Artist erases decades of her own murals when landlord's daughter evicts her in an attempt to claim the art.
"Neighbor who's very artistic by nature getting a sudden eviction because the landlord's daughter wants the house with the art inside, what art?"
There was a house in our area that was known for having really cool murals inside done by the previous tenant. Outside was pretty tame she has a pre built facade to make the house look like a cottage, inside all hand done murals of Disney movies and fairy tales.
The lady was a art teacher when she was younger and later she started one of those paint with wine type business which she did well before fully retiring to just doing paint commissions and furniture decorating.
She's always been nice to everyone even when I've been an ass to her when she complained about the truck being loud or speeding, we worked that out and been friends since.
She had an agreement with the original landlord about the art since it wasn't outside it wasn't going to be a problem, she's been living in that house since the mid 80s with promises of getting the house in time.
Unfortunately he passed before anything was signed and legitimized and his kids took over. One of the sons visited the house to inspect it with his daughter and apparently they fell in love and wanted the art house for his daughter.
My neighbor didn't have a lease which made the fight harder and they used the art on the walls as an excuse to kick her out. She was devastated but she was able to buy a property that fits her needs at the last minute in another state that had a full art studio area on the first floor.
She originally wanted to leave the house as is without the cottage looking front but my friend offered to restore the house to "Rebecca standards" for free since he needed to figure out how to use powered paint sprayers.
He also had a friend that did landscaping to help her wirh the front of the house. She agreed and we moved all her furniture out to storage units and my friend let her stay in his guest house free of charge if she did a mural on the living room wall. She had the house cleaned out in a week.
On the second week they buffed all the walls with sanders. All the murals from the front to back were gone it just looked like blotches of colors. My friend being the ever diligent painter that he is masked anything that wasn't paint and sprayed kilz primer everywhere with his new toy sprayer. This thing was pretty bad ass you can spray a whole wall in 4 passes.
After the paint dried he used his "Rebecca" collection of colors to essentially kill the character of the house. Rebecca condition is what we call flipper houses it's always the same freaking colors white with grays all over the house and the horrendous dark tone flooring.
The floors were tile so he left it alone but the walls were white semi gloss. The wood panelling walls, trim, switch covers, outlet covers, counters and cabinets were sprayed in the most depressing shade of grey. The house looked dead inside when I went in to check it out. It was weird not seeing all the murals.
The front of the house was the last project she agreed to give his landscaping friend the bushes in exchange for the labor of removing the cottage facade without breaking it.
The landscaper basically ripped everything out and just dumped gravel and sand with a boulder for decoration. This weekend, I went to fix some problems at a old neighbor's house and noticed the house was still empty and asked the neighbor if had seen anyone move in.
He said earlier in the week there was some U-Haul's there but none of them were unloaded and that was the last time they remember seeing anyone there. Bet that daughter was in for a surprise when she saw the house get turned into a basic hell hole.
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:
This is the way to do it. Kick me out? My art goes with me. Enjoy the blank walls.
Especially since they used it as the excuse to kick her out!
Yep, if it’s a problem that gets her kicked out, surely it’ll still be a problem for whoever else moves in, right? Otherwise what was the point of kicking them out? Just doing the logical step - a favour, to avoid the hassle of what surely must be the landlord’s job of taking it all down, right? Lol.
They could have easily asked her for a commission to do the same/similar murals in their own home, but chose to kick her out of her home to steal her art instead. I'm glad this was the outcome.
A basic house for a basic b-word.
Sad story, but good lesson for anyone, get your papers in order you never know what happens and what fcking cnt will take over.
You know what they could have done 8 INSTEAD OF eviciting the poor old lady? Maybe.. I dunno, ASK HER TO PAINT THEIR PLACE instead? You know, like, support an artist?
Pay for something they could get free? (Clutch pearls)
This is not "petty revenge". Oh no, no, no. This. This is majestic justice. May joy find its way into the lives of all who made this happen.
as an artist, this story warms my soul. PAY US FOR WHAT WE DO THAT IS LITERALLY GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU TO TRY TO ROB US!!! everybody loves art, until the ARTIST is asking for a shred of recognition. FFF that dude!
Extremely cruel that they used the very art they wanted to steal from her, as an excuse to toss her out of her own home. Awful people, they deserved being left with nothing but dull grey. Hope she settled in to her new home.
Damn, that’s some poetic justice right there. The daughter probably expected a whimsical art paradise and got a soulless gray box instead, karma’s a b-word. Glad your neighbor bounced back with a better setup, though. And yeah, never skip the paperwork, folks; handshake deals won’t save you from greedy landlords.