Upgrades to your first floor

These small changes could add resale value to your home, and make you happier.

2 of 11

2. Living room: Build window seats ...

...on the edge of the main seating area, suggests Max Jacobson, a principal at JSWD Architects in Berkeley and co-author of Patterns of Home. People feel happier when they can choose to be "away from a main gathering place yet still part of it," he says.

Cost: $800 to $1,300 for a carpenter to build two seats

NEXT: Living room: Add shelves

Last updated March 26 2010: 3:36 PM ET

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