As some of you noticed, I haven't posted an update in a few weeks. This house renovation project has been somewhat trying on both Chris and I, not because we cannot agree on choices and designs (we have very similar taste), not because things aren't going as planned (surprisingly going well on that front), but because our neighbors have been less than friendly and welcoming and some have been downright hateful and mean.
Our neighbors to the left are a mid-30 something couple with 2 children. They moved in and renovated their house about 2 years ago, converting the garage into 2 bedrooms for their children and they chose to be garage-less for the time being. Between our two houses there was about 50 feet of wooded area, all of which is our property. Chris and I spent hours and hours deciding how we were going to situate the garage on our property while leaving the backyard in tact. Keep in mind the backyard is what sold me on the house... Anyway, the area between our 2 properties ended up being Chris's new garage/shop site. Let the drama begin...
Our not-so-friendly neighbors decided Labor Day weekend to go door to door, literally to all 50 of our neighbors petitioning against our white trash beer barn that we kids wanted to build in their neighborhood. He went to the trouble to search online for our garage permit, review it and note that it was made of metal (yes, a metal garage, however we always planned to brick over it which was done about a week after it went up) but of course he left that part of the plan out of his petition. He managed to get about 30 signatures, and it seems the ones that didn't sign simply weren't home. Please keep in mind that there are THIRTEEN other homes in our neighborhood with detached garages similar to ours, most of which signed the petition. I can only imagine what kind of first impression all of our new neighbors have of us now. It gets worse...
Before the garage construction started we were served, yes served, with a cease and desist order by one of our other neighbors based on what Mr. Petition went around telling everyone, that we were putting up a metal white trash beer barn in their neighborhood. Chris and I left our vacation a day early to come home and smooth things over. After about an hour long chat, the neighbors threatening to sue us were completely on board with our bricked garage and were obviously misinformed. Of course, another black mark on our reputation months before we ever move in.
A couple of days later Chris and I were working in the front yard when all of a sudden Mrs. Petition starts chatting up another neighbor telling her quite loudly what trash we are, both Chris and I, for putting up this garage for his trashy truck. I'm totally lost on where they get off calling us trash... I went to quite a prestigious university, as well as my husband and we're both successful working professionals. And that's our 3rd car. Trash? I think not.
And then there's Mrs. M, an older retired lady who lives down the street. I stopped by the house one morning and she was standing in front of the garage flailing her arms explaining to another neighbor what an appalling site this garage is and of course she says the same to me as I walk up to say hello.
The latest incident is the most disturbing if that's even possible. Chris and I were spending last Friday evening epoxying his new garage floors until about 2am. Around 6:30pm Mr. M pulls up to our house and rolls down his window. I, having never met him before and not knowing who he was, wrongfully assumed he was just a nice neighbor saying hello and wanting to meet us. Boy was I wrong... I walk up to his car and the first thing he says is this, 'Are you the white trash putting this thing up in our neighborhood?!' and I just stare at him, in shock as he continues to yell at me telling me what trash I am. As I walk away he says to me this, 'You listen here b*tch, you're not going to like living in this neighborhood, I guarantee it!!' which at this point Chris walks up realizing this isn't some neighbor saying hello to me and in short, tells the man that his actions are incredibly inappropriate and he needed to leave. So he drives off, and pulls into his driveway 4 houses down. Awesome.
I did call the police on him and submit a police report because as far as we're concerned that was blatant harassment and borderline assault.
Oh, one more... Chris and his dad were replacing the fence that we recently torn down around the pool (it was literally falling down...) after we were issued the permit to do so. Well the neighbor behind us, whom we've never met before, walked out and told us that his wife made him come out there to tell us that the fence needs to be moved back a foot. So what she'd done is pull our survey offline, pulled our permit papers, and determined that the old fence was a foot off the build line which by the way has no bearing on the division between our two properties, and made us move it. MOVE it. As in Chris and his dad had already set the post.
The worst part about all of this is the defamation and irreversible damage that has been done to our reputation in this neighborhood based on lies and hatefulness. I understand that the majority of the neighborhood is older couples, most with children grown and out of the house who aren't big on change, but change is inevitable. Be happy for us people!! We're improving your neighborhood!!!
I'll post a real house update later today with pictures, just bringing everyone up to speed on the delay.
