Living room remodeling pays off in so many ways. To start, it's one of the easier, less demanding rooms of the home to remodel—no plumbing, minimal electrical work, limited space. The living room focuses on comfort and style, with purely functional aspects taking a backseat. Smart, attentive living room remodeling helps you enjoy your home right now, plus it's a boost down the road when it comes time to sell the house.

Expand the Living Room

Living rooms traditionally were kept tight and compact to conserve energy. But with the open floor plan movement in the mid-20th century, coupled with today's need for more space, home buyers expect living rooms that are larger than ever.

If you have a room adjoining the living room that you don't mind sacrificing, you can remove an interior non-load-bearing wall and take over that space. With dining rooms typically adjoining living rooms, often the dining room donates square footage to the project.

While a messy job, it's not all that complicated and it can be done by an experienced, motivated homeowner. Make absolutely sure that the wall is not load-bearing and that you have secured all permits.

Add Niches to the Living Room

Within the living room, incorporate small niches to create privacy opportunities, while still maintaining an overall sense of openness. You can define these sub-spaces with half-walls, glass walls, pillars and columns, or with non-permanent pieces such as bookcases.

Niches can be large enough to accommodate a chair and a reading lamp, to while away the hours with a book and a pet at your feet. Or niches can be even smaller: wall niches that are both decorative and functional for storing and displaying favorite objects.

Replace or Refresh the Front Entry Door

Do you want a home remodel project that does double duty? If your living room is at the front of your house, installing a new entry door or freshening up your current door can do so much for so little cost and effort.

A front door refresh accomplishes two things for the price of one. Not only does it charge up your home's exterior curb appeal, but it also adds a new sparkle to your front living room.

Add Light With New Windows

Living rooms are for living, and nothing stimulates that feeling like natural light streaming through your windows.

If you're like other homeowners, your living room windows just might be tired, drafty, and sorely lacking in light transmittal. Give your window spaces a second life by replacing them with new windows. New windows recoup a healthy 70- to 75- percent of their original cost. In addition, you'll save energy and money by replacing poor windows with weathertight windows.

In this mid-century modern-influenced living room, Washington, DC's Balodemas Architects created generously sized windows to let a maximum amount of natural light pour in.

Choose a Color You'll Love

In no other room of the house is color so important as in the living room. Whether it's used for hanging out, watching movies, reading, or sipping wine, the living room always gets plenty of face time. With so much attention focused on this area, the color scheme must be spot-on perfect and well-loved.

When you're painting the living room for yourself and not for resale, choose a color that hits all of your pleasure points. Brown, gold, and earthy orange push the living room's color register to bolder reaches, capturing the attention of would-be buyers. Deep blue living rooms communicate a sense of rich tradition, while lighter blues evoke the breezy, carefree feeling of a day at the seaside.

Create Faux Extra Space

Whether or not you have bumped out a wall to make more living room space, you'll still want to create the illusion of greater space on the cheap with simple techniques. Making faux extra space saves on remodel costs while potentially making your living room more tempting to buyers.

Make sure that the ceiling is white to avoid a claustrophobic feeling. Mount shelves high, near the ceiling, to pull the eye upward. Build or purchase storage units that hug close to the wall. Getting clutter out of sight vastly improves the look of any room and instantly makes it feel larger.

The living room featured here by Kari Arendsen at Intimate Living Interiors previously had dark ceilings and furniture, making it appear much smaller than it really was. A total upgrade, the lighter colors, statement lighting, and big, bright rug totally open up the space.

Choose Neutral Colors for Resale

For resale, choose a living room color palette that appeals to a majority of buyers. White, gray, beige, and other neutrals lead the pack of colors that tend to be mutually liked. Because the cost of tools and materials is so low, you're sure to realize great returns in buyer appeal.

Add an Eye-catching Statement Piece

A large, colorful, or otherwise showy statement piece like a chandelier captures the eye and makes the room feel larger.

Lay Out a Big Area Rug

Avoid an area rug that is too small for the living room. A tiny, postage stamp-sized area rug makes the room look out of proportion. Aim for between one to three feet of bare floor space between the edges of the rug and the walls.

Update the Drapes

Nothing dates a living room and drags down the mood more than heavy, gloomy, outdated curtains. Much like painting the living room, this is one of those living room remodeling ideas that is easy to do but pays off many times over in owner comfort or buyer acceptance.