Operation: "Privacy"

pri·va·cy

/ˈprīvəsē/

Noun

The state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.

The state of being free from public attention.



What to do with a neighbor that insists on violating your personal privacy or even "sense" of privacy. You know what I mean? When your in your backyard (if you live close to your neighbors, have 6ft. fences & different topography so at times, you see their face), and you can see your neighbors in the yard. But...you don't make eye contact, you may wave, but you return your eyes to your yard and let them feel like they have privacy. Well, not my over the fence neighbor, that I will call "Gladys Kravits" & her husband. If you are young enough & don't know who Gladys Kravitz is? Look it up...that's her... but worse & more mean!

Unfortunately, my next door neighbor & I share our back fence line with "Gladys". Gladys decided to remove the fence between us without telling us & asked us, (me & and my next door neighbor), to pay half. The kicker was, neither of us knew about her deciding to take down the fence and my next door neighbor was out of the country when they did it. "Gladys", even thought we were gone too...nice! We had to leave 2 days after it came down and the fence was still not back up. We came back to a shorter fence than either of us,(me & my next door neighbor), wanted, which was 8 feet. We had already given them , ("Mr. & Mrs. Kravits) our quotes from another fence company & then never heard back from them. Well, thank goodness we weren't obligated to pay half! I would have gladly paid half for what 2 of us out of 3 had asked for...8ft. privacy fence. But I was left once again with no privacy!!

Now what? She can still see us, she & her husband make a point to hang out in their garage and stare into my home. The last straw was them building an illegal brick flower bed along the fence line at the same time, that blocks the drainage easement, redirected the water flow to my property & installed a french drain under their flower bed that drains to my property. this I discovered at the bottom of our fence. Ugh! So, complaining to the city revealed they had no permission & no permit.

They decided I was evil. The husband was flipping me off in their driveway & pointing at me all while I was INSIDE my home! I had no escape from them. They even turned their chairs on their patio to stare at us in our home. They even climbed the fences to my yard & my next door neighbors to hang over and look at our yards. They even did this to my next door neighbor during a pool party...the nerve!!! We were fed up!

So, my husband and I had a tall screen built. A huge privacy screen!! I love it!! I have my yard, patio & inside of my home back! We built in benches too. I was sooo inspired, I even built a pallet sofa & pallet coffee table. I went nuts! I put in stepping stones, a split rail fence & arbor to my very own herb & veggie garden. I have had a blast. Freedom is an exciting & inspiring thing. I couldn't sell my house & move to the country to escape them, so I brought the country to our home.

 

 

The one layer of lattice was not enough, they still made a point to stare and gawk! So an extra layer it is...

In the next post I will show you before and after of my vegetable raised garden beds. I added a split rail fence and arbor to my back garden and behind the fireplace, I had another raised bed made and planting room on each side, which is now growing pumpkins...they said I should have them before the first frost here in Texas...sure would be fun!

 

I am also lucky enough to have a friend trading my interior design service for her sewing service. As you probably coud see, my cushions on the main sofa are covered by a sheet. Mrs. Squirrel has for two years decided my sofa was a place for her to get nesting supplies. So they are in desperate need of recovering. She is also sewing covers for my new cushions for the new benches & my pallet sofa. YAY!! I will post pictures of the final cushions later. Hopefully now that homeschooling is in a routine, I can post more regular updates! Thanks for the patience. But the evolution of our home never stops. I sure am glad, I love decorating and making our home cozy.

Happy Fall & Happy Decorating!

 

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