You can polish chains until they shine; they are still chains.

Improving something confining does not make it less confining. A better-paid version of the wrong job, a more comfortable version of an arrangement that does not fit, all of it can look like progress while the fundamental situation is unchanged. The polish is often what makes it hard to leave.

Ask whether your recent improvements changed the situation or decorated it. If it is the second, that is worth knowing before you invest another year in decoration.