I’m 29 and live with my dad, who’s 58, in the house I inherited from my grandmother. He moved in after his divorce two years ago, and we get along really well.
About six months ago, he started dating a woman—let’s call her Linda. She’s pleasant enough, but she has a habit of crossing boundaries. She decided our home needed “a woman’s touch” and began redecorating without asking either of us.
It started with throw pillows. Then she replaced the kitchen curtains. Rearranged the living room furniture. Bought new towels and tossed out the old ones. My dad kept asking her to stop, but she insisted she was “just trying to help” and “make the place feel more homey.”
Last month, she mentioned painting the living room. I told her absolutely not—this is my house, and she doesn’t live here. She accused me of being “territorial.”
I’d had enough. This house belonged to my grandmother, who passed away three years ago. I told my dad I was going to mess with Linda a little, and he said he’d stay out of it.
Linda has this odd habit of coming over when my dad’s at work to “tidy up,” which really means rearranging things. So I started subtly undoing her changes—tilting picture frames, moving cushions, rearranging books.
Then I began placing my grandmother’s old items around the house—her jewelry box open in the guest room, her rocking chair in different spots, her reading glasses on random tables.
Linda told my dad things kept moving and she felt like someone was “rearranging after her.” He played dumb.
Last week, she came over while I was home. I heard her moving furniture downstairs. I draped my grandmother’s old shawl over my shoulders and walked slowly past the living room doorway without saying a word.
She screamed, dropped what she was holding, and asked if I saw “the woman in the old shawl.” I said, “What woman?” She described exactly what I was wearing. I told her it sounded like my grandmother’s shawl, but I hadn’t seen it in years.
She left immediately and told my dad the house was haunted. She hasn’t redecorated since. My dad thinks it’s hilarious. My sister says I went too far and should’ve just had a direct conversation—but I did. Multiple times. She didn’t listen.
