With housing values falling, investing lavishly in home upgrades simply isn’t prudent. Yet ignoring easy maintenance or enhancements wouldn’t be wise either. So how do you strike a balance between over-investing and conserving cash? It all comes down to choosing the right home improvement projects, combined with the right money-saving outlets for materials.

In fact, retaining or enhancing a home’s value even in a down market is possible through smart, targeted home projects, says Sam Montanez, owner of Remodeling Dreams Inc. in Piscataway, N.J. A veteran contractor, Montanez offers several low-cost home improvement suggestions that won’t break the bank, yet provide a strong return on investment.

Kitchen: New hardware and countertop

The first opportunity for home improvement is in the kitchen. You don’t have to demolish anything to transform the look and feel of the room, he says. By simply changing out drawer pulls and kitchen cabinet knobs and installing a pre-fabricated granite countertop, you can boost your home’s value by as much as $10,000, according to Montanez, at a cost of around $2,100 in a standard-size kitchen.

 

Although it’s not critical, says Montanez, if you have mismatched appliances, you may want to consider updating them to coordinate. Surprisingly, you’ll want to look beyond big box retailers to save the most on appliances, says Stephanie Brown of Portland, Ore. Brown and her husband have systematically renovated their bungalow-style home for a tiny fraction of the value they’ve added.

Brown saved beaucoup bucks on her matching dishwasher, stove and refrigerator by ordering last year’s models from online appliance store A.J. Madison. Because she purchased the complete set, she saved an additional 5 percent off the total, which was about $3,300 and priced even less than a major discount home improvement store, which charges about $4,400 for the same set, reports Brown.

Bathroom: Swap out a few key elements

In the bathroom, Montanez advises changing out a few key pieces — vanity, toilet, faucet and tile — for less than $1,000 to yield an estimated seven-time increase in home value. What’s most crucial, he says, is swapping an old-style, space-hogging vanity for a newer, fresher pedestal sink that “makes a five-by-five bathroom look and feel bigger,” he says.

Fortunately, replacing bath fixtures doesn’t necessarily mean buying new. One place to turn for bargain-priced parts, including toilets and vanities, are architectural salvage yards. In Brown’s backyard, that was the ReBuilding Center, but there are house parts recyclers in nearly every city. Habitat for Humanity runs ReStores outlets, which take in windows, doors, flooring material, cabinets and anything else leftover from remodeling projects and resells them to other homeowners doing their own improvements.

Walls: Paint with leftover colors, expose windows

Perhaps the quickest and easiest upgrade, however, comes by way of a new coat of paint. And even there, you can save some dough, says Nicole Morton of Elk Grove, Calif., who used two gallons of tan reject, or mistint, paint, mixed them together, and transformed her master bedroom with a very nice shade of taupe for $10. Reject paint is already mixed cans that didn’t meet customer expectations and, consequently, are sold at bargain basement prices.

While you’re adding a new coat of paint to the walls, look for any large windows hiding behind heavy drapes, recommends Montanez. Although windows add value by bringing light into your home, covering them up decreases it (both light and value). Instead, explore tinting the windows at a cost of around $45 per pane. You’ll get light and a feeling of spaciousness without sacrificing privacy.

Another light source, lighting fixtures, can be had for pennies on the dollar through careful combing of online ads. One of Brown’s friends used Craigslist to snare a slew of bungalow-style lighting from a homeowner who wanted to make way for more modern sconces and chandeliers. For just $500, Brown estimates her friend got around $8,000 worth of Rejuvenation-brand lighting, a high-end manufacturer of reproduction lighting and house parts.

But even better than cheap is free — fixtures, appliances or home parts — all of which can be had through Freecycle. Established as a means of keeping household cast-offs out of the waste stream, Freecycle connects individuals with items to give away with others in their area in search of the same. Last week in western New York you could have picked up a very nice 19-inch porcelain sink, a selection of ceramic tiles or a ceiling fan with lights, all from homeowners eager to get rid of them.

Invest a little time and energy updating and upgrading your home and you’ll help protect your investment. You’ll also be better prepared to sell, should you want to, when the market turns around.