Would this annoy you or am I overacting?

[FancyChinesetonight]

DD overheard BIL slagging off our new fireplace to FIL. Apparently he said “have you heard they’ve got a new fireplace it’s not a very good one though” then he caught DD listening and smiled and said hey as he knew she was listening.

MIL&FIL have also had a fireplace put in so I feel as he was referring to ours probably isn’t as good as theirs

This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this as he’s an incredibly jealous person.

Ive invited him for a week away for my birthday and now I don’t even want him there.

I know it’s just a bloody fireplace but if anything it just feels hurtful.

Let it go

He doesn’t like your fireplace. It’s no biggie 🤷‍♀️ Unless there’s lots of backstory, just let it go and tell your DD not to earwig on other people’s conversations.

You are overreacting and it clearly is bigger than the fireplace

Sounds jealous and immature.
Ignore and rise above his childish behaviour.
Who cares what he thinks? You like your fireplace, he doesn't, so what?
As for the birthday invite maybe too late to retract the invite. Has he accepted?

As I said it isn’t the first time he’s done something like this. Slagged us off because we didn’t invite him on holiday last year. We invited him this year and now he’s slagging off our possessions in front of our daughter.

He sounds like a twat but honestly, who cares? It’s just a fireplace.

I really wouldn't give a shit, honestly.

Do you not like BIL?

I agree I just think because it isn’t the first time I’m just wound up! He acts like a brat.

What a boring conversation to have anyway! I can’t imagine telling someone “ Did you know xyz has a new fireplace” . Honestly OP its not worth giving it a second thought

You can’t slag off an inanimate object, they don’t have feelings to be hurt. You seem unreasonably attached to your fireplace to take criticism of it so personally.

It would annoy me tbf but I wouldn’t fall out about this. I’d say ‘I hear your not keen on my new fireplace’ and watch him squirm

On its own I wouldn't be bothered but as you've said this isn't the first thing then I can understand why you're annoyed.

Why did he think he should be invited on your holiday?

The issue here is not the fireplace

The issue is that you do not like your BIL

So the question now is what do you do about the fact you do not like your BIL?
Your options, that I can see are the following:

Speak to him (or get DH to speak to him) about his twatty behaviour and ask him to not do twatty things
Or don't spend time with him anymore
Or decide that he has some good qualities that outweigh the twattiness and you think it's worth it to ignore the twattiness and continue spending time with him

Good luck xxx

Irritating but not worth getting yourself upset about

Who cares if he likes your fireplace or not

He’s an arse, you know that. Why are you expecting him to behave like a nice person?

Just let it go.

He sounds like a dickhead but I really wouldn't give a shit what someone I didn't even like thought of my fireplace.

I'd laugh about it. Who cares what he thinks? It's yours to enjoy. If he dislikes it, no skin off your nose. It's embarrassing for him he got caught being a bitchy gossip.

The funny thing is he came round that day and said he absolutely loves it 🤣 we are actually really close with him. But whenever we get something new (it can be anything) or not invite him somewhere you see a really different side to him.

Why is he entitled to a holiday invitation?

Families, eh?

Bit of a back story he is gay (hasn’t come out) 27 lives on his own and doesn’t have any friends. He’s always followed along with me and DH or his mum and dad. We can’t go in holiday without him giving us the silent treatment . I’ve just had enough of it all.

Probably knows you’re uber sensitive to criticism of inanimate objects.

Exactly! He clearly just likes being snide and gossipy and you know why. Let him get on with it. His dislike of your things has zero impact on you, you haven't got them to please him. You also know that underneath he most likely does like your things. It's not a great personality trait unfortunately. I'd be polite, but not overly invested in the relationship from now on.

Remember people's perception of you or your possessions is a reflection of them.

Smile 😃

Enjoy life.

I would laugh at this, it's so pathetic & sad. Even a new fire place is a source of gossip and criticism. They must have very little of interest going on in their lives 😁