few hundred dollars, you can transform the feel of the house. However, a kitchen island can also be an asset, creating needed storage space. If the kitchen has enough cabinets, it could pay to haul the island away, but an alternative is to replace it with a moveable island. • Prune, limb, and landscape. People forget about their trees more than almost any feature. Yet, landscaping is one of the top three investments that yields the biggest returns. According to a survey of 2,000 brokers conducted by HomeGain.com, an online real estate marketing site, an investment of around $400 or $500 dollars in landscaping can bring a return of four times that much. • Let the Light Shine In. The number one item on the HomeGain survey, lighting — anything from a dimmer switch to the increasingly popular sun tubes — noticeably enhances a home’s appeal. For example, dimmers allow you to create a specific mood to fit different situations. Sun tubes are a new home improvement in lighting. Less expensive than framing in a skylight, sun tubes — also known as light pipes, sunscoops, and tubular skylights — use reflective material to funnel natural light from a globe-capped hole cut in a rooftop down through a ceiling fixture and into a room. With tubular skylights, sunlight is nice and moonlight is even nicer. A few other ways to light things up: fix broken panes, make sure windows open (and do so quietly and easily), and consider installing lights that use motion detectors to turn themselves off. High-wattage bulbs make small spaces feel larger, and soft lighting can warm empty spaces.
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