot and knew what I was doing".

Ha! It's not remodeling that has ruined us, it's Garden Web!! We know way too much for own good now....

It's been 3 years and I still have the TKO bug I caught on this forum. I'm surreptitiously planning my 'next' kitchen, even though it would have to be with my 'next' husband.

I even bought a new kitchen planning magazine I started looking at while waiting in line at the grocery store. It is under the mattress on my side of the bed. My kitchen porn.

I was like this way before I started my remodel! When I watch tv (a show or commercial) I only look at the background for decorating ideas!!
Oh well.

Ha ha, don't worry, you do grow out of this phase while you move onto other rooms and new projects. However, every once and a while, when you see something really egregious, it will come back to you and you'll sit there squirming and biting your tongue so you don't say something rude.

Sky

mlraff53- I'm so glad that I'm not alone. Early in the morning, when nothing is on TV, I sometimes catch myself watching "Magic Bullet" or "The Food Saver" infomercials just to eyeball the fancy kitchen!

Yeah, have to agree, it's TKO for sure that has me "teaching" folks just so they can avoid disasters I've learned about on "Kitchens". I called my insurance company the other day to ask a question about my homeowner's policy. I just happened to mention about my electrician and the work being done in my kitchen. She bagan to ask me numerous questions and I told here about the Forums. When we were ending the conversation, she asked me again about the website and told me she was getting ready to start a kitchen redo. I laughed so hard - then I knew why she kept asking the detailed questions! I sure was surprised at all the things I was able to tell her to avoid!

totally tko'd!!!

Pecanpie, you always crack me up!!! Bev

On the flip side, I have now realised that I am more appreciative of great design than I was before. For example, this morning I stopped and looked carefully at the shower curtain in the hotel I am staying at. There is a sheer fabric panel at eye level, so you don't feel enclosed. The curtain rail was curved, so you didn't feel crowded. And there were small magnets on the bottom corners of the shower curtain, so they would gently stick to the tub and not blow around.

Six months ago I would never have noticed any of this. So I guess there is a good side to remodel-obsession after all !

I'm thinking of buying my third house so I can be in remodel hell for at least three or four more years...do you think that sounds like a slight sickness?

Oh and those darned hotels...hospitals...friends homes...oh ya, I notice! I always look at tile patterns in showers and critique. I'm big on the trim pieces and how they meet in the corner.

The suite hotel we stayed in during the hospital stay had such a stupid kitcen layout. It was small of course, but they left silly gaps in the cupboards that just didn't need to be there if they just moved x to y location...blah blah

The hospital had just had flooring layed and painting done. TERRIBLE work. They obviously cut in on corners and edges and left it sit for a few days (oh way way too much paint on the brush as well...the marks were deep) and then went by with a roller. The shadowing made me shudder. The flooring looked like the hotel the OP brought up....one guy started at one end and one at the other and left the cuts in the middle of the floor. Goofy!!!

Now for the really sad part....my DS is two. He found that odd cut line on day 3 of the hospitalization and for two months he insisted on using it as a sort of balance beam, runway thing everytime we went down the hall. He'd always make a beeline for it and start either crawling on it, tightrope walking, or zooming an airplane on it LOL Do you think he's caught the bug and just wanted to point out the error???

Flatcoat - not only will you find you are "ruined" when simply sitting in an office, a neighbor's house, a relative's kitchen, etc., but you will also be ruined for ordinary TV enjoyment. That dog food commercial you previously never noticed? Well, how about those kitchen floors the dog is scrambling over to get to his dog food bowl? That Forumula409 commercial? You'll wonder if grease will wipe up the same way with just one swipe on YOUR stainless steel. That stupid TV show sitcom you nodded through? Well, suddenly you'll be alert and avidly assessing its kitchen set! (BTW, I now even dissect kitchens on the oh-so-familiar TV classics, from "I Love Lucy" to "Dick Van Dyke Show" to "Friends", etc.) You will now notice and become annoyed that all the NBC TV shows only have GE appliances (GE is the parent of NBC). Or those TV shows set in Manhattan will cause you to be questioning their impossibly large kitchens with work stations and 48" fridges, etc. Oh, just wait, mindless TV for you will be ruined, and you will not be able to watch it the same way again. LOL!!

You know, when people start pointing out "the obvious" sins of a trade or outfit for that matter, it's amazing how often you see such offenses. It doesn't matter if it's a kitchen flaws or the distraction of the pattern in a woman's slacks in the bank. It's really bad when you walk out to your car and realize that you just counted eight 3" square buffalo checks across the woman's fanny and you've figured out that times that number by 2.5 and you've probably figured out her hip size.

It's horrible to realize that you're so use to figuring measurements in your head that you go into every restroom, identify design flaws, count tiles while using their 'seat', and can figure out quickly the dimensions of the bathroom, how many sf of tile it took to do their floor and shower, AND could give a pretty fair estimate as to the cost of it all.

Of course, you bring it up in conversation and they tell you that they spent twice as much money as it should have cost and all you can then think of is: fools. OR

You wonder if you've missed your calling. Maybe you should design kitchens, bats, etc...since you're so observant.

Makes me also wonder what I should do with the numbers I have come up with counting fabric patterns on the back-sides of a stranger's fanny. I'd guess I'd rather be TKO than TFO. (figure it out)

LOL, I used to be in the restaurant business, and I can't go out to eat without analyzing how the operator is doing everything and, of course, how I would do it better. Wife says she can't relax when we go out to eat anymore. I think some of us have a bit of OCD.