Make Your House a Superhouse

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"My clients understand that a wine cellar is far more than a place to store wine. It is a specific symbol of power, of success."

At a minimum, expect to pay a custom wine cellar designer at least $8,000 for a sealed, climate-controlled cellar that will ensure the integrity of your bottles during aging. But you can splurge on the project and get features like display lighting, mahogany woodwork, stone arches, stained-glass windows, and flatscreen TVs.

Going Out on a Limb

When considering your home-improvement options, don't forget the backyard. Once a vehicle for childhood imagination and the test of a father's carpentry prowess, tree houses are becoming a luxury commodity for people of all ages (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/4/06, "Real Estate That Branches Out"). Expensive designs from custom builders can add a space for entertaining, relaxing, or even working to your property.

While many tree-house designers focus on providing a space just for adults or just for kids, the TreeHouse Co. in Kilmarnock, Scotland, has experience in designs that cater to all ages. A few years ago, a project in Fife, Scotland, called for a tastefully designed tree house that would appear to grow out of a 500-year-old lightning-struck cedar tree, and provide a play space for children as well as an entertaining area for adults.

Resale Appeal

The company builders constructed a 45-foot spire with cedar shingles, a copper turret, a side deck, two staircases with multilevel verandas, and a zip slide—all for the enjoyment of the youth. For the parents, they built a deck under the canopy of another nearby tree and connected the two structures with a bridge. As a result, the adults can enjoy their roughly $90,000 investment in the company of friends while keeping a watchful eye on their kids.

Whatever your out-of-the-ordinary home improvement of choice, make sure it's something that you and your family will enjoy as long as you inhabit your abode. Whether you spend $10,000 or $80,000 on a unique space like a bowling lane or a tree house, you're not likely to recoup a lot of that investment when you resell, but if it has lasting appeal, it could in lure potential buyers who might otherwise walk away.

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Douglas MacMillan is a reporter at BusinessWeek.com in New York.