Rosalinda bought that bland condo-hotel unit on the 6th floor of Fountain Beach Resort in Daytona Beach for $40K. She told me that she used to be a designer before becaming heavily involved in Commercial Real Estate. 
She still had a lot of stuff in her garage. She said I would love what she would do with the unit.
Then I started seeing the hotel cart filled with all the construction stuff. I could not believe how much of it was being brought to a 385 sf condo-hotel unit. It felt like all that stuff was going into a bottomless barrel. Especially when I saw heavy 8' real oak dark doors, which could not fit that room, period. And that barrel gobbled the door, too.
She brought two guys to work on her unit. I was dying to see what she did with the unit. So, the day finally came when she stepped in to our office and said "Let me show you my unit". And we went to see this unit. Well, just wow would not be enough to describe it. She transformed this small and bland space into a very attractive unit, very much in that style, whihc, though not the one that I love, was definitely the one that stopped everyone;s attention.
I noticed that tall oak door, she cleverly cut 3 ft or so and used it as a door for the under sink cabinet, and used the door so that when you close it, it did not let any sound from the hallway, and if you push it to open, the same door would close the bathroom.
There were tons of small things that were very clever. Beautiful place. No surprising that when Rosalinda needed money, she put it on the Internet and got a buyer, who paid $165K unseen. She made pretty good return on her investment. She bought another unit, which she keeps for herself.
Was it painted neutral? No. Did she increase the value? Yes, big time. The next highest price for a unit there at the very peak was $120K. $45K for the impression was quite good.
Another owner of a unit in Fountain Beach Resort decided to do something similar with her unit. Knowing how Rosalinda did her unit, we now were expecting this to come out attractive.
A few weeks later she decided to sell the unit. She asked me to look at it. The unit was dark green, with that unpleasant shade of green with a lot of gray in it. When I am saying that it was green, I mean it. The only non green thing in the unit was the fridge. Yeah, they do not make them green.I was overwhelmed by this strange and depressing unit. Ii asked her why she picked up this strange color, and she told me that her daughter loves it. Her daughter lived in Detroit, she never came even to see it, yet everything was done to her taste.
This condo-hotel unit hasn't still found the buyer in several years. I showed it many times, but have yet to find a person who would like the color arrangement.
What is the moral of the story? Oh, it is simple. If you do not intend to sell, do what you want. But if you plan to sell soon or in the future, keep in mind not your daughter in Detroit, but the future buyer.
And while a good professional can dramatically enhance the value and be bold, it is very easy to kill any appeal by doing something weird. Going neutral is a safe heaven for those of us, who are not professionals.
I never took the photos of this "evergreen" unit. Use your imagination, it might be more flattering.
If you are looking for condo-hotels or condos in Daytona Beach area, call me 386-405-4408 or e-mail me.
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