It’s easy to get irritated by people who are concerned about details. These are the people who seem to have a homunculus who walks around in their head with a lab coat and stopwatch.
They are bothered by a comma, in the wrong place (that was on purpose), they get upset if the dishwasher is not stacked the way they prefer, it takes them two months to settle on a colour to repaint the bedroom, they are convinced that they need to reorganize all their back issues of National Geographic, they sort their shopping bags by size and colour, they will not leave the house with dishes in the sink, they obsessively wipe dust off their computer screen and clean their keyboard with dipped-in alcohol cotton swabs, they know the price of 100 medium-size paper clips, and the exact number of CDs they own.
We give them interesting descriptives: pernickety, obsessive, perfectionist, pedantic. We feel they have a skewed sense of importance and lack a sense of proportion. They can magnify trivia until it becomes important enough to control their life. Behind their backs we mock them for their absurd devotion to things we believe are an utterly waste of time and attention.
They are as unaware of their particular propensities as the person who shows up with her famous casserole that is famous for all the wrong reasons.
But what actually bothers us about fussy people is not that they are interested in detail – but rather that we sense that they are focused on the wrong details – that is, on unimportant ones.
Sometimes we need to recruit and honour fussy people – because fussiness well-directed is a key to success. It just needs to be directed in areas that matter.
Like in styling a home.
Many feel that the 80/20 rule is good enough – there is no need to be overly fussy. Known as the “Pareto Principle”, the 80-20 rule states that 80% of outcomes can be attributed to 20% of the causes for a given event.
But this law of the vital few is not the law I like to use when styling or decorating a home.
In order to save time, energy and money, some insouciantly think it is ‘good enough’ to shove extraneous items into closets or basements or anywhere they think no one will look or that it doesn’t matter.
It matters.
The only people you may be fooling with the oppressive intimacy of overstuffed closets, halls, storage rooms or basements – is you.
Art that is not hung well can ruin a room, even if the furniture and accessories are placed properly.
Conversely, if done properly, it can triple the overall effect of a room. Like the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, it is worth the time, expense and effort to have it done professionally. You could say it’s the art of diversion – and excellent styling.
From surfeit to loss
We may also include in the “fussy and odd” category, people who are a bit off base with their thinking of how rooms should be decorated. Many are confounded thinking they need to buy new pieces or that they need to get rid of pieces.
I have rescued many homes where the only problem is that the furniture is arranged badly. This makes a world of difference. It is a matter of proper spacial planning, integrating appropriate traffic paths and designing intimate conversation groupings.
Sometimes pieces can be used in another room and be given another use. For example, if the dining room doesn’t have room for the matching hutch, it could be moved to a bedroom to be used for storage, crafts, sewing materials, or to house clothes.
Think about going an extra mile by giving some time and attention to tweaking closets, kitchen cupboards, bookshelves; or bringing some colour in by painting a feature wall, buying bright toss cushions or a throw: or purchasing matching storage baskets, towels, bedskirt or a better lamp, so as to bring the room to is full majesty.
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