AIBU to ask if I can report my neighbour's bright blue house?

[Katey83]

I live in a terraced house. My neighbours have painted the back of their house bright blue (think swimming pool blue / like the Mikanos blue). It is horrible and looms over my garden. It’s really going to spoil my enjoyment of my space to have to look at this every day. I spoke to the wife earlier this morning and said it was not to my taste and would they consider changing and she said ‘the beige of your house isn’t to my taste but it’s your house. This is my house.’ And shut the door in my face. WIBU to report them to the council? Can I even do so? Surely you can’t just paint any offensive colour and expect neighbours to live alongside it?

There are far more offensive things your neighbours could do. Including a myriad other awful colours they could use. I can't believe you thought it was anything to do with you! Put some pleached trees in or something else which will provide screening if you're so revolted by it.

I feel I’m getting quite a hard time of it. Ok. I understand I can’t change their house or complain. Surely it’s ok to feel a bit annoyed that my lovely garden will now not be such a sanctuary for me. The colour really is overbearing in our street where the other homes are mostly white/beige, brick or pebbledash?

I think it sounds lovely!

But surely unless you spend a lot of time staring at the wall, it's not an issue?

Anyway, blue is known to be a calming colour, so perhaps you should do just that?

That’s truly offensive!

If none of the other house backs are assorted colours, then it’s a weird decision. It’s an intense colour to impose on neighbours, and as such is impolite and tone Deaf to the area. They will hardly see it, themselves. So it’s selfish of them. Can you plant trees at the end of your garden, to block it as much as possible?

Your neighbour wasn't rude at all. You eee rude telling her it wasn't to your taste & asking her her to repaint it.

but I expect this is all in your head anyway,

Sit in your garden with your back to it. Job done.

Why would you be spending any time staring at their wall when in your garden? You can do loads of things with screening of various sorts, and have points of interest that aren't in that direction.

Personally I find pebbledash to be repulsive to look at, but wouldn't care at all if next door pebbledashed their back wall.

Thank you this is how I feel. Our gardens aren’t terribly big and a row of trees will take up a good few feet of space - and would need to be along the whole length of fence on that side, which would be very expensive. Unfortunately they own that side of fence otherwise I could get a higher fence. I suppose I could speak to them about doing that and offer to pay half.

Genuinely, why is it a problem?

I'm afraid there is nothing you can do. Now that you have complained, that neighbor is going to keep that color until they die.

thank you for this gold star comment

I understand the frustration as I have to look onto a really ugly shed in my neighbours garden that takes up almost all their outdoor space. But they got planning permission and we aren''t able to do anything about it. After a while you do stop thinking noticing it.

The previous occupants of my flat painted the whole flat magnolia. Horrible!

OP, it was barking to go round to someone else’s house and ask them to change it because it’s not to your taste. It’s even more barking to ask them to pay 50% of their cost of replacing their fence so you don’t have to look at it.

@Katey83 , you are the perfect candidate to move to the US and pick up a new and exciting career as an HOA president, where you can go around and tell people exactly how they keep their homes down to excruciating detail. That sounds right up your alley.

I can see the signs now.

Do you hate blue? So does Katey83! Vote Beige!

Twickenham. Barbie pink for years. Hilarious.

Why should I pay for their entire fence?

I painted my magnolia hallway yellow and ripped out the horrible grey kitchen and hideous grey kitchen island!

Yes, unpainted pebble dash is one of the most depressing things to look at. I'm thinking of the places you pass on the Heads of Valley road in South Wales. Worse in the rain too.

But, with the greatest of respect, you chose to knock on your neighbour’s door and complain about their taste in colour and expected them to do something about it. Beyond the fact that it’s not for you to decide how other people decorate their own homes or dictate the taste rules for the street; you are accusing them of being rude without at any point acknowledging that what you did was rude, tactless, pretty mean and incredibly inconsiderate and condescending. Beyond rubbishing their work and taste, and trying to dictate how they should live their lives, at no point have you mentioned (or presumably considered) the enormous cost and time it would take them to do it if they did follow your advice.

You’ve been extraordinarily rude to your neighbours and, even after many people on here have pointed this out, you remain determinedly obtuse about what you’ve done and instead are now complaining that you’ve come on an AIBU and are being told that you are.

Put up some trellis and grow something pretty to block out the view. And, next time you decide to share your opinion about something creative someone has done, pause and think, ‘might this offend them? Should I keep my opinions to myself?’

Shutting the door on you proves that they aren’t ok. Barely civil and tone deaf. So yes, I’d try to double the height of the fence with some trellis and grow honeysuckle or jasmine etc on it. Or get a trough the length of the fence and fill it with the kind of bamboo that grows incredibly tall, quite fast.

explain you are colour sensitive. In this zeitgeist you’ll have to frame it as ND disability you have to struggle with and guilt trip them into civility. Tell them intense colour gives you anxiety. Then they won’t feel entitled to shut the door in your face.

Then move.

She doesn't like your house colour either but is prepared to thole it. Ball is in your court now to ignore it or move house.