Guest Took Paintings and Nailed through them

I just came back home and found out that my guest, who is renting a “room in shared apartment” had climbed over my kitchen wall cabinets to reach a pair of paintings that I had put there, to take them into his room and proceeded to nail through them to affix them in his rented room.

I honestly just can’t quite wrap my head around how disrespectful just the idea of doing this is, yet actually proceeding with the actions without permission. Those paintings are sort of a family heirloom, as they were hand painted by my mother, many years ago.

Seriously, you might think that I should have not left “valuables” in the listing, but paintings are not something a guest might need to use. Additionally, I had put them far away for anyone to accidentally damage them. He must have used a chair and climbed up the kitchen countertop to reach them. There’s just no way to justify the actions. It is not even an accident.

He used a hammer and nails, and nailed through the paintings (they were not framed yet)… seriously, who does that? Even if he had installed them without damaging them, why would one think that he’s entitled to take your paintings and install them in their room? Or anywhere else?

I have to clarify that I was never contacted about the issue. Never asked for permission or anything. I noticed this casually, as the guest is out of town until the next day and he had left his bedroom door open, as I normally wouldn’t have looked in the occupied (rented) room (I wouldn’t have opened the door). Honestly I had not immediately noticed them missing from the kitchen, possibly as I just returned from a month-long trip overseas.

The pictures show the paintings as they originally were placed on top of the kitchen cabinets and the paintings as were found in the guest’s room. One had apparently already fallen down from where he nailed it, as I found it hidden behind the side table. I had to guess and search there, in order for me to find it.

Even though I feel insulted, violated and upset, I’m not even preoccupied about the actual damage, which although actually irreparable, technically, my mother might be able to repair them (which won’t make them as original, but still somewhat repairable, even by the actual original creator – just imagine if she had already passed).

I’m just really preoccupied about the amount of disrespect, entitlement and arrogance that was needed by the guest to conceive such an idea, and the outrage of actually carrying it out. I feel bad because it seems like the best thing to do in the future would be not to keep them there anymore, but I liked my beautiful paintings, in my beautiful kitchen.

I don’t want to think that it was my mistake for leaving them there. It’s like stripping me from my freedom of even having anything I care about around my house. How would I feel in my home if it would be furnished with things I don’t care about?

Don’t get me wrong, I am very easygoing with wear and tear, accidents and such. I still provide good quality things for my guests. I understand that things break and I mostly provide things that are replaceable. However, taking down paintings and nailing them in their room is just not something guests should be even thinking about doing.