I don’t have any closet progress to show today because, again, yesterday was a holiday in the U.S., and I took the day off. But now that the long three-day holiday weekend is over, I’ll get back to building the walk-in closet island today. But in the meantime, I want to ask that you participate in this thought experiment. I’m asking for your feedback on this simply out of sheer curiosity and not in an effort to shame anyone or anything like that. I’m motivated by sheer fascination and curiosity at how people’s brains work.
I don’t know if y’all know this, but when I went to college, I got a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. I did so, first and foremost, because I was interested in the human mind, how it works, nature vs. nurture, how that affects our minds, our behavior, our life choices, etc. My plan after graduation was to take a year off after getting my bachelor’s degree to decide if I wanted to go the MD route and become a psychiatrist or go the PhD route and become a licensed therapist. Fortunately, that year off led me in a vastly different direction and I never went back.
Looking back, I am so thankful that my life went a different way. That type of work requires much more of an analytical mind, and over the span of the last 30 years, I’ve realized more and more with each passing day that I don’t possess that analytical mind. I would have died a slow internal death if I (or my parents) had spent all of that money on that type of education and I had felt locked into that kind of work for the rest of my life. My mind may possess some of those analytical qualities, but my mind thrives on the artistic and creative side. Feeding that artistic and creative side of my mind is what makes me feel alive.
But I’ve never lost that fascination with how the human mind works, and how all of our minds work in very different ways. And that brings me to this (seemingly very random) topic for today.
The other day on my Addicted 2 Decorating Facebook page, I posted this side-by-side picture of a light that I saw on the Wayfair website and my studio pendant light. As soon as I saw that Wayfair light, I thought, “Oh, that reminds me of my studio light! And wow! Look at that price!“
And in the description of that post, I started with “This is why I DIY…” and talked about the price difference, etc. Now, of course, I have an advantage in that DIYing is literally my full-time job. So for me, time isn’t an issue. I realize that for those who work a full-time job, spending hours and hours making something might not pay off, so you’d be better off saving up money to purchase the item you want. But I compared not only the price difference, but also that by DIYing, you end up with something that is completely customized to your home — size, colors, etc. — and very often wind up with something that is completely unique and one-of-a-kind. Plus, there’s the satisfaction of being able to look at that thing and say, “I made that with my own hands!” For people like me, that’s one of the most satisfying feelings in the world, but I realize it’s not important for a lot of other people.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. That’s not even really the point I want to get to. That’s just the background of where today’s post came from. My question is about the responses that I got from a handful of people that genuinely shocked me and made me say, “Wait…WHAT? Seriously?”
There were only a few, but the comments went something like this…
These aren’t even remotely similar.
It’s not a version of that lamp. It’s a completely different lamp.
There are literally NO similarities.
Anyway, you get the point. The post has 630 comments, and these types of comments were a very small percentage. I would say I got no more than 10 comments from people who said there were NO similarities between the two lights. But these comments astound me, nonetheless.
I want to impress upon you that this has nothing to do with “mean comments” or anything like that. These comments weren’t mean. They didn’t make me angry. That’s not the point of this post. The whole point is that I’m truly and genuinely fascinated by the fact that some people can look at those two lights and see NO similarities at all. It’s like I want to study their brains. I want to spend a week shadowing them and see how they process information from the world around them and then compare notes at the end of the week to see how differently we both process the same information.
In fact, when I got the first comment about there being NO similarities at all, I just wrote it off as coming from someone who probably likes being a contrarian online. But then I got another. And another. And another. I thought, “How is that even possible?“
Because I look at those two lights and I see nothing but similarities. They both utilize multiple rings hung together on different levels in descending order of diameter. They both create visual interest with one item used hundreds of times in repetition. Yes, there are differences. The Wayfair light only has four rings, and mine has thirteen. The Wayfair light only has one color, and mine has thirteen. But the overall concept is the same. At least it is to my brain and the way that my brain processes information.
I’m so curious to know if you can see that or not. When you see those two lights side-by-side, does your brain tell you those are similar lights that are based on a similar design concept? Or does your brain tell you that there are absolutely NO similarities in those two lights?
Again, I ask for no other reason except for sheer curiosity. I know there’s no way to do a scientific poll on my blog, but I’m so curious about how the numbers are split. Will it be 50/50? Or 90/10? And if you see no similarities at all, how would you describe yourself? Would you describe yourself as a creative? Not creative? Do you enjoy doing creative things?
Maybe I’m not even asking the right questions. I just want to know more. I want to know more about the people who look at those and say, “Nope. Not similar at all.” I want to study your brains. 🤣 I want to understand how your brain processes information from the world around you.
Interestingly, the light that really inspired my studio light was the one that hangs in our music room.
That was my main inspiration. Again, I look at those two lights and I see many similarities. Are they the same? Of course not. That music room light has all of the rings on the same level and utilizes strings to attach multiples of the same item (capiz shells, specifically) on one string to create the visual of different levels, with the shorter strings around the outer ring, and gradually getting longer as they go towards the center of the light.
But that’s the main light that inspired my design on the right. So how about these two? Do you see the similarities in these?
I’m guessing if you answered “No” to the first comparison of the Wayfair light and my studio light, then this is a “Heck no!”. But if you answered “Yes” to the first comparison, is this a “Yes” also? Or is this one a “No”?
Anyway, I hope you’ll indulge me as I delve back into my psychology past for one post. I’m genuinely fascinated with this, and I’ve been thinking about it for days now. I’m fascinated with how different people process information and process the world around them. I’ll get back to the closet tomorrow, as my plan is to spend today working on the island. 🙂
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
