Another thing about owning a house. If you don't like the walls you can rip them out and change them. If the kitchen decor gets boring you can gut it and totally do your own thing. It has been a bit expensive, but we found the neighbor hood we liked and are now making our house just what we want.
You can't get most landlords to bother with repairs in a timely manner, let alone upgrade anything. You will love having that freedom to do it your own way.