Being neighborly?

If you have read my blog in the last month or so, you know that I recently repainted my front door. Here is what it looked like before. Blech....brown.

And here is what it looks like now.

I have a bit of paint remorse about this. Turquoise is my favorite color--but I wouldn't choose that particular shade for my front door. I was hoping for a cobalt or sapphire blue. As you can see, the brick is orange-ish, so blue would be a great complementary color. Well, my paint choice turned out to be a bit too electric. There are times of the day that the color looks nice, but most of the day, it looks really bright.

I haven't had a chance to pick up any paint samples (since I want to do it right this time), much less a nice day to paint when I won't mind keeping my door open for a while for paint to dry. Add in two kids and a vacation and I haven't gotten there yet.

Well, much to my surprise, I received a cryptic note in my mailbox when we returned from our vacation...it reads as such:

"Dear Neighbor,

I was hoping to catch you outside to talk to you in person but have not had any luck. I am your neighbor at **** (the one with the original blue door). I painted my door that unique blue in hopes of differentiating our identical houses 3 doors apart. I have even been giving directions to my house by way of saying I am the only one with a bright blue door. Needless to say, once you painted yours the same color, I was disappointed to realize we look even more alike than ever. Obviously, in a community like this where the houses are so similar--it is hard to be somewhat 'original.' I know this may seem trivial however it has been on my mind. Now that I have brought this to your attention I am hoping that you might consider changing the color of your door so we can both stand out. Enjoy your holiday weekend and thanks for your consideration.

--Kara"

(Please note that I typed an exact copy, so I included all of her grammatical errors.)

Um, WOW?? I will agree that it is a similar paint color, but that was not my intention at all. I really resent the implication that I am copying her. I bought my paint in March or April....and then waited for a day that I had free to paint. (Plus, it rained virtually all of April and May) Well, about a week after I bought my paint, I noticed that their door had been painted as well.

I was not about to waste my perfectly good quart of paint until I saw how it looked on my door. I am considering a different paint, but now I really want to ask her to paint it for me if she is so bothered by my door!

Well, not really, but I'm feeling a bit tetchy about this. As my husband said, "Doesn't everyone have the right to paint their door whatever color they want?" : ) I guess I need to talk to her. Maybe I should take my kids with me so she can see that my painting time is limited...; )

Sigh.