Ten upgrades that add the most, done in days, not months.

Walkways and lighting

So obvious it's often overlooked. A walkway isn't just a safety issue. It's the introduction to your home. Many owners keep up the fascia and the lawn but let the path to the front door slide. A repaired or new walkway changes the first impression before anyone reaches the door.

Lighting finishes the job. A lit path is easier and safer to walk at night, and it makes the house look cared for after dark.

Good to know: a walkway needs a compacted base and a slight slope to shed water. Pavers or stone laid on loose soil will settle and heave within a few seasons.

Paint or resurface kitchen cabinets

Extremely cost-effective. Painting or resurfacing the cabinet boxes and doors costs a fraction of replacing the cabinets and countertops, and the kitchen looks new. Even refacing, the more involved option with new doors and veneer, typically runs 30 to 50% less than replacing custom or semi-custom cabinets. Painting usually costs less still.

The key is preparation. Cabinets get cleaned and degreased, then sanded. Open-grain wood like oak gets filled if you want a smooth finish. Then a stain-blocking primer goes on, because tannins and old stain will bleed through ordinary primer and yellow the paint.

Good to know: resurfacing only makes sense when the boxes are sound. If they're water-damaged or falling apart, new paint won't save them.

Crown molding

A finishing touch that makes a room look complete. Crown draws the eye up and gives plain walls a finished edge where they meet the ceiling.

It's cut, coped at the inside corners, installed, puttied, sanded and painted. That's about a day per room, so most homes are done in one to three days.

Good to know: walls and ceilings in older homes are rarely straight. Coped inside corners hold up better than simple miters, which tend to open up as the house moves through the seasons.

Coffered ceiling

A coffered ceiling breaks up an otherwise flat, dull space and adds architecture overhead. It works especially well in living rooms, dining rooms and dens with enough ceiling height to carry it.

Depending on the number and size of rooms and the complexity of the design, it can go up in about four days.

Good to know: decorative beams are built light and fastened to the framing above. They're trim, not structure, so they don't change how the ceiling carries weight.

Tile floors

Self-evidently game-changing. We recommend looking past the most conventional tile, but choosing something deeper than a fad: a floor that adds lasting value. A 300-square-foot floor typically takes two to four days to set, plus half a day to grout.

The setting days aren't wasted time. Mortar generally needs about a day to cure before grouting and light foot traffic, so grout goes in once the tile underneath is solid.

Good to know: a tile floor is only as good as what's under it. The subfloor has to be stiff and flat, or tiles and grout will crack. That's checked before anything else.

Cost excludes demolition of an existing floor and baseboard removal or replacement.

Vinyl, laminate, or engineered flooring

This one sells itself. Real estate agents rank new and refinished wood floors among the best-recovering projects there are, and a new floor changes every room it runs through. Depending on the subfloor and any demolition, it can be done in as little as a couple of days.

Vinyl plank is the most water-tolerant of the three, which makes it a good fit for kitchens, baths and laundry rooms. Laminate is tough and affordable. Engineered wood is real wood on top, and some products can be lightly refinished later.

Good to know: many products need to acclimate in the room before install, and the manufacturer's instructions set how long. Skipping it can lead to gaps or buckling.

Cost excludes demolition of an existing floor and baseboard removal or replacement.

Backsplashes, countertops, and bath wainscots

Subtle, but game-changing. A new backsplash, or new fabricated granite or quartz counters, resets the whole look of a kitchen. A tiled wainscot does the same for a bath, and it protects the lower walls from splashes and mopping.

Backsplash cost depends on the square footage and the tile. Small mosaics and patterns with lots of cuts take longer than simple subway tile.

Good to know: pick the counter first and the backsplash second. The counter is the bigger surface and the harder one to change, so the tile should work with it.

Paint

New wall color and fresh trim paint can change the whole feel of a room, or a whole floor. This isn't something to have done cheaply, because the prep is most of the job: patching, sanding, caulking, taping, and priming where the color changes a lot. Even done properly, it seldom takes more than half a day per room.

Good to know: homes built before 1978 may have lead paint. Federal rules require contractors to use lead-safe practices when they disturb painted surfaces in those homes, so sanding and scraping are handled with care.

Fireplace and mantel

A great upgrade to the place people gather. Recladding a dated fireplace with new tile or stone, and adding a new mantel, transforms a room. We haven't seen one yet that didn't go over like gangbusters. Cost depends on materials and design complexity.

Good to know: the area around the firebox opening has to be non-combustible, and a wood mantel has to sit a minimum distance above it. For masonry fireplaces the building code sets those distances. For factory-built units, the manufacturer's instructions do.