Home Improvement

So when I was spackling yesterday, I was thinking about random things. One of the things that I thought about was how I've read countless articles on financially savvy home renovations. Each and every article says to not go overboard on renovations because the payoff on certain renovations may not be so great. This is especially the case if a certain renovation is not in line with what your neighbors have. But I beg to differ. What's wrong in going overboard and getting something nice that your neighbors don't have? I mean, so what if you don't recoup 100% of the money you spent on the renovation when you sell your home if you were able to thoroughly enjoy said renovation while you owned the home? If the level of enjoyment of living in your home goes up because of a renovation then I think it's definitely worth it. Even if you recoup 50% of your investment when you sell, just think of the rest of the money that you spent as the fee for the greater quality of life that it provided for you.

Eh, it's just my 2 cents on the matter. Maybe it's because my family is big on the renovation thing. When my sis and I graduated in 2003, our parents had a little graduation party in our backyard for us. The week before the party we built a HUGE tent in the backyard (it was the size of our entire backyard - about 20 x 30 ft) out of 2x3 studs and a bunch of tarps. We put up lights and stuff and it looked so nice. The funniest and nicest comment that we got was from my cousin's wife. She said, "You don't even feel like you're in Jersey City anymore." hehe no offense taken. We took it as a compliment. Yeah, that was a random thought but I'm going somewhere with this so hold on. If you go through w/ a renovation that makes someone feel like they're somewhere else then does it really matter if it's not common in your neighborhood?