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bumblebeezgw

Are you a Big Picture person?

Or do you focus in on the minutiae while oblivious to everything else?

I used to be that way and still fight it; sometimes it's money, easier to spend a hundred than larger amounts that require research time and hired labor (or saving for something) but the internet is beguiling also, easy to click on a "thing" instead of hiring someone to do something that is really needed/productive/noticeable.

I have also seen people carefully save for the big picture, have it well executed, and be oblivious to the small details (more $$$$) that would really make it look great.

Comments (18)

  • tibbrix
    9 years ago

    Ah! My degree is in philosophy, and when I was considering making it my major, I was talking to the chairmen of the philo department, and he told me that philosophers think differently than most. Most people think like a pyramid, i.e.: small down to big, while philosophers think the opposite way. They think like a pyramid sitting on its tip, top down - broad thinking to narrowing it down. That is exactly how I think It can be very obnoxious for others.

  • awm03
    9 years ago

    Definitely a big picture person. I can do architecture/color schemes/basic layouts but can't do details like accessories or fabric coordination or compositions.

    I considered being a philosophy major! Instead, I passed those pondering genes to my son, who was a philosophy major.

  • Christy Bell
    9 years ago

    Nope - small picture/details

  • tomatofreak
    9 years ago

    Big picture. Nothing is more maddening than being partnered to someone who sees one little detail/task/purchase at a time. That's the way to spend time and money like a sailor and still not get what you want or expected.

  • sas95
    9 years ago

    Big picture by nature but I work in a profession where small details are also important. So I can do both, though my preference is not to get too bogged down in details.

  • Fun2BHere
    9 years ago

    I plan and budget based on the overall scope of work, but I pay attention to the details when executing the work.

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I have read, and agree, that people who spend regularly on small luxuries- whatever that may be for them-, are happier than those who don't and always save for the big ticket items. I know I am making this about money and it really isn't at all, it's the perspective. I know both kinds and can see that theory most definitely at play.

  • finallyhome
    9 years ago

    Unfortunately, I can see the big picture but can't implement it. And it's not about money (well, not always). It is more a fear of making a wrong decision.

  • lilylore
    9 years ago

    I like to have a big picture, but it can be vague, like a feeling or style. Rooms, should start with the placement of the furniture, I believe -so if that's the big picture. Whether you put a pallet board day-bed piled with pillows in front of the windows (Bohemian), or a camel-back sofa flanked with matching end tables in front of the windows (Traditional), the placement is the same.

    From there, I think that the best rooms evolve, with the elements being switched out time and again. It is important to have an idea or a mood for the room, whether it's formal or relaxed, say, like a lighthouse for a ship lost at sea, it's something to direct you. But the little things, the trinkets and accessories, are like incentives to decorating, are the happy luxuries that BBz mentions.

    I used to believe that if you bought what ever you liked, it will all come together, but after having helped several friends with their decors*, I found that may only be true for some people, and work better in certain styles like bohemian. For everyone else a lighthouse might work better.

    *I have learned that many folks don't have a clue what they like, even if they have very distinct opinions about not liking something. I had a friend who said that she "absolutely hated louvered shutters". When I pointed out that she had louvered doors on all her closes she looked at me like I was daft, she went, "Not like that!, You know what I mean". What she meant by "absolutely hating louvered shutters" was that she hated Shabby Chic, and associated distressed shutters with that style and look.

  • tibbrix
    9 years ago

    When it comes to spending on the house, I always think long term. What will last; what will prevent a bigger, more costly problem;what might add value to the house re: resale; and since I rent my house, what will assist in appealing to renters. Very big picture thinking, and spending, where the house is concerned. Much more detailed thinking when it comes to language and dialogue.

    Re: Philo degree: really great field of study, but unfortunately, critical thinking is not highly valued in American culture any longerâ¦and it shows, IMO. I do wish they'd bring Civics back to elementary schools and Critical thinking to junior high and high schools.

  • TheRedHouse
    9 years ago

    My one big talent is to be able to envision the big picture and see all the details that make it up. I can bring those details together to form the big picture. I think that's why I make mosaics. It's also the reason I've been handed control of inventory and budgeting/purchasing in every job I've ever had.

    In decorating terms, if I'm willing to spend the money, I enjoy taking a room from big idea to complete- down to the tiny details. I haven't had the opportunity to do that often though because we haven't settled in a house we intend to keep. Even though I know what I would do if we were staying in our current house, it would be foolish to implement those ideas when we intend to sell. The next house should be a lot more fun.

  • tibbrix
    9 years ago

    RedHouse, you just described the raison d'être of philosophy perfectly! Lol.

  • melsouth
    9 years ago

    I clicked on your post thinking you were asking whether people like large pieces of art on their walls.
    (Maybe that answers your actual question.)

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Actually, I just bought a board for a 48" x 78" painting I am about to start.
    All the small picture people, looked startled at the prospective paintings size!

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago

    Big picture down to smaller and smaller and smaller details. But ultimately you need to know what the smallest detail is going to be because the big picture has to support the smallest detail.

    For example, I am gut renovating two bathrooms and the Finished Dimensions of the bathroom are based upon full tile sizes so there are no weird cuts or slivers in important places. So I had to select the tile First, because the entire bathroom had to be built around the tile.

    I drive myself and others crazy, but the smallest detail sometimes dictates the big picture way back at the very beginning. For my own projects I only work with contractors who understand this thought process.

  • busybee3
    9 years ago

    I can get overwhelmed with the big picture. when we recently moved, I felt overwhelmed with the big picture of the empty house and lots of stuff to unpack and fit into it! I also get bored sometimes with big projects and need several things going on and like it best when I can move about from project to project working on bits(small projects) until things get done-- I'm like that when I clean too.
    I work best on big projects when I have a deadline...
    overall, I think I'm more of a detail oriented person...

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    9 years ago

    I think I am a big picture person (my houses all have a "big picture" narrative ... my first house was easy because it was a brick Georgian colonial and quite formal, so that was the context for all of the decor... my primary house I liked to think of as a simple farmhouse till Marcolo added "after a particularly good crop" ... and of course we collectively have dubbed the summer place our travelling Sea Captain's house). But I'm also a medium picture person. I see rooms as vignetttes, like my unfitted Maine kitchen, which I think of as not redone since the house was built, but outfitted with new appliances in the 40s and 50s as technology improved. And ,of course, I'm a detail person (rope trim on the cushion on the coatrack in the Maine kitchen, with aprons in a turquoise to match the fridge etc etc ) and that is the most fun.

    I think you need to be able to toggle back and forth between perspectives. Some details that you may not like in and of themselves are important to your big picture. And some details you love will simply get lost.

  • juliekcmo
    9 years ago

    This is an interesting question.
    Recently DH and I were talking with a friend. He and his wife are considering an update on their kitchen. She was not present during this conversation. Friend and his wife know that we have done a renno in our last house, and update in our present house, and he was picking our brain on the subject.

    My DH and friend were talking about this and that, some of the details. Things like they wanted to take out a wall and add granite countertops.

    Then I started asking very specific questions as to how these details related to the big picture. Such as, is there upstairs plumbing running through the wall they want to remove? Are they doing this for resale, or for long term use? How soon would they probably move?

    Then my DH said to his friend that I was really good at getting to this essence of the problem analysis. His friend was surprised at how much detail there was to consider. He asked what I thought, and I said that before doing 1 thing that they needed to understand the entire scope of the project, and then make sure there was enough money for it plus contingency. Because if it is underfunded, then the only thing that typically can be cut is the at the end, and that is options on the quality of the finishes on what you see and feel and touch. But that is all that potential home buyers understand. They don't understand recessed engineered wood beams or rerouting plumbing. Only fancy countertops and the like.