In-Laws from Hell·
NOT MY WALL ART
A parent objects to a daughter-in-law's beach painting, arguing the couple won't decorate their home with art they dislike, sparking a clash over boundaries, taste, and house rules.
Would you hang a gift you did not like?
Be one of the first to vote.
A beach painting ended up in the garage, and a son was soon on the phone demanding it be hung back up.
The poster's daughter-in-law had been married to their son for a few years and made art on the side, often giving paintings to friends and family. The poster said they were "not a huge fan of her art style," preferring nature scenes over people. "Also when she paints people they are stylized," the poster wrote. "I seriously dislike how she does portions." The faces and bodies in her work, they said, just did not sit right: "I don't like that the waists are tiny and the buts and boobs are huge."
Still, the gift came with good intentions. The daughter-in-law gave the poster a 24x36 painting of someone sitting at the beach, knowing the couple liked the beach. The poster thanked her at the time and assumed that would be the end of it. Instead, the painting went into the garage.
That may have stayed private if the family had not just moved. The poster and their husband had bought a smaller house and fully moved in, and the clutter purge was underway. "We downgraded our house, there is no place to put it that I wont see it everyday," the poster said. To fill the living room, they bought an ocean painting of their own.
Then the daughter-in-law visited to pick up old Fourth of July decorations. She saw her painting sitting in the garage and asked why it was not in the house. The poster first said there was no spot for it, but she kept pressing and even offered to help find one. That was when the poster dropped the polite version. "Not my type of artwork," they said. When pressed again, the poster said plainly: they were not a fan of the artwork.
The daughter-in-law went quiet.
Later, the son called, furious. He said his wife had been crying and that the poster needed to apologize and hang up the painting because it had taken her hours to make. The poster refused. "I'm not hanging it up," they said, adding that they did not want to decorate their home with art they did not like and would have to see every day. If the roles were reversed, they said, they would not expect her to hang up art she disliked, "becuase it is not my home."
The dispute was still going when the poster asked for opinions, drawing a hard line: "it's my house I can decorate it how I want."