'Are you joking?!': Challenging neighbor demands garden shed color suit her tastes claiming she's the one forced to look at it

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
May 8, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

Your neighbors might make you very happy or quite uncomfortable. In light of this, how would you respond if you had just moved into a new home and your primary goal was to keep everyone in your surrounding area happy? Would you cave into their obnoxious demands, or would you stand your ground no matter what?

The story that follows tells the tale of a newlywed couple who are disappointed with their newly purchased home. The original poster (OP) recently moved to a stunning house with a sizable garden with her spouse. Everything was going great when the couple first arrived; they were in love with the new home they had just bought, and everyone in the area seemed to be kind and pleasant. However, once the pair encountered the woman who lived next door, everything changed.

That being said, be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning what transpired between OP and the neighbor next door as well as how OP sought revenge! In addition, once you've read the story, don't forget to check out the story about the hiring manager who demands that candidates beg for the position, regardless of their qualifications or experience!

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  • 01
    "Know your place..."
    via canva
  • 02
    Petty garden revenge
    via u/Vapi_Foxi
  • 03
    So here's the back story, now this is petty revenge so don't expect much and I'm typing this on my phone so I'm sorry about the format. A year and a half ago my partner and I bought our first home. It is a lovely little 3 bed semi attached with a front patio. There is no back garden as a house is attached at the back. Since moving in it has been wonderful, all our neighbours are lovely and we have gotten on really well with them all.. well we have tried too.
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  • 04
    Our neighbour next to us is slightly over bearing when it comes to what we do in our garden. There were 3 small trees on our side of the fence next to her side. When we moved in the only big plants in this patio area were. 3 trees, a row of conifers next to the road and gate to stop people looking in and a wisteria and on the front of the house. The trees have over grown and dangling in her garden. We had just moved in and the first thing
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  • 05
    she said to us was that the trees need sorting. Not a problem, didn't want to upset anyone so we cut them back and pulled all the branches off that dangled on her side. At this point I got a bit snippy happy with the shears and cut the trees right down ( don't worry they are fine and growing back upright and not out) one of them was next to the shed and was tiny and not doing well so I decided to cut it down completely. It was about 4 ft tall so didn't go over the fence. When
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  • 06
    she came back she leaned over the fence whilst we was in our garden and proceeded to try and calmly tell us that she has lost privacy in her garden (I say calmly she was almost spitting feathers through gritted teeth) we just said oh they will grow back and that we needed to clear it out as the wisteria was attaching its self to the tree and going up into the roof tiles. "Well just don't cut it anymore" okay once again been in the house 3 months and didn't want to upset anyone.
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  • 07
    At this point being a woman I knew what this other woman was like. My partner however didn't get it. But this will change. At this time she asked us what we are going to do with the shed, now this garden shed is adorable. It had a little vine growing around the trim of the roof with flowers that dangle down all around it. So I wanted to paint it a sort of dark plum purple to make the white flowers pop even more, after I said this she said "oh you can't paint it that colour, I will have
    via u/Vapi_Foxi
  • 08
    to look at it. I think you should just leave it as it is or stain it the colour it is". Now I was spitting feathers but through a shut mouth. I couldn't believe it. The audacity of someone telling me I can't paint my shed a colour I want in my garden because she would have to see it. The bit she would only see is the back of it as that sticks out above the fence and we can't even get to it to paint. But again my partner said he didn't want to upset the neighbours so we left it alone.
    via u/Vapi_Foxi
  • 09
    FAST FOWARD TO YESTERDAY. We had friends over cooking pizzas in the garden and have a good catch up. She has returned home and leaned over the fence again, she recently had some work done in her garden to drop the curb and give her self a little driveway, I said it looked really good and made small talk as she leaned over the fence. My partner says to her that the fence between us needs cleaning, it's gone green
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  • 10
    and we wanted to paint it. "WELL IT IS MY FENCE YOU KNOW" this sudden change in the tone was mental. My friends are just sat there staring at her and I'm feeling this sort of weird second hand embarrassment for her. So my partner says that's fine but can we clean our side of it with the karcher ? Her response "I use a paint brush with bleach water to clean it so that's how you can do it"my partner and her went back and forth about it in a calm ish manner but she was getting more
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  • 11
    irate and after noticing the air was getting more stale I said okay it's getting cold to our friends let's go inside. Once we got inside our friends instantly said "what a D d" After this my partner said, what colour did you want the shed again? So today we are going out to buy the most amazing shade of purple to paint the shed and I will wait till she is in to do it with my AirPods on full so I can't hear her complaining. I know it isn't the
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  • 12
    best revenge but we have lived here for 1 1/2 years and now I finally get my pretty little shed EDIT/ UPDATE if anyone wants to see the shed now it's painted, I cannot add the photos to this as this sub doesn't allow it! Please feel free to message me!! i will happily send them SHE CAME HOME AND SAW IT! Edit 2. Well she lingered in her garden the entire time I was putting on the second coat. She waited until
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  • 13
    my partner went inside to tidy the kitchen to pounce on me. She came over and leaned over the fence again and asked me- " did you want me to paint the back of the shed for you?" I instantly think' oh she means purple, she's trying to be nice and wants to help' so I said "oh maybe" STUPID ME PEOPLE! she then goes "I can paint it white as this (points at the shed colour with her hands and shakes them whilst making a disgusted face) is you know" once again I've been made to feel like s t in my own
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  • 14
    I tried to be nice and said no it's not going white. And I quickly changed the subject to the fence. I asked her point blank “ am I allowed to paint the fence?” She said “you can paint it but you cannot paint it black". So after all this what is going to happen is this. We are borrowing a pallet truck from our friend up the road and will be pulling the shed out and painting it ALL purple! this r eness has finally gotten to me and I cannot deal with it.
    via u/Vapi_Foxi
  • 15
    Numerous_Exercise_44 1 day ago • On the side of the shed that is facing your neighbour, add yellow spots to the purple. If they are out of your view. You may be able to buy stick on yellow spots about 13 cm dia that would look appalling. After a couple of months, you could just peel the spots off. If you wanted to.
    via u/Numerous_Exercise_44
  • 16
    • Vapi_Foxi OP 1 day ago Peeling the spots off would also make it look awful, I like this idea we can't see the back of it as it's facing her garden! So it's a win win!
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  • 17
    Grouchy-Ad4338 1 day ago . edited 1 day ago • She is a bully - good that you have stopped giving into her whims. Hope that you can start commenting on how she should maintain her yard too :)
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  • 18
    Vapi_Foxi OP. 1 day ago Oooh I may do this, I'm not holding back anymore She lives by herself and always comes out into the garden if we are in it ②
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  • 19
    more_roses. 23 hr. ago My mom painted her front door a beautiful shade of purple. One day, my dad was out working in the yard and a busy-body neighbor told him he should make my mom paint the front door white and gave him a b t list of his reasons. My dad's response was simply "if you want the door painted white, you'll have to buy the house first." Enjoy YOUR purple shed!! Post pictures when you're done! O
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  • 20
    Vapi_Foxi OP. 23 hr. ago I will do! Il figure out how to attach them later on Your mother has great taste
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  • 21
    RitaPoole56. 22 hr. ago Paint huge googley eyes on the back of the shed to bring it up a notch!
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  • 22
    Vapi_Foxi OP. 22 hr. ago Best idea so far
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  • 23
    Quick-Possession-245 23 hr. ago After a year and a half of trying to keep the peace, you have learned that no good deed goes unpunished. Do to your garden whatever makes you happy. - Also complain about HER fence non-stop.
    via u/Quick-Possession-245
  • 24
    Vapi_Foxi OP. 23 hr. ago Thank you I have planted strawberries in the surrounds and baby carrots, all the herbs for pizza toppings everytime she leans over I'll let her know it's dirty ②
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  • 25
    MNConcerto · 1 day ago Time to block her ability to lean over the fence. What can you grow that is prickly? Or do you suddenly need a sunshade where she pops her head over to speak to you? Or a motion activated sprinkler?
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  • 26
    ilovefireengines 1 day ago • My friend bought a place in west London and the neighbour was like this psycho. The neighbour moved in 2022, I'm thinking she might in fact be your neighbour! Either that or there really are that many nutters around!
    via u/ilovefireengines
  • 27
    She tried to blame my friend, who was having a single storey rear extension added, for the damp at the front of her property! When my friend looked into it, she realized it was the neighbours own wiring that was causing it! Great level of petty and please do decorate the bit only she can see!
    via u/ilovefireengines
  • 28
    Vapi_Foxi OP 1 day ago How could you even think that was their fault! people are insane! we are in Yorkshire but she may have moved they are everywhere. Must make a list of crazy neighbours. There should be a website that you can add too
    via u/Vapi_Foxi

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neighbors entitlement neighborhood neighborhood-drama reddit karen neighborhood-stories reddit story petty revenge terrible neighbors entitled Bad Neighbor Reddit entitled people
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