The Paint Quality Institute has come up with suggestions for sprucing up a house to get it ready for sale.

The top 10 touch-ups:

Make sure the front door is well-painted. It will make a great first impression.

In the entry hall, touch up areas where the paint shows marks or nicks, and clean every surface. Better yet: Put on a fresh coat of neutral-colored paint throughout.

Touch up bathrooms and kitchens as needed, and put plenty of effort into the powder room, which many will visit during their tour.

If you want to make your kitchen look bigger, paint it white or off-white. At the very least, remove food stains from the walls and conceal water spots by applying primer followed by some touch-up paint.

Sand, prime and paint windowsills, as needed.

Check woodwork. You can quickly touch up chipped or marred paint on chair rails and floor molding.

Inspect areas that come in frequent contact with soiled hands: window frames, door frames, edges of doors, and walls around light switches. If they are dirty, you may be able to clean them, assuming you used a glossier paint; if that doesn’t work, then do touch-up painting.

Same approach with cabinet doors: Scrub clean of fingerprints, if possible, or touch up painted areas. Pay special attention to the kitchen, which should be spotless.

Water stains on the ceiling from old roof leaks are a huge red flag for prospective buyers. After making certain that your roof is sound, be sure to prime and repaint.

Put the finishing touches on the house by scrutinizing every remaining wall and painted surface, looking for stray flecks of paint, as well as marks and stains from whatever source. Conceal them with some touch-up paint.

But if you’re staying

Among the roughly 1,350 homeowners surveyed nationally in late December and early January for TD Bank’s first Home Equity Sentiment Index, 56 percent of the respondents said they believed that their home’s value had increased, and 60 percent said they would tap that rising equity to finance renovations.

Fifty-three percent of millennials said they also were considering such a move. Renovations at the top of most consumers’ lists include kitchens (42 percent), bathrooms (25 percent), and other household projects (11 percent).

Given the popularity of kitchen rehabs, here are some renovation dos and don’ts from Robin Wilson, author of “Clean Design: Wellness for Your Lifestyle.”

Don’t remodel your kitchen for a prospective buyer, because on resale you may not get back 100 percent of what you spend. Typical payback is 50 percent to 80 percent, with less personal, mass-market renovations (neutral colors, white cabinets) bringing the most return.

Do create a list of “absolutes” before you walk into a kitchen-design meeting. If you are not sure beforehand what you want and don’t want, you are likely to be seduced into buying unneeded items.

Think about colors and styles before you walk onto a sales floor. Read design magazines and tear out photos in advance, or the sales rep may convince you that a certain bestseller is really a better choice — it could be the model the salesperson is trying to unload.

If you cook frequently, avoid countertop materials that scratch and stain easily.