Complete These 3 Home Upgrades for Improved Health and Happiness

Are you looking to upgrade your home for improved health and wellness? Adding more natural lighting, painting your interior walls a mood-enhancing color, and replacing your carpeting, laminate, or vinyl flooring with non-toxic materials could give you the health boost you’re looking for. To learn more about these home upgrades and how they’ll benefit you and the rest of your household, read on!

Article by Guest Author Lisa Walker

NeighborhoodSprout.org

1. Added Natural Lighting
   If you regularly experience symptoms of depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), insomnia, and/or eye strain, you could boost your physical, mental, and emotional health by adding more natural lighting to your home. According to Healthline, natural sunlight alleviates symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, seasonal depression, and eye strain — and it improves your sleep quality at night. Plus, there are plenty of options for adding more natural lighting to your home.
   A few of them include:
   ● Installing solar light tubes or skylights. Solar tubes typically cost less than skylights, and they’re easier to install. According to Fixr, solar tube installations range between $550 and $700 — while skylights cost between $1,540 and $2,000. To complete either project, however, you’ll likely need to hire a professional solar tube contractor or skylight installer.
   ● Adding new windows to your home. If you have the wall space for it, you could place new windows to welcome more natural light into your home. The placement of a new window typically ranges between $800 and $4,400. Some new window installations can be done without a professional, while others will need to be completed by a skilled carpenter.

2. Newly Painted Walls
   In addition to adding natural lighting to your home, newly painted interior walls could help to increase your energy levels, alleviate symptoms of depression, and boost your overall health and well-being. Paint colors like vibrant pink and yellow can make you happier and more joyful at home, while green and blue could help to soothe, calm, and relax you.
   House painting can easily be a DIY project, but if you have it in your budget, consider hiring a painting company to get the job done faster and more efficiently. The amount you’ll pay to hire a professional will depend on the project type, job size, and painter’s experience level.
   
3. Non-Toxic Flooring
   If you have carpeting, laminate, or vinyl flooring inside your home, you could reduce indoor air pollution by installing hardwood, ceramic tile, or linoleum in one or more rooms. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recommends solid wood for living areas and bedrooms, and natural linoleum or ceramic tile for kitchens, bathrooms, and most other spaces. However, professional installation costs vary widely by material type, quality, and how much flooring you need.

How to Pay for Your Home Improvement Projects

Whether you’re going to complete one, two, or all of these home improvement projects, you may be wondering how you’re going to pay for them if you can’t rely on savings. Depending on your renovation costs and financial situation, you could refinance your mortgage, use the equity in your home to pay for your improvements, apply for a personal loan, or use a credit card that you’ll be able to repay in the near future.

If a home equity loan sounds like the right financing option for you, you’ll need to calculate the equity in your home to determine the size of the loan you’ll qualify for. To find out how much home equity you have, simply subtract your remaining loan balance from the home’s current market value.

Upgrade Today for Better Health and Happiness at Home

By making these three upgrades to your home, you can improve your health and happiness — all without leaving your current home and neighborhood. Some of your home improvements will cost more than others, but the health benefits you’ll experience will be well worth each expense.