“Even if they made an HOA right here, I’m already grandfathered in, so we’re set. I did my homework beforehand.”
Texas man paints his house pink and his neighbors aren’t happy: ‘I love this house’
Emilio Rodriguez has a very specific vision for his house: Pink. Every possible surface of the home is painted in bright, vibrant, pink that he apparently finds comforting. His neighbors in the Mountain View neighborhood in Pflugerville, Texas, however, reportedly aren’t too happy about the eye-catching structure in their locality. According to KTBC, many say it doesn’t fit in well with the overall vibe of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, for them, there isn’t much they can do about it except maybe file a lawsuit against Rodriguez for painting his own house in a color he finds pleasing.
How would you feel about a bright pink house like this popping up in your neighborhood? People in this Texas subdivision hate it so much that they’re filing a lawsuit. But the homeowner calls it his “dream home”. Would you care if this was next door to you? pic.twitter.com/rthBtaHJMP
Contents— Haley Bianco (@HaleyBianco) March 4, 2019
“No HOA. I pre-planned this specifically because of that reason, so when people get mad I explain there is no HOA here,” Rodriguez told CBS Austin. “Even if they made an HOA right here I’m already grandfathered in so we’re set. I did my homework beforehand.” He started painting the house in the middle of January 2019, about two months after he and his girlfriend moved into the property in the Creekside subdivision near Dessau Road and Wells Branch Parkway in November 2018, reports Statesman.
From the roof to the gutters, Rodriguez painted everything but some kitchen cabinets despite everyone in his family — including his girlfriend — advising him not to go with pink. “I did the back first, the whole back of the house, then I did the whole house,” he said. The homeowner revealed that he was inspired by a tattoo on his left forearm which features a pink tongue wagging out of the mouth of a skull. “The driveway [is] going to be pink, I’m getting all the grass removed for pink tile blocks, I’m going to have pink spotlights on the trees, [and a] pink car. I will paint my wheelchair pink,” he added.
The @KATVNews Daybreak story on this pink house in Texas prompted our team to talk Pepto-Bismol song (yeah, THAT one), John Mellencamp, Cadillacs, and Steel Magnolias! You got anything else? @KATVChris @KATVAlyson pic.twitter.com/h0devetBYN
— Melinda Mayo (@KATVMelinda) March 7, 2019
“People say it looks like Pepto–Bismol but I’m going for pink slime,” said Rodriguez. “I (chose) literally a Pepto-Bismol paint; if you feel me, I wanted a slime pink. A wet slime — it looks like a liquid — that’s what I was going for, like a liquidy slime ooze pink. It kind of sounds like Pepto-Bismol, if you think about it.” His colorful choice did stir up some drama on social media with many bombarding him with threats and mean comments. But they failed to deter the professional video-gamer and artist who was left paralyzed from the waist down at four years of age following a car accident.
Emilio Rodriguez really likes pink. His dream house is now upsetting his neighbors. What would you do if you were his neighbor? https://t.co/aOWH4CJDyV pic.twitter.com/j4pP79gaVX
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) March 5, 2019
Having undergone dozens of surgeries as a teenager, Rodriguez says the color pink helps brighten up his day. “When I have to do medical stuff I can look up at the pink house and it kind of calms me down a little bit,” he explained. He has spent over $10,000 on the pink house project, which involved “tons of gallons” of paint, and plans to pass the house down to family members with the mandate that whoever inherits it must keep the home pink. “How much am I going to invest. in this house? Man, I don’t have a problem; I don’t even know, to be honest. There’s no limit. There’s no budget. Put no budget. That’s what I’m telling people right now. I’m serious about that,” Rodriguez said. “I love this house. I don’t know why people don’t like it.”
Meanwhile, his house has piqued the curiosity of many. “Beetle Juice movie or maybe Edward Scissor Hands just really different,” said a neighbor named Anita Garcia. “To each his own. but yeah I wanted to see it for myself it was real.” Emanual Alvarado, who lives a couple of blocks down from the pink house, said: “This is definitely adding a twist to the neighborhood. I would suggest to neighbors to be open-minded because you know I think should invest energy into being different and being yourself and not let being yourself be suppressed [by] what society thinks is normal.”
This Artist Is the Only Person Banned From Using the World’s Pinkest Pink
Anish Kapoor has long been known for his large-scale, intensely colored artworks, but his penchant for being proprietary has long irked others in the art world.
Earlier this year, Kapoor sparked outrage from artists all over the world with the announcement that he had made a deal to become the only person in the world allowed to use the blackest pigment of black paint ever developed. Known as Vantablack, the unique carbon nanotube-based pigment is produced solely by a British company called NanoSystem, and was originally developed for military technologies. However, Kapoor made an agreement with the company that he is the only person allowed to use it for artistic purposes.
Needless to say, that made plenty of other artists furious.
“When I first heard that Anish had the exclusive rights to the blackest black I was really disappointed,” artist Stuart Semple tells Kevin Holmes for The Creators Project. “I was desperate to have a play with it in my own work and I knew lots of other artists who wanted to use it too. It just seemed really mean-spirited and against the spirit of generosity that most artists who make and share their work are driven by.”
Like Kapoor, Semple’s work often uses vivid shades of color, and for years he had worked with scientists to develop increasingly intense pigments to use in his artwork. So as a response to Kapoor’s exclusive deal with Vantablack, Semple decided to release his own special pigment, known simply as “Pink,” the Irish Examiner reports.
While “Pink” isn’t based on nanotechnology, like Vantablack, Semple says it is the pinkest pink pigment ever created. Now, in an effort to thumb his nose at Kapoor, Semple is making it for sale to everyone in the world—except Kapoor, Tom Power reports for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Q.
Semple is currently selling “Pink” through his website for £3.99 per pot (about $5). However, before purchasing the powdered pigment, buyers have to agree to a legal disclaimer that states they have no intention of letting it fall into Kapoor’s hands.
As Semple’s website states:
By adding this product to your cart you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor.
To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this paint will not make it’s way into that hands of Anish Kapoor.
Of course, Semple isn’t cruel enough to ban Kapoor from using this color for life—only until Kapoor agrees to give up his exclusive rights to Vantablack, Power reports. While Kapoor has said that Vantablack isn’t actually that useful for painting, since it’s so hard to make enough of the pigment, for Semple it’s the principle that counts.
“[Kapoor is like the] kids who wouldn’t share their felt pens,” Semple tells Power. “They just sat there in the corner without any friends.”
Now the ball is in Kapoor’s court.
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Danny Lewis is a multimedia journalist working in print, radio, and illustration. He focuses on stories with a health/science bent and has reported some of his favorite pieces from the prow of a canoe. Danny is based in Brooklyn, NY.
According to Emilio, he’s doing his part to “keep Austin weird,” as many of the city’s residents say.
While Austin has gained a reputation for being more progressive than the rest of Texas, it seems that painting one’s entire house pink is crossing the line to some of the neighbors.
“I love this house,” Emilio said to CBS, “I don’t know why people don’t like it; a lot love it.”
The Austin resident also planned on painting his driveway and wheelchair pink.
Before fulfilling his dream of having a pink house, Emilio did his homework to make sure it would be perfectly legal.
The homeowner checked that the house wasn’t under any homeowner’s association. He told FOX 7:
“Even if they made an HOA right here, I’m already grandfathered in, so we’re set. I did my homework beforehand.”
Still, it hasn’t stopped the annoyance on the neighbors’ part. There’s only one way to settle it for them, and that would be by filing a lawsuit.
While painting a house an unusual color might appear odd, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
With everything that’s happened these past few years, the world could use more color. The world is only as bright and colorful as the people that make it so.
Emilio Rodriguez had a simple dream that he made a reality. Even if not everyone agrees with it – he’s at least very happy living in what he refers to as his “pink palace.”
