Decorate/Remodel for You, or Future Buyers?

[old medic]

What is a selling point today, may be a turn off in 10 years....
Picture Shag carpet and gold fleck mirror tiles..... But it did go with the Water bed..
Rebuilding ours for the rest of our lives, whoever comes next... hope you like it.

[Golden sunsets]

We've done 2 six figure Reno's over the past 15 years, one of our large eat-in kitchen and one of our master and secondary baths. Both were gut renos, down to the studs. I worked with a designer to create the new spaces. My goal was to make choices that we loved AND were as timeless as possible. Fortunately, my tastes run to those shown in current kitchen and bath magazines and websites like Houzz and Pinterest. So the final results please us tremendously AND would please most buyers, so I think you CAN, achieve both goals in most cases.

[Paracelsus]

I redid both my main floor and the unit downstairs. My tastes are very happy now and I love living in this house! The house would sell quickly if needed now, compared to before, but I want to enjoy it for another decade or so. No regrets!

[pacergal]

We have updated kitchen x2 and bathrooms (new fixtures, flooring, appliances, etc.), but no remodel with ripping out walls. So the house is still a single story original 1960s ranch floor plan, no steps and easy to age in.
I would like a walk in shower, but we only have one tub and not enough space in the masterbath. This is a family neighborhood with a school one block over, so I know resale needs a bathtub for kids!
But the updating has made the house more liveable for me to enjoy over the years. Its about due for new carpeting and refinishing the hardwood floors, but with a dog and grandkids, we plan to wait a few more years! We've been here 30 years, hope to be here at least 20 more!

That being said, I would do what makes you happy.

[ElizabethT]

A topic near and dear to my heart, as we are in the midst of finishing up the last bit of our home that needed updating from its 1980's builder grade (i.e. cheapie products) origins.

I follow the rule of: Keep it neutral but quality.

Add personality through your easily replaced accessories, everything from furniture to artwork to knick knacks, but keep that foundation neutral.

The reasons are many - You are less likely to get tired of it over time, buyers will appreciate the ability to personalize the home to their liking without starting over, and classic materials will stand the test of time.

My top picks for material, which has not changed in decades of my own home-owning, nor in close to 100 years within the industry ,-

Wood or natural stone floors, depending on where the home is (wood in low humidity areas, natural stone in high humidity areas)
White or natural wood shutters (3 & 1/2" slates)
Stainless finish appliances (for those who think these are newish, and therefore a trend - they have been around for 100+ years!)
Maple cabinets, painted or not. No visible grain, so very easy to change via paint, pretty much forever.
Quartz, marble or granite counters, in as 'calm' a selection pattern as possible.

No matter what combination of above is selected, it's almost impossible to go wrong. And decades from now I feel confident it will be the same.

[mountainsoft]

One of the reasons we built our own house was so we could make it what WE wanted. Resale value wasn't even a factor of our planning process. We built a small 1456 sq/ft house in an area that is (now) surrounded by million dollar homes. But that's all the space we needed, it cost less to build, and we never had a mortgage. Thankfully we're in a forested rural area where we don't have to look at those McMansions and they don't have to look at us.

We do not have closets in our two smaller bedrooms. I built a window seat and custom storage cabinets in my daughters room (now my wife's office/craft room), and use the other room as my office. No closets mean more floor space and flexibility to move things around. We don't miss closets at all, but I'm sure that would be a negative for future home buyers who want a more traditional bedroom.

We don't follow, or even care, what the latest trends are. Some folks might consider our decorating tastes outdated, but we are still very happy with the choices we made 15+ years ago. Still, none of our choices are really that wild, mostly a more modern rustic with neutral colors.

We have (gasp!) laminate kitchen counters, chosen for cost, ease of installation, and we really liked the leaf pattern in the laminate. It suits our home, and we really like it a lot, but now days it seems granite or quartz counters are a MUST!

We have nice tongue and groove cedar wood ceilings that we joke the next owners will probably paint white or cover with sheetrock. We also have pine walls in our master bedroom and bath for a "cabin" feel. It's our own little stay-cation when we don't have the time or money to take a trip somewhere. New owners may not like the look, but they're free to change it when they buy the house.

Our plan is to pass our house on to our daughter, and her tastes are very similar to ours. I don't think she would change much, but that's her choice when the time comes.

Everyone that comes to our home really seems to like it, but it's for our enjoyment, not to please others. We have lived here over 15 years now and plan to stay the rest of our lives. What happens once we're gone is not my problem.

As for resale value, we paid $60K to build it, and it's already worth $400K today. I think we'll get our investment back...

[mountainsoft]

We fixed up my mom's house a couple years ago after she had a stroke, with the specific intention of selling it. The house was trashed, but we wanted it to sell quickly without spending a lot of money.

We removed the popcorn ceiling, painted everything inside (white) and out (tan), painted the mismatched kitchen cabinets, new carpet, new vinyl plank floors, new water heater, repaired broken appliances, replaced broken windows, fixed all leaky faucets, replaced all of the lights and electrical outlets, and basically fixed any items that had not been maintained. Finally we cleaned up the yard to be presentable again. It looked like a new house by the time we were done.

Mom paid $45K for the house 20 years ago, we spent about $6K fixing it up, and sold it for $225K in just over a week.

Fixing Up The Dallesport House

[FIYes]

I have lived in my house for 30+ years and hope to live here for many more. When I decorate/remodel(and I don’t do much of either), I don’t think about future buyers, but I do think about future me. Any changes I make now have “aging in place” as a consideration.

[Teacher Terry]

We bought a foreclosure 8 years ago and replaced most everything. We did it to our taste. It was a 1400 sq ft 1960’s ranch with 4 bedrooms and one bathroom. We stole space from the huge dining room for the master bathroom. There was a tiny bedroom attached to the master. We stole the closet from that room to give the main bathroom more room. We took out the tiny closet in the master and made the tiny attached bedroom a walk in closet. A realtor said it definitely increased resell value although we don’t plan to sell.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst A relative used to say this, with immense conviction. Now, widowed, her ailments have gotten to the point that she realizes she cannot stay in her home and must sell.

Choosing between living with something I don't like in the hope someone in the future will like it and enjoying it myself now, I'll take the latter case. Sorry about your relative.