We’ve all seen one of those “Transform This Room While My Partner is Away” TikTok videos or Instagram Reels by now, and with thoughtful planning and genuine effort, some of the results are outstanding.
But trying to improve a room with literal garbage? That sounds like a pass, cringed the already-queasy members of the “Am I Overreacting?” (AIO) subReddit.
Redditor Boring_Chain_8502 had been struggling with street noise in her at-home office, where she frequently had to participate in Zoom calls, and she wanted to better soundproof the space.
When she returned home from helping her mother prepare for surgery, the Original Poster (OP) was both surprised that her boyfriend had soundproofed the space for her, and disgusted by his method.
She asked the sub:
“Am I overreacting for literally walking out after my boyfriend ‘soundproofed’ my home office with dirty trash?”
The OP was struggling with sound pollution in her home office.
“I (27 Female) have been complaining about the noise from the street lately because I work from home and do a lot of Zoom calls.”
“My boyfriend (29 Male) is currently ‘between jobs’ and has been super into these life hack videos on Facebook and TikTok. He always says that I waste money on professional stuff when he could ‘do it for free.'”
After helping her mother, the OP came home to an unfortunate surprise.
“I went to my parents’ house for the weekend to help my mom with surgery prep, and I came back today to surprise him.”
“I walked into my office, and the smell hit me first. It smelled like… old milk and stale cardboard?”
“IÂ turned on the light, and I swear to god, I almost fainted.”
“He has glued, literally SUPERGLUED, hundreds of egg cartons to my walls, floor to ceiling.”
“But these were not, like… clean craft store ones. They were used ones. About 50 percent of them have dried yolk stains or weird crust on them.”
The OP did not have the reaction the boyfriend wanted.
“He came running in, beaming, looking so proud, asking if I noticed how ‘dead’ the sound was.”
“He told me he spent the last three days dumpster-diving behind the local bakery and asking neighbors for their trash to ‘save us 500 dollars on acoustic panels.'”
“I started crying. I couldn’t help it. I asked him how I was supposed to have clients see this background on video.”
“He got quiet and said I was being ungrateful because he spent hours applying the glue.”
The OP was shocked by the damage done to her office.
“I tried to peel one off, and it took a chunk of the drywall with it. So now the wall is ruined, too.”
“He’s currently locked in the bedroom, saying I ’emasculated him’ by calling it trash and that I care more about aesthetics than his effort to help me.”
“Am I crazy?? Like, am I overreacting for thinking this is actually insane behavior, or should I have just said thank you? I honestly don’t even know how to fix this without burning the house down.”
“AIO?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NOR: Not Overreacting
- YOR: You’re Overreacting
Some urged the OP to see this DIY project for what it was: a relationship deal breaker.
“The universe has gifted you this situation and ensuing arguments to utilize as ‘the last straw.'”
“Leave. His DIY acoustic tiles will be joined by things like aluminum foil over every window (light-blocking curtains), painting nail polish on the sink and tub enamel instead of replacing tub and sinks with new, not broken fixtures (you can hear the ‘you can’t even tell I did that!’ from here).”
“There’s careful penny pinching, saving up for larger purchases, and then there is whatever you call this (sucking the joy out of building a home and a life together).”
“NOR.” – Admirable-Anything57
“NOR at all. If he wants to live in a dumpster, then leave him to it. It will attract vermin.”
“I think you should move back to your mother’s place and tell him you are not returning until the home office is restored and all the damage to the walls repaired.” – Present-Level-1521
“NOR. Your boyfriend honestly either sounds stupid or on drugs.”
“This is one of those moments where you realize why you have to break up with him. This is insane, and I’m sure anyone in your life will agree with you!”
“Your mom going into surgery might be stressful, but at this moment, it might be a blessing. If they have the space to welcome you, and you have the relationship to handle it, I’d use helping your mom as an excuse to quietly and safely exit. You can then creep back in to remove your stuff when you know that he’ll be away, since he’s not working regular hours right now.”
“Based on his reaction to your reaction, he sounds like the type to cause a scene during a breakup, so just use your mom for now to make it seem temporary, when it is, in fact, permanent.” – secretly_a_possum13
“NOR. He is the one who went inside DUMPSTERS to acquire the materials. Calling it trash is the exact word to use in this scenario.”
“He thought he was gonna have a ‘gotcha’ moment and be all smug about saving you money, and he’s currently having a toddler meltdown down because you didn’t like his ‘masterpiece.'”
“It’s now going to cost you way more than $500 to fix this mess if you have to repair all of the drywall… or does he have a hack with that too, using homemade playdough made from half-eaten spaghetti or some nonsense too?!”
“Look, I had one of these types of boyfriends once. ONCE. I was painting my bedroom, and he watched me meticulously taping everything off that I didn’t want paint on, but as soon as I turned the sprayer on, I got a phone call and turned it off to go take it.”
“I came back in, and that man-baby had sprayed a half gallon of paint in a section no more than four-by-four feet, AND he had removed the tarp from the floor and had painted my carpet.”
“I came in like, ‘WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU DOING?!?’ He ‘saw’ what he did was wrong, and then went outside, flailed his arms around a bit, and huffy-flopped to the ground to pout, while I was desperately trying to find a paint roller to fix the paint dripping down the wall before it dried.”
“I ended up having to sand the whole wall and replace the flooring because of that id**t, who NEVER EVEN APOLOGIZED or came to help fix HIS mistake. He was in his 30’s, claimed to understand handyman work, and instead acted like he was three.”
“Don’t date man-children. Get your stuff out of there before the rats and mice nest in it, and go be with your mom to see out her surgery. Whatever comes next for you will be much, much better, cleaner, more mindful, and higher quality, guaranteed.” – KalikaSparks
“I work in audio, and egg cartons don’t work, like, at all. Not for deadening, and especially not for soundproofing…does he know those are two different things that require different approaches? Your boyfriend is an id**t.”
“And for your own information, the best way to filter outside noise is to plug any holes where sound may be coming in, weather-strip the doors and windows, and caulk any cracks.”
“You can find cracks by turning off all of the lights inside your room and shining a bright light onto the outer surface of your walls (outside the room). Wherever the light leaks in, so will sound.”
“Acoustic panels will not soundproof your room, at all. Acoustic panels are for keeping the sound of your own voice from bouncing off the walls and back at you, to prevent the echo of an empty room.”
“He may have spent a lot of time and energy diving and searching, but he did exactly zero research and just showed you how much he’s willing to do for you and your career, which is… not much.” – VoiceArtPassion
Others could scarcely imagine how difficult and costly this would be to fix.
“Whose place is this? Is this an apartment or a home you own?”
“Because this is going to be an expensive fix. I don’t trust him to fix the drywall damage he has caused.”
“You need to tell him he needs to pay to have this professionally fixed if this is a home you own, if it’s one you rent? Kiss your deposit goodbye.”
“Unless you’re not on the lease? At which point, move out and let him deal with this mess when the landlord sees the disaster he created.”
“And for the love of god, dump him, and take him to small claims court if he refuses to pay for the repairs.”
“Honestly, I hope this is rage bait. Because my skin is crawling right now.”
“NOR but J**us f**king chr**t, he’s denser than a brick wall.” – BeautifulChaosEnergy
“Penny wise, pound foolish.”
“I had an uncle like that, made mid-six figures, but he didn’t have a reliable car and multiple houses falling apart. He wanted to save money, which turned into bigger bills in the end.”
“OP’s boyfriend saved $500 on soundproofing, but it’ll likely be more time and money to fix what he did. He will be a drain financially and emotionally.” – Quick-Incident-4351
“Forget the odor and the aesthetics, wouldn’t that also be a fire hazard, having cardboard all over your walls? This just seems like a terrible idea for many reasons.” – goofball68
“All I’m thinking of is those videos of cockroach farm employees shaking them out by the hundreds from stacks of cardboard that look EXACTLY like egg cartoons. There’s food waste too! And it’s ruined your walls! Absolutely NOR.” – Satantic_Garlic28
“Ew. NOR. I hate filth and germs. If I saw that filthy, smelly trash on my home office walls, I would rip him a new one.”
“The smell, the sloppy appearance, and all of the work it will be to fix it is totally unacceptable.”
“If your boyfriend didn’t want to ‘feel emasculated,’ then he should have done the job right with respectable-looking sound insulation materials, not that slop he dumpster dived for.”
“How utterly disgusting.” – JoshuaofHyrule
The subReddit was thoroughly disgusted and completely agreed with the OP’s reaction to the mess and garbage can that had overtaken her home office.
This sounded like a far-cry from an attempt to help or surprise, and with her mother’s surgery on the horizon, it sounded like the perfect time for the OP to distance herself, and her possessions, before her boyfriend could attempt anymore DIY projects.