Discreet from the street

Here's the view of my backyard from the street. The plan is to make sure that the tribute has minimal visibility from this angle.

Just to be clear...

I want to make sure it's clear that I have no problem with my neighbor building a giant house. They should be allowed to build the biggest, most obnoxious house in the world if they want to. It's their property. They can do anything the law allows. I have no intent to try to prevent them from doing so.

This blog is not meant to be an attack on them.

This blog is a celebration of the fact that I can also do anything the law allows on my property.

It is a social experiment.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
"One man's meat is another man's poison."
You get the idea.

Deciding upon the image

Here are a few images I've collected of Beetle. I need to pick just the right image for my tribute. If anyone runs across this post, feel free to weigh in.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

the McMansion

Here's a photoshop simulation of the view from our backyard before the new house.

And here's the view with the neighbors' new home.


It's tough to appreciate the scale of this structure from the photo. This house is actually across the street. It is not a terribly large lot, but the house takes up the entire thing - edge to edge.

The situation

My neighbors tore down their house. They began construction on a giant, ugly McMansion. Normally, I wouldn't give a shit. I believe in every American's freedom to do stupid things. That's one of the reasons our country is great. But as the house continues to grow, It's clear that:

A) The house is blocking our previously unobstructed view of the hills.
B) The windows of the house look directly down into our backyard, pool, and back windows.

Now this is totally legal - And I support their decision to do this without considering how it would effect our lives. But, as I previously stated, this is America. And as my neighbors have exercised, we all have the freedom to build stuff on our property that's beautiful to us but may seem ugly to others.

That's why I've begun the The Backyard Beetlejuice Liberty Project.

The plan is simple:

Erect a 20 foot tall image of my hero, Beetlejuice, in my backyard.

This image will be tilted so that it's not seen from the street. It will only be visible in the line of sight from my neighbors' upstairs windows. It will take the form of a large sun shade that simultaneously provides us with privacy and them with a delightful image of an incredible celebrity. If you are unfamiliar with Beetlejuice, you can check out www.jollydwarf.com.

More to come soon...