ROSLYN PAINTER STOPS DEAD AT FENCE LINE, LEAVING HALF A DUPLEX BEIGE AND HALF A DUPLEX SHAME
The boundary peg has never been so respected. The duplex has never looked so stupid.
A semi-detached weatherboard on a quiet Roslyn street now has a paint job that ends, with surgical precision, exactly at the property boundary. One half is fresh Resene Half Tea. The other half is the colour of a smoker's ceiling.
The painter, contracted by the owner of number 14, said he'd been very clear about the brief. "She paid for her side. I painted her side. I'm not a fucking charity, and I'm not painting next door for free. That's between them and their God."
The owner of number 16, Glenys Petersen, said she'd come home from her sister's in Feilding to find her house looking "like the before photo on one of those bloody renovation shows". Gerald, my late husband, would never have stood for it. A shared wall is a shared problem.
The painter, asked whether he could've feathered the join, said he absolutely could not. "That's how you end up in the Tribunal, mate." He added that number 16 had been quoted in March and called the price "a piss-take". "Well," he said, gesturing at the wall, "there's your piss-take."
A Palmerston North City Council spokesperson confirmed there is no bylaw requiring duplex owners to coordinate exterior colours, but noted it was "generally considered neighbourly". Glenys has stopped speaking to number 14 and is pricing paint at Bunnings in a shade she will only describe as "spite".
The painter is doing a job in Awapuni on Tuesday. He did not specify which one.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in the day, we'd paint the whole bloody thing whether they paid for it or not. Can't believe tradies now care more about Tribunal than neighbourliness.
GlenysP_LateGeraldFan
First they cut down the pepper tree, and now this. It's a coordinated attack. The council sits back as usual. Typical!
tired_in_riccarton
The real question is, why Half Tea? It's the wrong shade for a southern aspect, makes the place look washed out.
BarryBishopdale
Honestly, the world should just end now. It’s the epitome of divide and conquer, painted on a wall. Wake up, people!
susanfromfeilding_lol
Lol. Classic Glenys. She's talked about repainting since 2016! Sometimes you have to just commit or quit, love.
Steve_RealKiwi
Can't believe people are blaming the painter. It’s his job to paint, not mediate your unnecessary neighbour drama.