Hi. My name is Terrie. I am addicted to do-it-yourself projects. I have DIY.

Uh … well, I guess my journey into this hideous addiction began years ago when I was a teenager. I decided to rearrange my room one day … and, uh, I couldn’t stop.

I tried to resist the urges. I really tried but it spun out of control. Soon I was rearranging my room constantly, first weekly and then every other day. Then I started eyeing the living room.

My mother would come home from work, look around, sit me down and try to tell me gently that I needed help. It had to stop. I promised it would, that I could stop on my own; I didn’t need any help … but I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

When it was time for me to move out on my own I felt I was in control, and I could move into my own place and put all of this behind me. I did not realize that this is the worst thing that a DIY addict could do … to provide a blank canvas.

For a while it was just me, me and my demons, alone, rearranging everything, in all the rooms of my apartment, almost everyday. My demons did come in handy when I needed to move the couch or the entertainment center but then they started getting bored with just furniture. Gazing at the wall one day I heard them say, “That wall needs a little color.”

Soon I was begging my landlord to let me “add just a little paint … some color … only to one wall!” He insisted on upping my security deposit and I eagerly agreed. I would pay anything to get a can of paint into that apartment! He also insisted that when I moved out the wall be returned to its original condition – white. Or, actually, it was more of an antique white, with perhaps the smallest undertones of gray which really isn’t the best color that should be on those walls as there isn’t a lot of natural light that comes in.

Oh! Uh, sorry. Soon I was seeking out enablers: Landlords who would give the tenet free reign with the property. Security deposits, moving costs, new furniture to go with the newest and latest décor, it all started to add up – and fast! Finances were spinning out of control. I started hearing rumors that my family was planning an intervention. But I couldn’t stop. There were always new paint colors, new magazines, huge furniture sales, markdowns on accessories, “This Old House” on PBS and then … cable TV.

First HGTV: “Decorating Cents,” “Design on a Dime,” “Surprise By Design.” Then TLC: “Trading Spaces” and “While You Where Out.” If I wasn’t painting or rearranging, I was glued to the TV, which was on the wall opposite the front door but after a while I had decided that this wasn’t the first thing I wanted guests to see, so I moved it to the front door wall and found this fabulous original painting as a great focal point to put opposite the door.

Oops! Right. After a few more years, the seriousness of my problem finally came to its fruition: I bought a house.

Now I was nearing the bottom of this hideous disease. Walls came down and plaster went up. Fireplaces were put in and tiling in the kitchen and bathroom; hardwood floors and special texture techniques on the walls.

And my own parking space at the local home improvement store.

My kids ran screaming whenever I picked up a tape measure. I was out of control! I needed help and that’s when I found all of you at DIY Anonymous.

So, my new friends, I must tell you the color you have on the walls here is just not right for the amount of light we have coming in. Those windows are too small for the room and if we got some new treatments we could add a grander feeling overall.