I actually like having stuff on my walls- pictures, prints, posters, all things that I’ve picked up places over the years or whatever. I have somewhat eclectic/modern taste (BGM knows!). I’m picky about what I put up. If someone kept foisting artwork on me, even if I *loved* it, I would NOT want 20 paintings hanging on every wall in my place. No way.
Now, I don’t think this necessarily means that she doesn’t appreciate your husband’s talent or dislike his style of artwork. I think that’s important to note. It may just be that for *her* taste, it may not be her cup of tea to hang all over her house, and one painting is enough.

I think most Baby Boomers who accumulate stuff do so without crossing the line into hoarding or having creepy collections. I was recently visiting a friend out west, and I’ve known her since high school. Her mom, while very nice, is a bit “off” and their house gives me the creeps with the amount of junk they have everywhere. Just so, so much clutter, and not the “this house is lived in” kind of clutter that I think a lot of people deal with. Visiting my friend was the first time I’d ever seen her in her own place, and her place isn’t nearly as bad as her parents’, but it’s odd, too. She’s in the beginning stages of the same clutter, collects things with snowmen as it turns out, and has a TON of those get-drunk-and-paint paintings decorating her place. While I guess I can understand that we’re all probably comfortable with what we grew up with, I was surprised that the apple didn’t seem to fall from the tree when it came to clutter and odd decor. She’s 31 and a doctor — she makes good money and can afford to buy nice furniture and art — but decorates EXACTLY like she did in high school. But now with snowmen everywhere. In June.

My mom went through a phase of what she called “treasure hunting.” This consisted of going to yard sales and collecting other people’s old crap. She was sure these were beautiful antiques. I just kept picturing having to go through all this junk when my parents die and not knowing what might actually be important. For example, she was collecting white lacy handkerchiefs. I know she has one that belonged to her great grandmother. I would want to keep that in the family. I have no idea which of these dozens of hankies was the one I would consider special. Which means it will end up getting tossed with the rest. If she still has it that is.

More recently she’s been in a phase of purging things with the idea of downsizing in the next few years. Then my parent’s house flooded last year and they lost a lot of stuff. They were finally just about finished getting the house put back together when it flooded again earlier this year. (They don’t live in what is considered a flood zone, so it was shocking the first time, almost unbelievable to happen twice in 8 mo.) This flood wasn’t as bad, but they still lost most of what they’d managed to salvage from the last one. So they’re pretty much minimalists now whether they like it or not.

My house, on the other hand is totally cluttered. I mostly blame the kids. They have so much stuff. And I think schools must get some kind of kickback from the paper companies for sending home as many notes, forms, worksheets… (and any other kind of handout they can think of) as they possibly can. We’re completely overwhelmed with it during the school year. I am by no means a spectacular housekeeper, but I anticipate the house being much, much neater when the kids have all moved out.

My mom is a hoarder. My dad and stepmom aren’t, but I remember my stepmom getting exasperated with me once when I sold/donated a bunch of stuff to move across the country. “When are you going to settle down an accumulate stuff?” I thought it was weird. It’s one thing to ask when someone will settle down or even buy a house, but “accumulate stuff” just seems like an milestone.