I totally will make my new kitchen reflect my own personal taste (except it has to fit in our budget). Life is too short to spend time and money on things I don't want.

I'm always all about me. (OK, spouse had input.)

I didn't do anything that looked too weird in the event we decide to sell, but even if we do, in my neighborhood any buyer will expand the kitchen into the yard anyway. Nobody in this overpriced area appreciates 1950s size kitchens.

This will be a great thread, lavender_lass :)

I'm just now trying to figure out what I like. We're planning a new build this Spring. I've never, in 33 years of marriage, had a home with things the way I would like or want. I always felt like I was 'camping out' until the house is built. Well, 33 years later & 4 kids & it's finally going to happen (I think!) lol

Anyway...it's been real fun to go through this site & others trying to decide just what it IS I like. I'm gathering like crazy into my Microsoft One Note...I'd better get lots of ink cartridges :) Seems I have very specific tastes.

After living so long without my own tastes, I refuse to generic myself so others will like it! As it turns out, my taste isn't so loud or different that one couldn't put their own mark on it if we ever do sell so I'm not worried.

I don't like lots of fuss.
I like clean, simple lines.
Earthy tones.
Not a lot of dust catchers.
But not sterile.
I want to hide mess & clutter behind lots of built-ins. Close the doors = peace of mind :)

For example...I LOVE Jay's (jolsongoude) house:

...and rhome's kitchen:

...and brickmanhouse's kitchen:

A wonderful example of an IKEA kitchen that had a very good budget:

It will be fun to see what everyone says :)

We definitely did what we wanted to do and did not buy into what is "expected". In our area (of very expensive houses) it was "expected" that you "would" have stained cabinets with quartz counters and gas range and an island and somewhat fancy. Not us. Painted creamy cabinets, with granite counters and flattop range with very clean lines and a peninsula. We were going to move the kitchen to get the island but didn't like it.
But we're not looking for resale. Melaska - your points are almost exactly what I gave to our KD and GC.
Sometimes I'll go into other houses and think -maybe I should have done that stuff - but then I go home and think - nope, this is perfect.

We have a blue and white kitchen, so, no, definitely not what others would likely want (other than maybe the Big Chill fridge). However, we feel our kitchen fits the character of our 60's home and expectations for the neighborhood.

blfenton - nice to know there's someone out there like me :)
I'd love to see pics of your house/kitchen...are there any on here?

It's not unusual to have some ideal of perfection in your mind which you believe you are expected to aim at. That's why this forum exists. Some people have a greater belief in this assumption that there is an ideal out there somewhere than do others. I can't imagine that working on house design is going to be any more assumption-bound than any other endeavor. Similarly, there are people who will always go against the fad, the assumption, the tradition, and the current popular "innovation". It may be an important part of their self-definition. Depending on the belligerency of the rebellion, a house design and decor will become more or less individualistic (or just plain weird).

In my case, I can't bear living without color. Since I moved out of my parents' home, I've had a strong amount of red-tones in my home. When people ask about whether this is wise, I simply say, "The blinkin' house is red on the outside. Any buyer who would be turned-off by the interior would already have a clue about what's in it." I'm also very interested in living with late 18th to early 19th century historic pieces, those with a story and a certain restrained taste. I suppose I'm a free spirit compared to my colleagues. More accurately, my taste and decorating endeavours are more like those of other places than the community I live in which has a very utilitarian, plebian, cost-effective mentality. I prefer to think of the neighboring houses as being out of synch with me and my kindred spirits instead of vice-versa.

But...DH is more conservative about color and radical dreams and yet also very addicted to a few home-related biases, esp having sufficient space for tinkering with motors and vehicles, space for parties and entertaining, love of wood, and the conservation of energy via good design and good materials. He also joins me in a strong interest in growing and serving food and owning historical scientific illustration and photography, so we've united our interests, which has really helped us commit to a plan that creates an interesting yet functional result overlaid with an overabundance of framed art and books. He is my brakes and I am his exhilarant. The budget is also a second pair of brakes; if we had more money, we might have an even more individualistic house. If he gets hit by a truck tomorrow, in my widowhood I'd keep 3/4 of our compromises and I'd swing wider in any future choices, heading for eccentricity.

gsciencechick - Oh my...I remember you posting that pic before. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your kitchen! Did I say I love your kitchen??? And not just the bomb of a fridge - everything. The washer/dryer IN the kitchen (you should see where my W/D will be in the new house) ;) The floor, the backsplash, counter. Oh...those cute, lovely, adorable pendant lights. I love unexpected pops of color. I'd like that for my house, too. I want a small amount of "Whoa...I didn't expect to see THAT in here!" :)

Exactly what I wanted. In one way it *is coming back to bite me just a bit. I wanted to make my kitchen *look smaller, so I did, with some architectural tricks. It is one of the bigger footprints in the complex and it "works" bigger than the original although it is identical in size. However, a number of potential buyers' only negative comment is that the kitchen is So small. It worked too well. Generally though, this is not a situation most people would be in, and I would not find myself in again, in a conventional house.

palimpsest,

VERY curious. What are the architectural tricks to make your kitchen look smaller? Very intriguing. Do you have pics/plans you can post? Did you tell potential buyer's it's the same footprint?

I'll be back to answer questions later, but here is an article I did on Pal's kitchen:

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen in Disguise

You know - this is an excellent question! I find myself wondering if I would get a positive reaction from this board when/if I post my kitchen remodel we are about to start. One thing I noticed is how kitchens photograph so differently than they look in real life.

Example - I LOVE every picture of glazed white cabinet kitchens I see, but in real life, don't care for the pooling of the glaze in corners when I look at the cabinet door in person. A great eye opener for me was to take pictures of a kitchen I just LOVED, and found how differently it looked when I uploaded the pics at home. Also, granite does NOT photograph well/true at all.

I don't like stained cab pictures that much, but gosh - in person some of those cherry cabinets are just the most gorgeous things.

Love this question and thread.

Always what I/we like.

Certainly NO one expected me to do a kitchen with 4 cabinet finishes, 3 countertop materials, and 3 backsplashes. Not even me, at the beginning. But unless they're lying, there hasn't been anyone who comes in my kitchen and thinks it's distasteful. But all that really matters is how we feel in it. I can't really worry about resale, because it would be the very rare buyer who would live like we do, so I can't appeal to some possible future mystery person, when I have to deal with a 10 person family on a daily basis and make our life in the house work for us.

Melaska, when it comes to deciding between things you like...for one thing, you can't have every look and have to make choices, of course, but it helps to try to find the relationship between all the kitchens you love. I, for instance, kept loving white kitchens while knowing white kitchens weren't for me at all, so I had to figure out what elements or attributes in the white kitchens I liked were 'calling to me.' I don't know if that helps at all. When you make a decision or two, the rest kind of falls into place and you'll be able to differentiate which other things will fit and which you'll have to pass on.

Definitely what we liked. Had people question why we panelled appliances, why we got a countertop that showed dings and scratches (soapstone), and most of all why we used more than two colors on the cabinets. Answer: because we loved everything we chose, and we are planning to be here for a long time.

I think the impetus behind all of these concerns was that our kitchen was too personal, and that no one would want the house if we had to sell because the kitchen would not appeal to a large number of buyers.

From what I have seen on the (dreaded?) HGTV: it doesn't matter. Show someone a brand new gorgeous cherry kitchen with an induction cooktop and beautiful granite: the buyer will say they prefer white painted cabinets, gas ranges, and cement counters. If they buy the home (in spite of the "horrible" kitchen) they will most likely tear it out and put in what they like anyway!

I think a lot depends on one's economic situation. If I suddenly wanted to move and had to sell my house right now, it would be okay if the buyers hated my new kitchen and I had to take a lower offer. My kitchen is very individual, totally did what I liked (though function was primary--I don't think there are any big problems there for anyone) and while a lot of people admire it, I'm sure many of them wouldn't choose it as one of their favorites.

The things I think are important to do as people would expect are on the fringes of functionality. Like, I always advise people who don't use ovens to either put a full sized oven in their new kitchens, or have a cabinet that one could easily be put into (including the service). There's nothing wrong with preferring a pantry or appliance garage, but, even if your local code allows you to skip it (many don't), make it so that a buyer can put in an oven without redoing the whole kitchen. Because you never know when that emergency is going to happen and you'll need to sell that house. People will deal on don't like the colors or need to add an oven or get a better range. People will skip if they think they have to redo a whole kitchen just to get basic function.

Little bit of both for us. When I bought our current house, I was not married and didn't have kids, yet I bought a three-bedroom rambler rather than a downtown loft or townhouse. I had absolutely no use for "all that" (1800 sq. ft.) space, but there is a much larger market for moderately-sized, centrally-located three-bedroom single-family homes with yards.

But (until I got married last year) the rest of it I did for me. When it was time to remodel the kitchen, stainless steel and granite were in vogue even in this price range. I went with white and laminate (and am now glad I'm not still in hock for spending so much on the kitchen). The house definitely has a "masculine" vibe to it. But take out the furnishings, change the paint and a few lamps, and you've got the house I bought again. Nothing so weird it could not be undone fairly cheaply.

When we were house-shopping last summer, we saw a ton of why-did-they-do-that features in houses: dark-brown toilet fixtures; Italian-brick arches in mid-20th-century ranches;.... Our house undoubtedly has some features prospective buyers will truly dislike. The little ones you can deal with; the big ones really have to have some other feature that overcompensates for it.

My house will be totally custom to what I want. I'm sure other owners wouldn't like the heavy blue/yellow influences throughout house, almost all glass in kitchen, etc. the built-in dog crates, the dog shower w/ tiles with MY dogs pictures on them, etc. etc. I couldn't care less about them!

BTW lavender, if you're curious (or anyone else) I finally got it together and posted some in-progress framing pics in the building forum's "how is your build progressing" thread :)

Thankfully I like the style of my home and am re-doing the kitchen to reflect an older evolved traditional kitchen. Architecturally I love nice molding and corbels so while they may not fit every kitchen as the trends move more contemporary, they fit my house and I love them.
I eventually will be facing re-sale but it will be years away. I hope the traditional kitchen will stand the test of time and not date itself too much down the road.

I think there are certain expectations most people have when it comes to kitchens. The expectations of "normal" appliances, usable countertops and cabinets. Colors and materials are very subjective and locality can steer expectations, as can the age of people viewing your kitchen.

I will definitely execute and plan my kitchen to my own tastes but "some" ideas I have "at this time" I will forgo in order to have the basic good bones to accessorize and decorate to my tastes. I also know myself well enough to know I'm a changer. I think nothing of of picking up a paint brush and repainting and re-accessorizing here or there so I need the ability of a background that allows that. Besides everything in kitchens have such permanence and expense you almost have to decorate for yourself because it is too costly down the road to change your mind!!! =)

Our own taste hopefully with some good and honest professional guidance. However if I had the desire for something really outlandish that would be expensive to redo I'd think twice if I was planning to move in very few years. However 7 or 10 years from now a new buyer will probably think the kitchens we're putting our blood sweat and tears into now look like crap then anyway so go with what you love.

I always do what I like when it comes to style. I may be influenced by what I read and I find that amusing at times.
In the past I made mistakes, mainly using color on permanent surfaces which I later regretted. My new kitchen is very neutral so that I can play with color accents.

I'm never sure what other's expect and not many friends have seen it yet...I still have some details to finish.

I just posted some pic's.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: My driftwood kitchen is 12 posts down

Definitely what I like.
Of course, I want others to like what I have done, but I don't NEED anyones approval. I specifically did not use a decorator for this renovation, because I did not want to be influenced. Then again, I am constantly second guessing my decisions, but I think I would have done that regardless.

others? who are they?? ;^)

Life is too short, I live for me and I am enjoying the ride.~boxer

Given an 11x11 kitchen, anybody else would knock out a wall and put an island there between the living room and the kitchen. But it doesn't fit us. When the computers and TV are too loud, the living room is my retreat for quiet knitting, reading, and meditation. I do not want to open it up.

So we are adding to the back of the house, and end up with a crazy fish hook shape. There's a table squeezed into a corner of the plan, and I am thinking of making it low enough for an armchair, like a coffee nook. I think twice when I realize I am outside the norms, but this I might do for my own short legs, to be comfortable into retirement.

I have toned down my colors a bit (so much for the cherry red countertop) but I found a lovely red laminate nevamar crimson. I might put some on the wall behind the coffee nook, which would be visually impressive, but easy to change out.

It's a compromise, just like anything. DH lets me know when I am on thin ice, then I pick my battles.

{{gwi:1587835}}

Why spend big money if you're spending it to make future buyers happy? Spend what you can to make *yourself* happy!

It's just like when I spend buckets on a pair of shoes (I *love* shoes). I'm buying them for *me*. I'm not thinking about what my friend needs (a half size larger? a different color?) so that she can borrow them for a night out.

I do what I like,,,,,even with our almost finished reno, even though we are selling in 1-2 years to downsize....you can't please every buy and someone will always like/dislike what you have done.

In our first home we totally didn't give a single thought to resale (late 1980's) we put in cathedral ceilings with pine, the kithcen had pine cabinets with red counter top.

Then 6 years later when we went to sell I was so worried that the house was too "personalized" that no one would want it............

It sold is less than 2 weeks........there is a buyer for every house and you need to do what will make you happy while living in yours

Definitely what I like - but what I like isn't really "out there" either. I am not creative at all, I have no imagination, but I know what I like when I see it.

This is our forever home, and I did what I wanted, not what is "in." When we built 12 years ago, everyone around here was decorating in "country" themes. I hate all that painted wood signs/crafty stuff. Also, I wall papered. Again, not country, more formal, but wall paper was going out. Am I sorry? no! I love it, have lived with it for 10 years and could live with it another 10. (Unlike another poster - I am not a changer! If I like it, I'll leave it) But, if we KNEW we would be moving in the future, I probably wouldn't have made some of the choices I made.

We live in a rural blue-collar community where I can count on one hand the people I know that have granite counter tops. In fact, when we built, I knew of NO ONE that had granite counters(which is why I didn't even consider it). Most people had sheet vinyl flooring in the kitchen and thought I was crazy for putting wood floors in. and what we just spent on our new granite - my friends could pay for there entire kitchen. We spent money on things that, if we had to sell, we would never re-coup. But we did these things for us, no one else.

I say do whatever makes YOU happy, don't worry about the next person coming along.

What difference does it make? The next people rip everything out anyway. At least around here.

From what I tend to read in posts in these forums makes me tend to think people are more afraid of the fickleness of their own taste than anything else.

I don't know how many times I have read "I am afraid, I will (get tired of / get bored with / regret / dislike eventually/ grow to hate)___________. And they haven't even picked _________ out yet.

I really don't get anything beyond maybe "get tired of" --I believe in change and evolving rooms as time goes by, but I don't understand these complete turnarounds of taste.

Lavenderlass, you have some of the most thought provoking threads. I always am amazed at the questions you come up with! This is another great thread.

I went with what I loved for my kitchen. The caveat being, that I wanted it to fit in/flow with the rest of my home. Hence my choices of more traditional type cabinetry. As far as color, I had a very definite vision of the warmth I wanted in my kitchen. Ideally, if I were starting from scratch (ie a new build) I would have had a wider kitchen. But I was constrained by the rest of the house, so my kitchen is narrow and Long.

As far as layout, I went as functional as possible, and narrowing down choices there is where GW helped a ton. For my part of the country, my selections, although more traditional, are probably a little more personal. My GC kept asking me if I were sure I wanted the "blotchy" quartz counter I selected. I did because I adore that color of warm yellow. I think a lot of the kitchens he is doing now are more black and white. So mine is a little of an oddball. I was told not to mix quartz and granite counters (and no one here has even really heard of quartz). I was told travertine wouldn't play well. I dunno. For the space I have, I don't know that I could have improved the actual layout.

I know I will never recoup my cost from my backsplash or my vaulted ceiling in my neighborhood. I am guilty of overbuilding for my neighborhood. But it's all right. It's stuff. It makes me happy now.

I do think our forum will have a biased answer to the OPs question. We are all TKO and that is why we found this site. So, my hypothesis is that the vast majority will be answering that they do what they like.

It is very interesting to see what everyones answer is. I think Rococogirl probably has the best grasp on the future buyers reaction to all of our current kitchen angst;)

I do exactly what I like. It is MY home and I could care less what someone else's opinion is about what I choose. THEY are not the ones living in it. I've never had trouble selling a house either. What sold the house was the warmth and personality that I created in the home.

I would still be in the original house we built many moons ago and raised our children in, if we could have picked the thing up and moved it to Florida. And the only reason we sold the house we first built down here was because we found we hated (with a capital "H") living in a subdivison on top of nosey neighbors and having to live by HOA rules. Bought land again in the country, so I think we got it "right" this time!

I can't quite figure out why there are people out there, including some that are building new, who treat their homes strictly as an object that must appeal to some phantom buyer. They must never feel they are truly home.

I say if you like pink walls with purple polka dots and they make you feel full of joy every morning when you get up, then go for it! LOL.

Sandy

I wonder

if those who are always planning, worrying, designing,
decorating buying, building ... for a potentail buyer

I wonder if deep down buried inside them, they feel
they do not deserve their true love. Insecure? Fearful?
They talk themselves out of their dream or fantasy or
desire because they feel compelled to do the "right"
thing. They do not deserve it.
They may not realize they deserve the beautiful Pink Polka
dots and purple painted walls or the exotic brown etching
marble or the black ebony floors, red range, or yellow
lights, or sandstone counters or cherry ceiling...

If you are always doing what someone else expects today
tell yourself You deserve to have what you love!
In the words of L'Oreal Your worth it!

I also believe with age comes wisdom to love yourself
and embrace your style, taste, or ecentricities.
Thank Heavens the GardenWebbers are not plain vanilla but
a mix of spicey, sweet, smart, bitter, sugary, tart,
delicious and acidic mixed nuts that make Kitchens such
a great place to visit.
~boxer

(I need to get back to the steelers game before I wind up
reading Camus)
and

Why even own a home, and pay a mortgage, if you, don't do what you, like in your home, while your living in it.

Beagles - What a hoot about your dogs. My KD was so mortified when I had a custom cabinet built for my dog to sleep in that she made sure we had all the parts to convert the cabinet to a conventional one "when the dog isn't around anymore". Nevermind that anybody who has seen it that has a dog or has ever had a dog thinks its pretty cool. As for the rest, I wholeheartedly agree with Rococogurl and doonie. The house is traditional but personal and the next owner will probably change all of it.

I'm doing what I like, but I'm also thinking about resale a teeny tiny bit. I don't want to live here forever, my plan is to sell in at least ten years. I bought the ONLY nice house on the block, but I'm less than five minutes to downtown where everyone wants to be. Eventually the other houses will be remodeled and when they are, I will sell.

But that will take a long time. I bought knowing what I was in for the long haul.

Since I have to live in this kitchen for a while I'm doing what I want, how I want it. No sense in buying stuff I suspect someone else "might" like a decade from now.

budget was a HUGE limiter for us, but otherwise I mostly do what I like except that keeps changing! Have to take DH into consideration too, but he's generally easy. We do hope to sell in six years, but who knows what will be "in" at that time and who will like it, so it's not much use thinking about it, seems to me.

skyedog obviously your KD was not a dog lover. An unforgiveable (and firing-worthy) sin in my book, lol. I wonder what she'd have thought of the "beagle" room I had put in (replacing the laundry room and sticking washing machines in a master and upstairs closet instead!)

Planned crates and feeding area:

Beagle cabinet knobs:

We are wholeheartedly doing our renovation/expansion for ourselves. The prior owners were two elderly men in their 90s, and maybe some day we will be them. There is a serenity to our property and its gardens that made us fall in love with it, buying and moving on a whim.

The dog story reminds me of a story my GC told me --- they built custom cabinetry to house guinea pigs! And the company building a conservatory for us told me that built one for someone's pet turtles!

I hope we dont become someone' crazy story, but we have done a few crazy things in our remodel.

Beaglesdoitbetter, I love your dog room! I'm a dog trainer, I keep up to three dogs at a time in my home and train them for other people. I have plans to add on a mud room/dog room once I'm finished with the kitchen remodel.

I love the look of yours! I did not even think of having the crates under the counters, I will probably steal that idea. Only difference being I can't build them in. Other people's dogs are often not crate trained and I go through them crazy.

I don't suppose you have other pictures of that area you can share?

coffeeaddict226, my dog room doesn't exactly exist yet. That was a photoshopped picture I did for my custom cabinet maker so he would know what I wanted. Our house is still being framed :)

I am actually doing it slightly differently, however. My cabinet maker is just basically going to build me a box w/ no floor to fit in the space in my dog room and I am going to slide crates from Petco in and put a granite countertop on top. I thought about doing the built-in permanent crates, but we raw feed the pups so I didn't think that would be a good idea in light of the fact that they eat raw meat in their crates- the crates might need to be replaced.

The plumbing person has worked w/ me so that I can fit the plumbing in 12 inches above the crates so I can have the sink and counter right there on which to prepare their meat. There will be a wooden area in between so they don't have plumbing right on top of them of course. I put the fridge right next to the crates because I feed them out of the fridge since they are raw fed, but you could do a "dog food" pull out next to your cabinets w/ kibble instead of that worked better for you, to create a whole self contained dog area:

I also thought this idea was ingenious but it wouldn't work for us b/c the dogs aren't fed this way- it might work for you though:

This thread makes me smile... when we added a MBR/BA years ago, we had to also have a walkout basement addition below it because of the slope of our lot. I insisted putting a dog tub down there (tub raised on stilts to put the dogs at waist height, plus sprayer instead of normal faucet). My husband griped about putting that strange thing in, but I was right and I knew it. [grin]

I am heartened by reading all these opinions because we will need to change/repair some things in our kitchen soon, and we are so far from the "norm" for our neighborhood (kitchens are gut remodels with custom cabs and granite, usually in dark earth tones) that we will never really meet those nebulous buyers' expectations anyway. So if I decide I want aqua boomerang Formica, I might as well put it in. haha. (I probably won't, though now that I think of it, boomerang Formica is closer to the original style of these houses than granite is.)

We did what we wanted and what we knew would work for our family and lifestyle. Example: we had a 9x9 u-shaped kitchen with a fairly good layout, but almost no food storage, other than one small upper cabinet. We were storing food on the counter! We gladly downsized our 36 inch fridge to a 24 inch so we could add a 12 inch pullout pantry (against roars of disapproval from 3 different kitchen designers).

It was absolutely the best decision we made. Every time I opened that pantry, I heard music. Our nod to resale was to frame the pantry and fridge in such a way that we could remove them and replace with a larger fridge if needed.

One of the reasons that we went with the GC that we did was because he so completely saw our vision. And when he didn't, he would just shrug and say "well, you are the one who is going to live here."

There are so many wonderful choices that it is difficult to figure out what you do like! I envy those who seem sure. My tastes and values have changed over the course of this journey. I'm glad I didn't go with some of my original notions. Feel fortunate to have had the time to sort through many iterations before making final decisions. Still second guessing but more sure than I was before. The choices were mine but were dictated by the character of the house.

Definitely what I like!! Although like a PP said, my tastes are somewhat generic to start with so it's not a huge difference either way. But for example, everyone is telling me that stained wood cabs will be better for resale but I've always like white cabs (or natural which is also not as good for resale as I'm told). But I like simple, open, clean, uncluttered, tons of storage, natural tones and gray gray gray, ha ha.

Doing what you like with more than "cosmetic choices" is a freedom that only someone who is pretty well funded can take. If it only involves painting your walls passionate purple and filling it with tiki room furniture, then that's a low cost risk that almost anyone can take, because that's easily rectified if your spouse loses a job and you can't afford the home any more.

If (true story) you've taken a 3 bedroom home 2 bath home and used one of the bedrooms to expand the master, used another to make a walk in closet and combined the two bathrooms into one, then you've done what you like and what works for you---but at a SIGNIFICANT detriment to the value of the home. A 1 bedroom 1 bath home simply will not appraise the same as a 3/2. And then, if you're forced to sell the home because of a health change, you're really going feel those dollars lost because of "doing what you liked".

However, if the home is paid for, and retirement is very well funded, perhaps it's not as big of a "sting" to you to lose 200K in home value. That's the economic freedom I'm talking about. And, most Americans are 3 missed paychecks away from poverty rather than flush enough to be able to take the chance of adversely affecting the largest asset that they own adversely. So, "do what you like", but keep the "bones" mainstream would be my advice. And never extend yourself financially for anything too personal. Because the moment you commit yourself financially to those permanant personal choices is the moment you risk losing it all. No one is immune to the economy!

I say yes, do what you like, but within reason with considering what others might think.

I'm not saying don't do what you like, but if what you like is far out there.... realize what it does to resale value etc, before taking the leap.

I do know what I like and don't like. I try and make sure I'm not having a "moment" when deciding on things and pick something that I think is cool right now, that in 6 months I'm going to wonder what was I thinking, b/c it has happened to me before, and I try not to do it with permenant things.

Live wire oak has a major point. A neighbor of mine converted their 3rd bedroom into a huge jacuzzi room for their master (which already had a full bath). It is a large house in an upscale area, but now is a 2 bedroom, 3 full bath, 4 level house with over the top materials/taste. They tried to sell last year and had no bites. They will need a specialty buyer or one with a real need to be in this exact neighborhood. It is too large to be a real 2br, and yet to go back to a 3br would involve a lot of ripping out and repair. Not a smart move at all. They might have gotten away with it if it was on the water....

There are alway outliers that will do crazy renovations

How about turning a 3 floor + basement row house into a 7 alternating level, bisected by 2- 2 ft wide staircases that crossed like Xs, and had rope for handrails. Add walls of broken plates, broken mirrors and pink stucco for interior decor. That is a bit too personal I would say, but someone bought it, eventually.

Melaska, thanks! I tried to post the other day but it wouldn't let me.