Ha! All the time = J

Maybe he noticed, but just has nothing to say about it?

Mine is surprisingly observant about new things. But he is totally absentminded about existing things. I mean, things will literally be in front of his face and he can't see it, but if I changed out lightbulbs he'd notice.

Oof. In our house, I'm the one who never notices something DH has tweaked. Usually his facial hair. Or something he has cleaned or put away From this day onward, I'm going to consider myself an absent-minded professor type.

My husband's theory is that women redecorate on a regular basis and so he would probably notice and say nothing. If I asked he would probably tell me that if I like it, he likes it.

If I changed a major piece of furniture, he might notice. A smaller piece? It could be a while or maybe never.

One year, I had been wanting a leaded glass fireplace screen and decided to buy one I'd seen as a Christmas gift. They were a limited edition and sold out. I was determiined to have my glass fireplace screen. I went to a place that had repaired the door in our last house and worked with them to create a custom screen with beveled glass, textured glass and even a stained glass border. I picked it up late on the 23rd or early on the 24th, but it was still in the back of my car when my brother and SIL arrived. DH was doing a little last minute vacuuming and my brother moved the old screen into the garage and the new one in front of the fireplace. DH walked something out into the garage -- right past the old screen sitting there. Went back and forth through the LR. We even created some reason for him to go back into the LR. Nothing. Nada. Not even a glimmer or slight hesitation.

The old screen was literally a screen -- very plain and black. A stand in until we found a new one. The new one was three panels of gorgeous glass. I couldn't believe itI must have been ginv him quite a look, cuz he just looked at me and everyone else nad then said "What?" I know there have been other examples, but that's the one he's never going to live down. ;-)

Work in our home HE didn't do?!! You bet he would notice. My theory is to get something fixed it has to bother HIM. Your DH must not need light to cook. The fact that it is now offered is a non factor to him. LOL

My husband isn't terribly observant about new stuff. He might say "is it brighter in here?" but he wouldn't notice why.

We had regular pest control service and had the same technician for years, who would be in the house once a year. Bug Guy walked in and said "you have new DR furniture." That really surprised me. He's in many houses every day and had only been in ours a few times (at that point). It was the same number of furniture pieces, in just about the same exact spots. If my husband hadn't seen the bill for the furniture, he wouldn't have realized anything had changed, yet the Bug Guy noticed the second he saw it.

I don't think my husband would notice either...absent minded professor....I like that!

Like arcy's DH, mine would notice a repair that he didn't do. He doesn't usually notice small stuff, and sometimes he does and doesn't say anything. If I mention some change I have made, he might say 'i saw that.' Or not.

OTOH, he can do something and I'll need three hints and a diagram to figure it out. I think it just depends what else we're focused on at the time.

It depends on what he notices. Something mechanical/electrical, he probably would. If I do something that he normally does, like empty the DW, he definitely notices right away.

But one time I got my hair cut really short and he didn't say anything for a whole day until I finally stood in front of him making oddball head movements. He finally noticed. I was ticked! After that, any time I asked him if he noticed anything, he'd immediately reply, "You got your hair cut" without even looking!

Another one here that's married to an absent minded professor. But luckily mine is a sweet professor. If I point out something I've done, he first looks at me to gage whether I'm happy with it and then gives an appropriate response. He will gush over what a wonderful change I've made even when I know it is not something he would ever really care about if he didn't care so much about me. I can live with that.

my DH notices everything. I notice stuff but not quite as much as him.

maggiepatty, I bet it felt good to get this done w/o his input.

i can't remember what it was, but the one time I took bull by the horns, so to speak, it was an overpriced mess. DH was gracious and didn't pontificate about it plus it served as his encouragement to not let stuff go unattended too long, lest Bossyvossy intervene, ha

Mine would notice a scratch on the door on my car before he would notice a new couch.

My DH has to be the most unobservant man on the planet. It has it's benefits but drives me bonkers often as well. He would definitely not notice a new light fixture unless I asked him to install it.

Mine would absolutely notice- Both of us are detail oriented, and he is VERY picky about how our home looks. Sometimes I wish for the DH's that just let the wives decorate! It's always a big discussion here!

It's comforting to read about all these other clueless people who need new glasses. I had thought I was alone in this challenge.

Mine notices everything! He was on a golf trip when I brought home my CL coffee table. As soon as he walked in the door, he said, isn't that the table you didn't get a response on? Then he said, it's to tall. lol!

Mine notices very little even when it's at eye level. Very unlikely he would notice a new ceiling light fixture. Even if he does notice something he may not say anything unless asked.

When it comes to lights of any type, my DH would notice. He was first to jump onboard the CFL kick, which I absolutely HATE. Now I've finally managed to get him to replace those with LEDs and I've gone around and put my soft lights back. So I can't get him to replace the ugly fluorescent light in the kitchen yet. I'm working on it though, and may use your trick, maggiepatty, and just do it when he's not looking. Other stuff, he may not notice if it's something small like a pillow.

Mine would notice. It might take a week or two but at some point I'll get the "hey you replaced the XXX today!!!?"...

This thread reminded me of 1 of those proverbial "there are 2 types of people" theories: some people are usually focussed on details & others on the big picture.

I think mine would notice. But like maddielee's DH, I know he would notice something with my car before I would.

Several years ago, my SIL sent their dining room table out to be refinished, some sun damage had occurred on the tabletop. It had been her MIL's (his mothers, he grew up with it), and lovely, it's mine now ;0) But a few days went by that her husband hadn't mentioned it being gone. The table will and has seated 14. They were downstairs in the family room and she asked him to bring her something from the dining room table. And then could hear him laughing all the way downstairs - the first he had noticed it was not in the room.

Mine would absolutely notice- Both of us are detail oriented, and he is VERY picky about how our home looks. Sometimes I wish for the DH's that just let the wives decorate! It's always a big discussion here!

Notwithstanding his beloved little stacks of clutter in a few strategic locations, my DH is very much like Renee's. When we married, I would never have dreamed that he would have such opinions about how our home should look. He didn't really exercise those opinions in our old house (although he did have a knack for choosing the perfect paint color), but in this new place he has a lot of input. I do have to fight my tendency to argue back just for the sake of arguing (I've always been very detail-oriented too, as well as controlling and sometimes even downright selfish when it comes to home décor), but I must admit that more often than not, his opinions and ideas are spot on, and he's helped me to visualize things in a new (and often better) way.

So, to answer the OP's question - yeah. My DH would notice immediately.

My DH has always said he is observant - yet when he was out of town, I bought a new Soumak rug for the DR. It replaced a wool oriental. I decided I wouldn't say anything. We walk across this rug from kitchen to foyer to take dogs out numerous times a day/night. A week went by and I got the giggles one night. He finally asked what was so funny, so I told him there was something new in the house. He walked around the entire main level and came up with incorrect answers. I finally had to tell him. He didn't believe me when I said it was there since he had returned.

But brighter lights, I am pretty sure he would notice. He insists on brighter/more lights than me when we were building.

Maggie, that's funny!

My DH likes lighthouses. Many years ago a company called Mary Maxim had a series of small ceramic lighthouses that you paint yourself. I bought the series (12 or 12 lighthouses) and painted them, and gave him one every time there was an occasion (birthday, anniversary, etc.)

They were all lined up on our mantle. One day I decided I was tired of dusting them and put them all in a box. He never said a word. After a few months I gave the box away. He still has never said a word about the missing lighthouses.

Donna

My husband didn't even notice when I burned the kitchen down!

Well, not quite "down," but I had a major kitchen fire while he was out. He got back after the fire department and all the neighbors left, walked through the soot-bedecked and scorched kitchen to the refrigerator, took out a beer, and sat down in the family room. After a few minutes I asked him, "Notice anything different?"

He looked around and finally said, "Did you get a new purse?"

(This story may actually be a reflection on my housekeeping skills.)

Wow! I am amazed at how un-alone I am. I really thought it was freakish that DH would not notice.

I do thank my lucky stars that he does not mind at all what I do to the house (as long as it doesn't involve him putting in labor). Paint colors, furniture styles, whether the place is clean or looks like a four-alarm fire (lol, chibimimi!), he is unconcerned about any of it.

I had a friend whose husband worked in another city 5 days a week and she took all day on Friday to make her house "perfect" so he would not complain when he got home. I'd have zero patience with that. I really don't want to have whatever recliner-based scheme of decorating DH would come up with, so I'll take him the way he is and just wait to see if/when he ever notices that new fixture!

Mine would probably notice the light fixture though maybe not immediately.

Speaking of noticing things,

Last week, our lawn was higher than usual due to rain and my boys not being able to get out there and mow it. Because of this, it needed special attention, so my older son was telling my younger son how to mow it correctly. Of course this resulted in a fight so I then was instructing younger son. In the process, before I could stop him, he hit a drainage pipe and put a big slice in it. He ran inside upset that dh was going to kill him. So I flipped the mower over to make sure the blade hadn't broken and decided to mow the lawn myself. I was two rows in, and had noticed an excessive amount of grass coming out from under, but assumed that was because it was higher than usual. Then I realized I could actually see down to the dirt. OH NO! Something was clearly wrong and the lawn was way too low. I immediately stopped and then was thinking dh would kill ME when he saw what I had done.

Long story short, after consulting my neighbor, we discovered the blade had bent and needed to be replaced. After two trips to the hardware store, I finally got the blade on and finished the lawn. But, those two strips were so obviously shorter and right along the street side of the lawn so I knew that dh would immediately see it. The kids were asking what I was going to tell dh and I said, "Nothing, unless he notices." Of course, they then chastised me and said that would be lying and I jokingly replied, "Well, only if he asks and I don't tell him the truth, but if he notices I will tell him." But of course, the guilts got to me, and later that day by phone I started to tell him what happened. I think he stopped listening when I got to the part about replacing the blade b/c then he got all annoyed that I did this w/o consulting him, etc (of course, he was in heavy duty meetings all day and I was just trying to take care of something I screwed up to alleviate him from spending time on it that weekend).

He called from the grocery store, and I guess feeling sorry, he said, "Aside from the flowers I'm buying, anything you want me to get while I'm here?" I responded that he might want to leave the flowers as he won't be feeling sorry when he sees what I did to the lawn." He arrives home and I asked if he noticed anything. He said no. Huh? Clearly, he was not listening earlier....(no surprise!). Two days go by, and he comes in and asks if I had lowered the blade when I changed the blade on the mower. I said no. He then says, "well the grass is clearly shorter in one area." OMG, seriously? I guess I could have just not said a word at all and left him guessing since it took him two days to notice and even then, after having confessing days before, he still didn't quite grasp what had happened! He's normally somewhat anal about the lawn, so I couldn't believe he didn't notice right away!

We have a floating couch in the living room. I spend time moving it back further from the fireplace & DH moves it forward. We both immediately notice. We are only talking a few inches back & forth.

My daughter asked me recently if a piece of artwork in the living room was new. No, I replied, that's been there for years.

And until my ex pointed it out after 5 years of living in the house, I did not notice that there were two different chair rail moldings used in the bathroom. The two different profiles (same width) are actually mitered together in the corner and clearly don't match, but I never noticed.

So, not just a guy thing.

My husband would probably not notice either, but to be fair I don't notice a lot of things as well

My husband isn't observant about a lot of things but our house isn't one of them, he'd notice in a heartbeat.

DH notices everything... immediately. I'm not sure if this is conditioning from his job or if its his nature.

There is not a chance that DH would notice! I love that he lets me make the changes/decisions.

4kids4us, do we share a husband? ;-) Some days I wonder how he can do his work, but I think that's where all the brain cells must be then.

I think my DH would be a tad upset if I just did it and left him out of the process. It's not like he really contributes because other than the financial part he doesn't, I do all the research, shopping and choosing but I always talk to him about my plans and that seems to make him feel like he's included some how.

Two of the most unobservant clients I have ever had are female, believe it or not.

One never noticed that every window in her house was 6-over-6 and one was 8-over-8. And it's in a row of windows. She also was convinced her upper cabinets and lower cabinets are the same depth.

One never noticed that the kitchen cabinet hardware was changed from Brushed Nickel to black. And they are a different shape so they feel different. It's been a couple years.

My DH never misses a thing! We are both OCD, but he has to wear strong reading glasses and does not see the toast crumbs he leaves on the table every morning. I have perfect near vision but wear glasses for distance. As our ophthalmologist said, "The perfect pair!". Daisychain, you DH sounds like a gem.

Chibimimi that was too funny!

Chibimimi, that is so hilarious! You and yours sound like the perfect set up for a sitcom!. Ha!

My husband would notice, and probably would have a lot to say about it, primarily, why didn't I discuss it with him first. I thought that men wern't supposed to care about things like that, but mine has an opinion about everything...it drives me nuts most of the time!

It took my husband 4 YEARS to notice that our kitchen walls, which were originally white, had been painted wedgwood blue! An out of town friend who had seen the kitchen originally was visiting and commented on the color, and asked when I’d repainted. DH looked up and commented, “oh yeah, the blue looks great, when did you do it?” I’d painted the walls 4 years prior. It would probably take him a decade to notice new lighting.......

Just a follow up. I finally broke down and asked DH if he'd noticed the new fixture. He said he noticed it after a few days and meant to say " that it looks good and thank you for taking care of that" but he kept forgetting.

He's happy to have the light, and I'm happy to go on replacing things and waiting to see if he notices.

This is rather funny! I think my DH would notice...eventually.

I put new curtains on the living room windows last week and my husband didn't notice until I asked him "do you notice anything different in here?"

I didn't notice that my double bowl, centre faucet kitchen sink was 5 inches off centre from my center divider casement kitchen window Until I became obsessed with centring the sink in my kitchen reno.

I opened our dining room table from its usual about 54" length to its fully extended double that size length. We have the great room thing so DH sees it from the kitchen and walks right by it on his way to the deck, sofa, etc. Didn't even notice until I finally asked him what he thought about the size.

My husband notices most everything. He didn't used to when he was younger. But with 37 years of marriage under his belt, he's learned what to mention that he's noticed and when to keep quiet :)