3 home remodeling ideas that pay you back big: Choose a low-flow toilet – It’s good for the environment too! If your toilet works fine but looks worn out, replace the lid and the seat instead of the whole thing. Rather than spending money everywhere, splurge on just a few high-end items to elevate the whole bathroom look and feel. Countertops and wall coverings make particularly big impacts. Keep any new plumbing close to where the old plumbing was to avoid the cost of moving it. Keep two words in mind as you design the layout of your bathroom: functional zoning. That means foregoing style for a layout that’s useful to you in your lifestyle, if you have to choose between the two.

If you love the crisp look of white tiles but don’t want to settle for a neutral color, a fresh light blue, green, or gray is a perfect compromise. The room will still feel open and airy, but the colored tiles will draw the eye and tone down a potentially serious feel into something a little more friendly. Make sure to go with glass for a truly clean and contemporary feel.

So you’ve caught the DIY bug and are feeling inspired by the new year to tackle your own bathroom remodel—congratulations! You’ve got this under control and can be confident that you’re making the right decision in remodeling your bathroom to add extra value to your home. Plus, if you’re doing this on a budget you’re adding even more value to your pocket by cutting down on the expenses of renovation by doing most of the work yourself. You clever homeowner, you. But before you get started, there are some questions you’ll want to consider that can make everyone’s life much easier. And when you’re done and enjoying the peace and quiet of your brand-new (well, kind of) bathroom, you’ll be glad you did.

When you’re selling your home, the amount of space you have is going to play a huge part in how quickly and how well it sells. Creating a larger bathroom will be a great bonus for potential buyers.If there’s no way for you to increase the size of your bathroom, it’s easier than you think to simply create the illusion of a larger bathroom. One of the ways you can do this is by replacing an old bathtub with a shower and adding a glass door to that shower. When you use a shower curtain or some other completely opaque barrier for a shower door, a good portion of the space in your bathroom is cut off from sight. By using glass instead, that space becomes visible, and your bathroom doesn’t seem so claustrophobic. Explore even more info on Apsense.

For a budget version (which may serve an especially small bathroom best), opt for a tubular skylight or, as it’s also known, a solar tube (pictured above). A much smaller version of a traditional skylight, a solar tube is a 10- or 14-inch diameter sheet metal tube which reflects and diffuses sunlight throughout a room. Because they don’t require new drywall and alterations to framing like a traditional sunlight, they can be installed for between $500 and $1,000. Keep in mind that a solar tube will offer light but not the view that a traditional skylight affords.