This homeowner certainly isn’t afraid of adding bright colors to her home, and after months of renovating her California property, she’s hitting back at critics who think she’s ruining the home’s value.
When Angelina Murphy moved in three years ago, she wanted to make sure it truly felt like her perfect home, and that meant adding her flair and creativity to every room. While she is undoubtedly happy with her choices, not everyone agrees with her decisions, as Murphy told Newsweek that they often have “concerns surrounding resale value.”
Some of the most “unpopular and controversial” changes made to her Los Angeles home include knocking a wall down to merge two bedrooms into one larger master bedroom, and incorporating plenty of bright colors throughout the home, including a quirky green kitchen.
Murphy continued: “Many people think a three-bedroom home may be more valuable than a two-bed home, or that people may stray away from purchasing a green kitchen. However, we want to live in a home that we love and are comfortable in. We don’t want to live in a house that we find boring or impractical just because of potential buyers in the future.
@renovatingourhome / TikTok
“We do not have any regrets and we love all the decisions that we made. We love switching things up because we have fun doing it and love change, so we will always have a new project on the horizon.”
Murphy isn’t alone in wanting to put her stamp on her home’s interior, as there has been an increase in people choosing to invest in renovation projects over recent years. Statista estimated that in 2018, the average homeowner spent $7,560 a year on redesigning their space.
Painting was the most popular project in 2020, with 35 percent of people giving the walls a new lick of color. Other popular choices included remodeling the bathroom, 31 percent, and new flooring, 26 percent.
How Did Social Media React?
While most of the home renovation is complete, Murphy still loves sharing her tips and ideas on social media (@renovatingourhome), especially as she’s always finding new projects to get started on.
The TikTok video sharing the “most controversial choices” instantly went viral, gaining more than 2.6 million views and 222,000 likes in a matter of days. As Murphy says, not everyone agrees with her taste, but she hopes to inspire people by “seeing new and different designs.”
As for anyone who is overly cautious, she adds that “most of the decisions can be reversed,” so if reverting the house back to its former design is essential for future buyers, then it can easily be done.
Murphy told Newsweek: “The reaction on social media is mostly positive, however some people get really angry by bold choices or decisions that they wouldn’t personally make, so we definitely get some debate in our comments.”
With more than 2,700 comments on the TikTok post at the time of writing, discussion has covered everything from her color choices, to the new flooring. One comment reads: “The concrete over the tile was a sin.”
Another person responded: “People get too caught up in resale value. It’s a home not a business. If you decide to sell later you can put it back.”
While one TikTok user wrote: “So you basically made your house cool and people were upset cause it wasn’t white and bland.”
Do you have any amazing home renovation videos or pictures you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to [email protected] and they could appear on our site.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.