Costa Mesa : Conventional Paint Job Covers Rainbow House

The colorful, circus-like paint scheme that set Bob Miller’s Costa Mesa residence apart from the other houses lining Governor Street has disappeared under a coat of conventional gray.

Just three months ago, things were at a boiling point on Governor Street, the result of Miller’s decision to paint the house lime green and orange, accented with a tick-tack-toe pattern and other off-beat decorations.

Miller, who has owned the house since 1954, had planned last May to paint the house gray with blue trim, as it is today. But when neighbors complained of his habit of parking business vehicles on the residential street, Miller decided on the unusual paint job.

“Basically, it’s a conventional-looking house. Now, it’s just like any other house on the block,” said Brad Aylesworth, Miller’s roommate. The new gray paint scheme ought to be completed by next week, he said.

So far, Aylesworth said, the neighbors who complained about the outlandish patterns that decorated the one-story home haven’t said anything about the new look. “None of them have come over to say it, but I think they’re happy to see us paint the house,” he said.

Dorothy Wardle, who said the old multicolored pattern “really took the cake,” has no complaints these days. “Every time I’ve passed the house, I haven’t noticed it, so I guess it must look OK,” she said.

However, another neighbor, Dave Hirsch, who lives next door to the Miller residence, said that while the new scheme might blend into the neighborhood, the old decor wasn’t so bad either.

“We didn’t have to look at it,” he said. “It wasn’t as if it was across the street.”