So true, Erin! And good for you! I think a lot of times we get “bullied” by people’s statements or our own projected worries. In the end it just didn’t matter. It will have to be updated eventually anyway so you may as well enjoy it!

My favorite change in our house has been our kitchen. When we bought our house, the kitchen was trashed and we had to rip it all out. I had my heart set on a white kitchen, but was overruled in the name of “resale”. We ended up with dark-stained cabinets instead. Now, I’m a full-time homemaker, and I’m in the kitchen a lot. A LOT. And I hated that dark kitchen. It made my work miserable. I didn’t realize how miserable I was with it (because we all want to take the high road and say that superficial stuff like decor doesn’t really matter, right? Just me?) until we decided to ditch our previous reno and go white. What a difference that made–with everything from how big the room felt to how much time I wanted to spend cooking, cleaning, etc. We actually ended up with an accidental tuxedo kitchen, since we replaced the upper cabinets but liked the look with the dark lowers. It may not be everyone’s taste, but I love it. :3

I think maybe we’ve all been so excessively HGTV’d that we fear being that Previous Homeowner that are frequently bashed…”What were they thinking?” etc. And we think we can avoid that humiliation by playing it safe in the name of resale. The truth is that everything is going to look dated and probably will need a refresh in a few years, no matter how safe you play it today, so you might as well do what you like. 😛