MIL has given us a massive picture I really don’t like

[BillyButterfly]

More of a what would you do? Moved into our new home. MIL has bought a massive (truly massive- think full wall) picture which is really not my taste as a gift. Not sure tbh if she has deliberately given it knowing I would hate it but feel compelled to display it. Using the excuse that we are decorating at the moment but she keeps asking where we will be putting it. She is the type to be really difficult if I told the truth. Would I be unreasonable to accidentally break it?

My mil got extremely offended when do came home with the curtains she was throwing out.
Made him take them back - not a dumping ground for stuff she doesn't want

Somebody down our road has one of those twee little fake blue plaques up on the wall outside next to the door. It has a number of very specific details on it and would be an ID thief's dream when matched with the address - it says (details changed but the equivalent of) "Brenda Tomkins, born 2nd March 1952, amazing Wife, Mum and Grandma, World's best macrame artist and all-round Star".

I'm presuming that she wasn't arrogant enough to have had it made up with those words on it herself. I wonder if she is a real extrovert who simply loved it when she unwrapped it and grabbed the drill and screwdriver immediately or, more likely I'm imagining, her face dropped to the floor when she saw it and kept stalling the giver for as long as she possibly could until they absolutely insisted at gunpoint

Buy a massive picture to your taste (but not MIL’s, this is important) and gift it to her. Then ask on repeat where she’s going to put it. If she admits she doesn’t like it then you can freely admit the same. Or just tell her you don’t like it.

never hang art you don't like out of politeness.
SIL once gave me a small print by an artist I don't much care for. I hung it out of politeness, thinking I'd give it a six month tour of duty before retiring it.

Next birthday, my friends all chipped in to get me two large prints by the same artist, as one of them had spotted the one SIL gave to me and "knew how much I liked him" .

Your DH needs to bite the bullet and tell MIL that although you really appreciate the gift the painting isn’t the style the two of you want In the new house. He can ask her would she like it back and see what she says.

Tempting as it is, don't ruin it. I'd tell her honestly you're struggling to place it in your home and stress how personal decorating, interiors and art are.

Charity shop reject on Mil's behalf.

Say thanks so much but we plan to put a feature wall there. Or whatever.

I am direct so would say something straight away. But my bad.

I'm making notes about all these awful things to buy for when I am a MIL in the future.

@Junjulaug.....has provided the very answer to your dilemma. Hang up her painting and then buy a similarly huge one for her ...something nice and loud Warhol pop-art etc. Put her in the same position OP.

I can't believe people are telling you to destroy it! You may not like it but someone else might.
Either woman up or tell your husband to tell her thanks but no, neither of you like it. Be gracious but firm.

Buy her this beauty for Xmas as a return gesture! 😉

We are going Covid mad these days lol.

Dare I mention Johnson/Brexit too, Omg it is no wonder we might be. wink.

Why doesn't your husband tell her he doesn't like it? He needs to man up on this issue...

Does she like cats by chance?

[quote ViciousJackdaw]@YouUnlockedTheGateAnd Absolutely beautiful - a true dystopian masterpiece!

On the subject of Kinkade, how about this stunning centrepiece, yours for £130 from that well respected emporium of elegance, Bradford Exchange.[/quote]
Oh Christ, my mother has one of those and loves it. She would love that too :/

This reminds me of the time we visited my aunt and there was this big, artsy standing glass lamp in her living room. It was very clearly not her taste. My uncle had bought it. My mum remarked that since it was glass and top heavy she could probably accidentally knock it over when vacuuming. I'll never forget my aunts blush when she softly told my mum: "actually.... there were two of them...."

Don't reward her bad behaviour. She must know that's such an inappropriate gift, trying to impose her taste on YOUR home.

I’m baffled by some of these responses.

You and DH put your big girl pants on and say:

‘thank you very much for the generous present, much appreciated. However it’s not our taste and too large for the cottage. Art is very individual. We will ensure it finds a good home’.

@MrsBobDylan

You could give her cushions with your face in op, they always make a welcome gift.

brilliant !!

I don't know if there's something wrong with me but I really don't get all these people saying 'spill paint on it' and similar? Why would you do that?

If my mam gave us art for our home that we didn't like I'd just say 'thanks mam but I really don't like it! Sorry! Can we return it or exchange it for something else?' And that would be the end of it. She wouldn't mind... what's the alternative? I love with something I don't like in my home? That would be weird.

Is your partner that wet that he can't have a normal conversation with his own mother?

Mil give DH a framed photo of her and FIL in their younger days. She wanted us to display it. They had just had a very acrimonious divorce and I dislike both of them, DH wasn't too impressed either. It never went up, and , surprisingly, she never mentioned it.
For DHs birthday she left a framed poster of Liverpool FC that was free with a newspaper, when they won the league, on our doorstep. We hadn't spoken to her for about 4 years at this point. It went in the bin.

Oh god mil volunteered in a charity shop and
keeps trying to buy us awful stuff. She once sidled up and stuck a painting of a dog under my nose. It was very 70’s, badly done and had a horrible grubby frame. I tried to be nice but my face gave me away and it went swiftly back.

Every drawer and cupboard is rammed with stuff in her house. When I moved in with dh he had a hold-all in the cupboard filled with crockery that she had no space for in her 3 bedroom house with garage and shed. It was deemed DH had space in his 1 bedroom flat 🤷🏻‍♀️. When we moved he phoned her to ask what she wanted done with it all, she had forgotten and could we just hold onto
It as she had no space. He told her either take it or I’ll til it. Apparently we were unreasonable not wanting to keep her old toot!

I have one of these in my MIL. We have a couple of works that haven't been displayed. One is a full sized knock off (impressively recreated, to be fair) of a famous painting that is in display in the national gallery - we do not have a stately type home. There is a place on our landing where we could put it, or it could occupy a wall of our lounge, but it would still look very odd in our 1930s house.

Another is extremely strange. Can't describe as outing, but a very modern print.

My MIL is very kind but has that old lady taste that sometimes manifests as a love for cut glass items.

Her sister once (when we were poor students) gave us a whole set of cut glass glasses and we were pretty grateful because: free stuff that we could drink out of.

So then we received cut glass vases, candle sticks etc.

Luckily we now live in Australia so they don’t see these things are fully packed in the garage, AND we don’t get any more!

Unfortunately, my parents, who have brilliant taste and lots of money are much too careful to think of foisting their taste on us, even though I would be perfectly happy for them to

You are going to have to tell her. What if you spill paint on it and she replaces it with a similar one? Then You will be stuck.