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.

"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.

"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.

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."