A friend of mine recently made a comment about feedback from beta readers and editors:
“It’s your house, you can paint it what colour you want.”
He’s right. You can do whatever you want with your house. You can paint it in an eyecurdling mix of colours. You can fill it with a smorgasbord of cultural goulash. Go obscure, contemporary, cool, sentimental or just ‘you’. Don’t even clean it! It’s your house.
However, if you want someone to rent or buy your house, or even visit from time to time, you may want to tone it down. If you want people to do more than just poke their head round the door, choose a less deafening combination of colours. If you don’t want your visitors to suddenly remember there’s a nicer place a few doors down, batten down your eccentric urges. People complain they get lost in the corridors? Get rid of the sprawling extension.
If your tastes are a little distinct and you want people to look at, eat, listen to or even read what you are creating, remember that not everyone will appreciate your individuality.
That said, standing by your principles and having faith in what you are doing is admirable. I need to do more of it. If more people ‘walked the walk’, the world would be a better place to live in.
A few of the colour schemes clash something awful.
I’ve built my house. I’m now redecorating it. Again. There are a few draughty windows that need fixing and a couple of leaks. Some of the cracks are now showing through the wall paper.
I’ve found a builder to have a look at it and make suggestions. Hopefully, I’ll soon be able to open the doors to the public. Hopefully, that public will want to come back, with their friends.
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