Installing a Light Dimmer Switch? Here Are Some Tips to Help You Out

So you've decided you want to install a light dimmer switch in your home, and you are a little lost on what you should be doing exactly.

The plus side is that all light switch dimmers come with included instructions. You should always follow the included instructions in order to get the dimmer to work properly. However I wanted to mention a few tips that you should follow, that you can do no matter what type of dimmer you decided to choose. There are different types of switches to choose from, but all of them are basically installed in a very similar fashion.

The switch you choose is all up to you, and your preferences. You can choose from slide switch dimmers, dial dimmers, touch pad dimmers, or combo switches which allow you to install both dimmers and regular lighting.

My first tip however is choosing the right type of room to place your dimmer in. Smaller rooms such as offices, dens, or dining rooms are appropriate places for dimmers. Larger rooms would require more lighting fixtures in order to keep the room from looking too dark for when you wanted to dim down the lights a bit.

One mistake I see done very often in many homes, are dimmer switches placed in very large rooms. Even when the dimmer switch is set to its highest and brightest setting, the room is still too dark at times.

Tip:
 
If you don't have many fixtures in the room, and you still want to add dimmer lights to the room I would suggest purchasing the combo dimmer/light switch, or adding a tall standing lamp to the room for added light.

Safety First!
 
Once you've decided what room you'd like your dimmers in, you of course need to turn off the power in that room. You do this by turning off the breaker in your circuit box. You want to make sure all electric is turned off before prying at wires behind the switch you will be removing in order to install the light dimmer.

Next you go up to the room that you will be installing the dimmer. You will need to use a screw driver to remove the old switch plate from the wall. You will also need to unscrew any wires attached to the light switch.

From here you will need to follow the included directions that came with the light dimmer that you have purchased.

Once you have everything in its proper place, you simply return to your circuit box, and turn the power back on in the room. The next step is the easy one, simply return back to the dimmer switch and test it out to make sure it is in working order.

Keeping Ants Out of Your Home: Easiest, Safest and Cheapest Solutions

Last year it was like we were at war with ants. Normally ants don't bother me, and I never stomped on one; in fact if outside if I ever happen to come across ants busy at work, sometimes I would stop and watch them. They're quite the busy little workers.

However last year instead of working in their usual domain, they somehow set up camp in my home. One ant here and there never bothered me, but this time around it seemed as if we had a whole colony, and when I saw a few this weekend, I knew it was time to start ant proofing my home, especially when my sister told me that she had ants again in full bloom, just like last spring and summer.

First and foremost, those stupid little plastic any bait traps did nothing. In fact, the ants in our home did not even seem phased by them.

I knew in order to keep the ants out of my home, I was going to have to start with the outside of our home. Find means to keeping them out of the house, by stopping them before they even decided to slip under a crack.

I knew I did not want to spray any harsh chemicals in my yard. We have dogs, and we certainly don't want them getting sick because of chemical spraying. I knew that sealing cracks would keep them free from the home. Most ants tend to come up from our basement, and I knew that we had to seal of our cellar doors with some foam insulation. There were way too many cracks and openings in the rusty outdoor cellar door, and I had a good feeling that sealing up these cracks would keep the ant population under control.

Window sills and larger screen doors or window screens are other ways ants find an easy way in. It's pretty hard to not open a window during hotter months to let cool air in, but if you do, you can line your windowsill with either pepper, or bay leaves. Ants hate them and won't bother going near them. It's a nice, safe and effective way to keep ants from crawling in through open windows or doors.

If you already have a mini invasion going on inside your home, steer clear of plastic bait traps, they are not very effective and it won't keep them away. I found that making sure counters and floors were clear of crumbs, there was no longer a food supply for them, and this will hopefully cause them to either perish, or move out!

Keeping your home free of ants is not at all that difficult if you are just willing to spend a bit of time finding the source to their invasion. Likely it's a crack in a cellar door, or an opening wide enough for them to squeeze through. So check around your home, and try and seal off this opening.

Also, like I mentioned, if you plan on leaving windows open, buy a few potted bay leave plants, or line your window sills with pepper. The main reason ants come back season after season is because your home provided a good source of food for them, so make sure your house is free of crumbs from food.
These are the easiest, safest and cheapest methods to keeping your home ant free.

Top 5 Ways to Beat the Summer Heat Without Leaving Home

Summer is approaching rapidly, we have already had days that brushed the near 90s. With beaches and parks consistently going up in price, how does one beat the summer heat without having to spend a bunch of money for a day trip to a water park, or beach?

The first thing you can purchase to beat the summer heat is a metal frame pool. These pools will keep you home, and for the price, you will save more money during the summer on buying this pool, than you would going to the beach every weekend. The pools vary in size, shape, and are introduced at a very low price. I picked mine up last year, at the end of the season for $189 for a 15 foot round metal frame pool. Target, and other superstores sell these same pools, and they can be picked up for around the same price, possibly a bit higher, due to the season approaching.

If you do not have that sort of money on hand for a metal frame pool, you could always pick up a fun sprinkler for the kids. There are a ton of different fun sprinkler's you can buy for children, and they all hook right up to the hose. A favorite amongst children is the sprinkler head octopus, which will flail its arms around while shooting water from its tentacles.

The easiest solution to cooling off without having to get wet would be to buy a fan, or install an air conditioner right in your home. A fan is the cheaper solution of the two, but if you are really looking to beat the heat, buy an air conditioner for your room, or whichever room you spend most of your time in.

Keep simple cheap ice pops on hand. You do not have to spend big money on the ice cream man, nor do you have to pack up the whole family to go out for ice cream on a hot summer day. Ice pops can be bought in bulk, so stick a few in the freezer and have them readily available on hot summer days. You will be surprised at how quickly an ice pop can cool you off.

If you have an unfinished basement, think about converting it into livable space. A finished basement will always be cool, and its a great spot to hang out in order to beat the summer heat, without having to run a fan or air conditioning unit.

The fastest way to beat the summer heat, would be to shower the moment you begin to feel really hot and muggy. A cool shower will instantly cool you off, and will keep you cool for quite a few hours after showering. If you do not want to shower fully, then wet your hair. Wetting your hair will also instantly cool you down.

Tips on Keeping Your Home and Yard Mosquito Free This Summer

Nothing spoils outdoor summer fun quite like mosquitoes can. You're having a BBQ, and all of your guests are complaining about being bit by mosquitoes, or 'eaten alive'. Some withstand it, and others leave early. In these cases when mosquito's are out in pods of thousands it's pretty hard to deter them, and even the best bug spray seems to miss the mark.

There are other things you can do however in order to keep your yard as free from mosquitoes as possible.

If you are planning on having a late night summer BBQ, you will want to go around the yard and place a bunch of citronella candles out to let burn long before the guests even arrive.

ThermaCELL Mosquito Repellent Lanterns can also keep you guests, and yourself free from mosquito bites. This nifty device keeps an area 15X15 feet clear of the suckers. ThermaCELL can be bought in more forms than just a lantern, so next time you are out and about, and need to pick up bug spray, try one of these lanterns instead. They have nothing but glowing ratings.

Mosquito Repelling Bracelet's can also be picked up to give to children who will be running around the yard, outside of the 15 foot barrier.

Solar powered mosquito guards are also something you may want to consider. These are convenient because you can leave them outdoors, and they will begin to work as soon as the sun starts going down. They let off the ultrasonic sounds of male mosquito's, which repel female mosquitoes, since they are the ones to bite.

Insect repellent can also be used as back up. Combine this, with one of the above mosquito repellents, and you should be safe from the blood suckers for the rest of the night.

Other natural ways to eliminate mosquitoes from your yard would be to plant certain plants that mosquitoes despise. You can plant them all around your home, or sporadically throughout your yard.
Such plants and herbs include rosemary, catnip, marigolds, and horsemint. While outdoors, if you pick a few leaves, crush them up and rub it on your skin or keep the crushed leaves around you, it can help repel mosquitoes.

To nip the population down, always look through your yard for any places that may store water, such as buckets. Dump all water from buckets, and keep water in bird baths clean at all times. If you eliminate the source, the mosquitoes are less likely to be in your yard.

For your home, in the hotter summer months, you do not want to leave your windows open. Always leave the screen down, otherwise mosquitoes will fly right into your home. Do not leave doors open either.

How to Attract Butterflies to Your Yard

Everyone loves butterflies; they are the beautiful and colorful insects that have managed to catch our eyes since childhood.

Having butterflies fly through the yard, especially during summer months is relatively common; however if you want to attract them to your yard for a longer period of time, rather than have butterflies go through your yard in a fast fly by, there are a few things that you can add to your yard that will actually attract them, and they will stay for longer periods of time.

Different types of flowers attract butterflies, but the top flowers you can use to really attract a lot of butterflies is a butterfly bush. This provides butterflies a source of food, making your garden seem all the more appetizing to the flying work of art.

Other plants that you can plant are sunflowers, clover, violets, wisteria, willow trees, apple trees, etc. These types of flowers and trees attract them because while some of the flowers and trees are a source of food for adult butterflies, the trees will provide spots for caterpillar's to feed and hatch. If you have caterpillar's in your yard, and a good source of plants and trees for the butterflies to feed, they will stay a lot longer than usual, and the more catipillars in your yard, the more butterflies you will eventually see.

Adding other simple extras will also attract even more butterflies. Butterflies like sun, so planting your plants in direct sunlight help keep them around. Butterflies also drink water, so making a small puddle nearby your butterfly garden will also attract more and more of them to your yard.

To keep butterflies present, always avoid using any type of pesticide. This will not only kill butterflies, but it will also kill any caterpillar's that will soon become butterflies.

-Other plants and trees to consider planting (or allowing to grow wildly)
 
Dogbane, poplar, milkweed, dandelion, goldenrod, hyacinth, butterfly bushes and wild roses.

Every area in the world contains different species of butterflies, so in order to attract butterflies that are common in your area, you can google common butterflies, and then your state. You will come up with the names of what types of butterflies can be found in your area, making purchasing plants and trees easier.

Guide to Hanging Photo Frames on Walls

My mother has absolutely no sense of proper photo frame placements, and her odd collection of photos and frames is the inspiration behind this piece. Granted I love her, I just think my fellow readers would enjoy learning from her mistakes.

Living Room
 
In her living room on the wall you can find around 10 photo frames on the walls spread around the room. This is relatively normal, and yes I'd recommend it. However in this living room none of the frames match. She's got white bulky wood frames, black modern sleek high glossed finished frames, and oddball hand carved non-finished wooden frames, with a few tacky shaped frames to go with it.
It's a frame disaster, but to top it off, inside of the frames are random, and I mean very random photographs. Photographs including photos of when she modeled as a child, photos of Halloween or Christmas pasts, none of which really belong up on a wall year round.

So what kind of photos should you place in a living room?
Simple ones including your immediate family, and family in general. Leave themed photos such as Christmas photos of your family in front of your tree, away until the actual holiday is nearby.

You can switch up your photos as the year goes on, as stated above. When a holiday is about to arise, switch out some photos with photos of that season.

One important rule to hanging Christmas photos is to remember which of your family members will be present if you plan on hosting a Christmas party at your home. I cannot count how many years I have gone over to my Aunts house to see every single other family member hanging on a wall, or nicely placed in a frame- every other family member besides myself. It's not only offending, it's mean. Try not discounting someone, even if by accident, try finding a photo that includes all of your relatives in one shot.

Do not hang photographs of yourself in a bathing suit, or odd black and white model like photos of yourself in your living room either. Those types of photos can go in your bedroom for you to enjoy.
In the bedroom you can hang or place on counters odd shaped frames, but they don't belong in a living room or a kitchen.

For the bathroom, you do not really need to hang any photo frames. You can however hang up regular pictures of scenery or something of the nature that will go with the theme you have in your bathroom. Just remember that hot water will create steam and will likely ruin the photograph anyway, so it's best to just leave it alone in general.

How to Mount an HDTV onto a Wall in Your Home

We recently bought a beautiful 50" HDTV, as a replacement for a smaller 40" that just died. The smaller HDTV used to sit on a small entertainment table in the living room, but when we brought the larger upgrade home it did not look right, so we decided we wanted to have the HDTV hang on the wall.

We had options; we could use a cheaper universal wall mount, or one that allows you to pull the HDTV out slightly with a swivel arm. Considering the fact that wall mounts are a bit pricey for just a standard one, we went with the standard; although a swivel arm would have been really neat to have.

Before going out and buying a wall mount though, there are some things you have to consider, and sadly, sometimes hanging a wall mount is not even an option. You must make sure that you have studs in the wall; otherwise the wall mount will not be able to hold its weight, and yes, it will fall; so before rushing out to buy that wall mount, use an electric stud finder and make sure you have studs behind the wall.

Once you find the studs, make sure they are at least at the center of the wall; otherwise your HDTV will hang slightly off center. This is not really that terrible, but if you want it perfectly at the center of the wall, make sure your studs are located there.

Now that your studs are found, you can go out and buy any wall mount you want. Check online for price comparisons first though.

In order to install your wall mount, you will need to first hold the mounting bracket up to the wall to pencil mark where you have to drill your holes into the wall in order to hold the mount up. Make sure they line up with your studs, and you a level to make sure your holes are evenly marked.

Once you have marked off where you need to drill, have another person hold up the brackets, while you drill them into place.

Next you must attach the actual mount to the back of your HDTV. This part is very simple, and you just use the included bolts.

After the mount is attached to the back of your HDTV, you and a partner now pick up the HDTV, and slip the mount onto the brackets on the wall. Most wall mounts will make a clicking sound, to let you know everything is in place.

You can now enjoy the extra room in your living room and the sleek new look of your HDTV hanging on your wall.