The HOA Can Have Your Beige

Paint it back. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but you signed up for those rules when you bought the house, and “earth tones” has never meant fire-engine red in the history of HOA documents and you know it.

Here’s what I’ve seen in 44 years: people who fight their HOA over a door color spend two years of their life attending Wednesday night committee meetings, writing emails, reading CC&Rs, and losing. They win nothing. The door stays beige. They’re just exhausted and mean now.

If you want a red door badly enough to go to war, move somewhere that doesn’t have a committee. There are plenty of streets in Georgetown where you can paint your door whatever color God made, and your neighbors will mind their own business because they’re too busy with their own.

But if you’re staying in Fieldstone, paint it back. Pick a nice deep brown. Call it “Tuscan Clay.” Submit it in writing. Get it approved. Hang a wreath. Move on with your life.

The door isn’t worth it.

— Vera