Symmetry

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I'm not that bothered about symmetry, but funnily enough, by coincindence, I've been trying to hang a new picture this morning and it won't hang straight and it's driving me mad!

I like most things to be staggered and don't like things in a row, however crooked pictures do bother me. I had to decide recently whether to centre a picture over a fireplace or under the beam above it. Both looked odd but decided eventually on the fireplace . I like a tablecloth to be absolutely equal on all 4 sides but draw the line at getting out the measuring tape ?.
I'm Taurus. Does that figure?

Straight lines on things don’t bother me, but I am definitely ocd on tidiness , I’m sure my dd and dil are glad when I go home and they can eventually find stuff again ?also colours have to match, even flowers, passed that onto my son poor thing ??

Symmetry is about balance and there are lots of symmetrical things in our lives eg faces etc. Psychologically it can mean stable, calm, peaceful and grounded etc.

Children with autism often line things up and there routines can be very intense and time consuming.

I can identify with many things that have been said and whilst I'm not over the top with it I would find the cut on a flooring very noticeable especially as they are expensive to fix and you usually have to live with them for a while.

I suppose it's about keeping things in perspective. If anyone has ever seem "Misery" with James Caan and Kathy Bates, brilliant film, there is a scene in there where the ornamental penguin has been moved. That always makes me laugh as I know if any of my things have been slightly moved, lol. I'm really not like the Kathy Bates character though.

Symmetry doesn't bother me at all but lack of it really irritates my husband. We have a rack by the door with dog towels on it, he always has to fold them tidily but he doesn't take out the dirty ones. I can have a beautifully folded pile of dirty towels !!
As my husband does all the DIY in our house its good to have everything just so.

MissAdventure.
I have learned to live with the imperfect. If I didn't I would be completely crazy by now. My disability even means I have to leave bits of paper on the floor sometimes when they blow down and the pain is too much for me to pick them up.

I have serious problems in my house and no money. I have tried to put very cheap vinyl tiles on top of warm stuff on a concrete floor because my feet are constant ice blocks. The glue I lavish on oozes out and everything sticks on it. I get about three tiles (30cm²) done in one day with two to three days off in between to recover. It's so slow and factor in to that the fact that I no longer am able to prepare a proper meal because the pain prevents me.

So, compromises about how things look? Well if I didn't I'd be dead.

Molly10. I cannot be particular about an ornament being moved - see my previous answer.

However, I cannot cope with certain things. My breathing stops and I feel uncomfortable when I see, for example:
"Children with autism ...... and there routines..."
Then I inwardly (sometimes outwardly) scream.

sodapop. Have you seen "Sleeping with the Enemy"?

Pictures and ornaments should be arranged in 3s or 5s never even for the best look. Symmetry on a mantlepiece especially looks really odd to me. Things like wallpaper should always be started in the middle so the corner pieces are of an even size. The same goes for tiles...floor or wall. These are standard interior design guidelines.

Just can't believe that people are bothered by such things but then we are all different.

Interesting thread. Right there with pegs on the line, overhang on the bedspread, folding the towels. OH & youngest son are inveterate counters. Definitely hereditary - F in L was a counter too.

BORING

Same here, NotAGran - I adore Georgian houses and wish I had a deep enough purse to afford one. Maybe, one day. I'm a down-to-earth (but dreaming) Capricorn.
In the meantime I make do with lining up my ornaments in a symmetrical fashion on my shelves - clock in the middle, two items on each side. It simply can't be any other way.
When I alter the volume control I put it at an even number - perhaps I need help!

My thing is washing hanging on the line. I always hang similar things together automatically. Recently recovering while I was from cancer a friend hung out my washing a few times and obviously I didn’t say anything, but found it irritating that everything was all higgilty piggilty. Also watching tv programmes when someone is hanging out washing and they don’t seem to have a clue how to do it properly.

I don't care about symmetry either. I had plants arranged at odd angles in the garden and was quite annoyed when a friend straightened them into lines to look neat!

When my mother reached the stage of needing some help I used to clean her windows, do the dusting etc. She drove me mad by coming behind me, fractionally tweaking ornaments and curtains. Everything had to be ‘just so’, and I never managed to please her.
Perhaps because of this I tend to be rather untidy, and symmetry doesn’t bother me. However, I would find having a wonky tiled floor rather annoying!
I am very proud of recently managing, at almost 80, to lay new bathroom vinyl all by myself. I avoided the tiled look, which made the job easier, and did it in short bursts with lots of ‘breathers’ and coffee breaks. Fitting it around my new corner shower and the loo, was tricky, but I have done (in all modesty) a very professional job!
My DD, who is beginning to treat me like an old lady, was most impressed. It’s a job that she would never dream of tackling!

Tillybelle I have just read your post about how you are struggling to do even simple things. Now I feel guilty about ‘showing off’ about my vinyl-laying skills. I do sympathise with you. I am in the early stages of osteo-arthritis, and sometimes struggle to tie my shoelaces. I dread the thought of becoming really incapacitated, which is why I felt the need to prove that I was still ‘up to the job.’

stevej4491
Did anyone hold a gun to your head and force you to read such a 'boring' thread?
Oh, and another thing, if you're bored, go and do something constructive, volunteer, help someone in need, it's far better than making ridiculous, childish comments!

Couldn't, woukd have to get the flooring lifted or something moved to hide the fault but even then it would bug me knowing it was still there.

I'm definitely not a tidy person, but my clutter and mess is symmetrical! I just have to straighten wonky pictures, haphazardly laid place settings at the table and items of furniture that don't sit parallel to each other. I've even been known to tweek displays in shops, especially IKEA.

Oh no that would drive me mad Miss adventure. I'm the same with the curtains being just so JanaNana. I have green pegs and yellow pegs for hanging out the washing. I have to use the green ones up first and couldn't bear to hang something with one green and one yellow. Ornaments are arranged in a certain way. The folds in the voile net curtains have to be even. I'm not like this with everything though. One of my friends when she was alive used to call me Miss Perfect. she used to get me to hang her net curtains for her.

Oh yes & boring too! I'm growing into that as I get older & its rather pleasant. My ambition is to become like the motor car buff portrayed by Michael Palin in in one of his Ripping Yarns.

Tillybelle
I'm doing the exact same thing as you; sticking down vinyl tiles in my bathroom, bit by bit.
They're almost done now, so I'm doing a bath panel out of them too.
They're looking rather good (and straight!) and cost just a few pounds all in all.

I'm a Libran so no crooked pictures/ paintings, wallhangings for me, they have to be straight or it gets on my nerves if they're skew-wiff. Towels straight and not flung.

Ornaments compliment each other. Dogs only on one cabinet top. Figurines on the mantlepiece and pairs of dogs and cats on the hearth.

Hahahaha, yet I have a " corner " at the side of the armchair that's beginning to resemble a rubbish dump.