My interior geek focuses on things....like I can see a scan of a wall on a TV show or a movie and say.."There's an Ansel Adams hanging there"...or see a cowboy movie with ma serving up beans...on Mason's pink vista! Or....and this really kills me...someone will post a picture of a glass tower, you know stuff they glue together to put in the garden....and I spot an 1870 pattern glass cake plate as a base... shudder....thinking of a hail storm....
Linda C

OMG, I am rolling on the floor, "pudding grin" too, too funny todd. I am OCD over everything and a design geek to the 10th power. I notice everything. I just haven't figured out if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Thanks for the laugh.

I kept thinking, **what the heck is an Interior Design Greek??**

You can stop laughing now.

You are all making me giggle!

I am excellent at knolling.....

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Knoll

ttodd, DH asked me what I was giggling about. ;D

After taking a college set design class, I have never watch a movie or tv show without looking over it all. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching the movie or just looking at the design. Can't remember the exact details, but we were at a movie 6+/- months ago and I remember pointing out something to DH - talking in the movie. I never talk in a movie. lol

I have been to some of the new History related museums or public buildings in the area but have only a vague idea what the exhibits were, but I know the details about how the panels or casework meet the floor, how they did the glazing, whether the veneers are matched or not.

I don't remember the first meal I ate at a then newly opened restaurant, but I remember figuring out the stonework was a veneer and that the tables had a poured epoxy surface. I know who makes and how expensive the light fixtures are in another restaurant I've only walked by.

I predicted that the lighting, number of restrooms and number of elevators would prove inadequate at the opening of a performance venue, and ten years later they are trying to raise $10M to fix those things. But I've never seen a performance there.

I go to the opera and try to figure out how the sets are constructed so that they can be altered between acts rapidly. I sat through different productions of the same opera and didn't realize it until the end--because the way they had handled the sets was so different.

I have a small curio cabinet my father made. The glass door has a lock and a key in it about an inch long. I found a tiny tassel to put in the key. And of course it had to be a certain color. How geeky is that?

Ttodd - that made me laugh. :)

Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is when I'm out and about I now find myself thinking how something "really looks like such and such a color."

I spotted the aura fan deck getting used on a DIY network show...can't remember which one. And I can spot vintage MCM furniture/decor vs. repros. Every. single. time.

OMGosh, Pal... I do those first two things too! Never sat through one opera, much less two, but I do the same thing with theater.

We go out to eat several times a week. One place we go to at least once a week. They started adding to their decor (it's BBQ, veges, fish - everything is good, decent size menu).. anyway, there can be one new thing way across the room, but I see it the minute we walk in the door.

I also bought a quart of oil based paint to paint four screws for the visible outlet covers in my kitchen. And painted them with several coats and a tiny brush so the slot of the screw would look even all the way across its 1/4" diameter. (BM Ocean Air)

Guys - this is most enjoyable!

I have been known to blindly walk into street signs while trying to determine the exact architectural style of 8 buildings at once.

I've also been known to inadvertantly wander off and get separated from a group while investigating the interior architecture of buildings and never really knowing what the show or whatever it was that I was there for.

The only place that comes to mind recently where I didn't do that was at the Philly Please Touch museum. I guess the only way to distract me from a building is to give me 6 kids to watch and add a mom who doesn't give a crap about design! I seriously don't know how we get along so well!

You know the plastic clips they make for closing potato chip bags and things? Like these:

bag clip

I have them in a lot of colors, having bought some several times over the past years.

The interior design geek in me requires that I pick up the accent color on whatever package I am clipping with the clip color I choose. So the pretzel bag that is mostly brown with a green accent has a green clip. The frozen veggies that have a mostly green bag with a navy accent have a navy clip. If I don't have the exact color of the packaging, I decide what color clip will work as an accent. Seriously, I have dug through the container to find the right color to use. Yes, I am truly a geek.

Oh Les, that is so funny. I imagine you also have the clip perfectly centered on the bag too!

Geez, Les, now I have one more thing to be concerned about. I'll never be able to clip a bag again without doing this! :( ;D

While we're talking about color - why do sponges only come in yellow, green, orange, blue and purple?!

Not sure if this counts, but we were in Savannah earlier in June. Went on a tour of the first house in the US to have indoor plumbing, (even before the White House, as they say).

Walked into the dining room and I was just drawn to the wall color, it was that elusive gray with slight lavender undertone. Very "ahead of it's time"....I whispered to the docent--"It's Gravender. Look it up"

Allison, the same issue bothered me about sponges (and my kitchen isn't even done yet- how OCD is this!) I went looking for a color that would match and I found these nicer looking white ones

Ha! Ha Bee! I would expect no less of you, you knowledgeable lass you!

I see lots of details that escape others. When I point out something, they just roll their eyes. I love to go for walks because I analyze everyone's landscapes, house colors, front doors, windows, etc.

I continually complain about black lamp and appliance cords. I have to paint mine; I just can't stand it. I paint the outlet covers and the screws, except my oil rubbed bronze ones.

I love old movies, love looking at the women's outfits, the houses and the cars. I love 1940's clothes. I guess I am an old soul - or just old.

I think to have an artist's eye, you have to see all the details.
Diane

I wouldn't call it a geek "power" since I am new to this whole design thing, but my DH thinks I'm nuts because I always ask his opinion on paint color/furniture/rugs/ you-name-it, from commercials. His response is always, "I didn't even see the XYZ that you're talking about!" Thankfully, I can rewind live TV so he can see it (as if he really cares...)

Thank you, Beagles. Have you purchased any of them?

I'm with you. and relieved. I have been this way since I was a kid.
My DH is used to me. But not so much the rewind deal- we haven't had that cabability long- he is already regretting it methinks!

I'm a geek too!

I do most of the above. Another habit that kind of bugs DH is when we go to a restaurant we haven't been to before, I'll sit back and critique the lighting, furniture, colors, etc., before I can really settle down and look at the menu. (Then I talk to him briefly before moving on to my other hobby -- people watching.)

Aaahh, I'm not alone & judging by the above, I have lots of company!

I go to house museums & ask decorating or architectural questions that the docents can never answer. NEVER. My SIL & I have a standing wager about getting an answer. Once, a Curator called afterwards to enlighten me.

My pet peeve is to see a tablescape (magazine, tv, movie, museum, house tour, etc) with cheap silverware or from the wrong era; I hone in on that like an eagle. Really??? A small fortune was probably spent or the setting &/or the design & still someone couldn't spring for the correct flatware?

When I go on house tours, I make notes as to what I liked & what really bugged me, especially in the kitchens.

antiquesilver - now that's funny: notes about what bugged you. I could see me doing that LOL!

BTW - I love 'knolling'. Who knew?!

This is why I love this place. Lets me know I am not alone!

DH actually has gotten to the point where he turns to me during commercials/movies before I've said anything and says "stop staring at the molding" or "yes, it's a beautiful (insert noun here) but we cannot afford it". Ha, he knows me so well.

I know I love decorating but I miss everything! I never noticed houses in movies until alerted here.
I rarely see anything important and that's in my own house too. I have to make myself pay attention to what is obvious to everyone else.

Head in the clouds most days!