Whether you’re interested in making a resale investment or just want to enhance your living space, industry experts agree there are a number of easy ways you can add value to your home.

“Home improvement projects always equate to increasing the value of your house,” says Don Zeman, host of the home improvement radio show, Homefront with Don Zeman. “Whether you’re replacing an old dishwasher with a newer, energy-efficient model or simply adding crown moulding to a bedroom, every activity you do means you’re investing in the future of your home.”

A contractor and builder for 25 years before starting his nationally syndicated radio show, Zeman knows the best ways to add value to a house. “Research shows that major remodeling projects like adding a bathroom or renovating a basement definitely pay off when it comes time to selling your home,” says Zeman. “Those are big projects. Homeowners need to understand that smaller and medium-sized projects can also have huge benefits.”

According to Zeman, there are 10 extremely positive home improvement projects that can make life in your current home more enjoyable in the short-term and pay big dividends when selling the home in the future.

Project #1 — Create a designated home office space. Whether it’s just part of a room partitioned off with an obscure acrylic block wall to create a private nook or an entire room, home offices are an essential part of today’s living. The multi-functional space can be used for children to study, paying bills, writing or for a home business.

Project #2 — Treat your ceilings as the fifth wall in a room. Accent and embellish them with beaded boards, paints or decorative finishes. Consider adding a lightweight urethane ceiling medallion from Fypon(R) around ceiling lights and fans. Two-piece medallions snap into place in less than five minutes to add more ambiance to a room.

Project #3 — Invest in your lawn. Nothing puts forth a better first impression than a well-manicured lawn and continuously-maintained shrubs and flower beds. If you’re selling your home, a buyer immediately forms his opinion of how well you have taken care of the interior by the look of the exterior.

Project #4 — Replace old, leaky windows with energy efficient vinyl windows. ENERGY STAR(TM) compliant windows help save on heating and cooling bills all year long. And, for added safety and security, consider Simonton StormBreaker(TM) Plus impact-resistant windows. Much like a car windshield, when broken the glass in these windows adheres to a heavy invisible plastic interlayer, thus reducing the damage inside the home from storms or crime attempts.

Project #5 — Expand living space by adding a deck or sunroom. Increasing the amount of usable space in a home always equates to adding more value. Whether it’s placing an awning over a patio area, converting a screened-in porch to a sunroom or adding a deck, the creation of more living space makes life more enjoyable for you now and adds an appealing selling feature for the future.

Project #6 — Remove mildew from your home’s exterior and prevent it from coming back. Start by killing any mildew by using a garden sprayer and JOMAX(R), which contains an EPA-registered mildecide that kills mildew without harming your siding, shrubs or grass. After killing the mildew, prevent it from coming back by using PERMA-WHITE(R) Mold and Mildew-Proof Exterior Paint.

Project #7 — Trim out exterior windows and doors. If you have old, rotting wood around windows (or no trim at all) install all-weather millwork. Fypon cellular PVC trim resists insects, rot and termites, making it an ideal low-maintenance product.

Project #8 — Upgrade the master bathroom with a tub window. Made of durable acrylic blocks, Hy-Lite’s fixed and operable windows provide privacy in the bathroom while allowing light into the room. A decorative bathroom window over the tub serves as a focal point in the room.

Project #9 — Replace rotted columns and porch posts with fiberglass columns. When you start spending several weekends each year repairing and repainting exterior rail systems and columns, it’s time too invest in low-maintenance fiberglass columns. Structural load-bearing columns from Dixie-Pacific are an affordable investment. Options include columns with lifetime finishes to eliminate painting and a variety of styles to complement any home design.

Project #10 — Bump out to a bay or bow window. Along with adding extra living space, bay and bow windows add instant visual interior and exterior appeal to homes. People value the extended space that can highlight a holiday tree, a window seat or simply adds more light to the home.

For more tips and ideas on adding value to your home see the Life and Style section of the Murphy Monitor at http://www.etypeservices.com/Murphy%20MonitorID247/default.aspx

To add value to your home add decorative lighting and update fixtures.