DIY Season for Lights host Randall Taylor demonstrates ways to turn your home into a seasonal showplace, and his guests, Steve Turner and Blan Benton, share tips on how to use lights to decorate outside the house (figure A).
- Turner's method for lighting a tree is first to get a strand of lights around the base and up the trunk. Just wrap the lights around from the base up the trunk of the tree -- leaving the power cord at the bottom (figure B). Attach the lights with extension cords, unless you have underground electrical wiring with a socket at each tree where you can bury them in the conduit.
- For lining the branches of the tree, just throw the lights over the top of the tree, take out the slack and walk around the tree (figure C). Don't try to light each branch. Continue tossing them up through the trees as you walk around until you have finished.
- A fountain can be a decorator's dream. For bushes around a fountain, Turner suggests putting blue lights all around the perimeter of the fountain to blend the color into the water and then using multicolor lights. On the fountain itself, he suggests using red and green lights shining on it. All the little lights lead up to a full, washed-out floodlight look (Figure D).
- In order to keep track of where the lights go each year, just place them in a bin at the end of the season and mark where each set of lights came from. It will make it a lot easier next year when decorate. Each year, Turner says, his family adds more lights. They buy their lights at the end of the season when they are on sale, and that helps cuts the expense.
- For the front gates, Turner uses wire-sculpture wreaths (figure E).
- Next, Taylor visits Blan Benton, who each year transforms his home into a fantasy of lights that he calls Candyland (figure F): he even dresses up as Santa and gives out candy. Many people, Benton says, like to create themes for their yards.
- Some of Benton's trees are 35 to 40 feet tall, and his secret to light them is to use an extension pole (such as the kind used to change lights in a warehouse). You'll need to modify the pole by putting a hook on the end of it, which you can make out of a wire coat hanger. Cut the end off a plastic coat hanger, leaving the hook part (figure G). Tape the lights onto the plastic hanger with electrical tape and hook it to the wire hanger at the end of the pole. Find a good sturdy branch, and you're ready to go (figure H).
- Benton has his own 200-amp power box, installed by the utility company, just for Christmas lights (figure I). He can control all the lights with just one switch from his box. A normal house that has all the appliances on will pull around 3,000 watts of power -- Benton pulls around 40,000 with all his Christmas lights on! He turns the lights on at dusk and leaves them on until 10 or 11 p.m. during the weekdays and longer on the weekends, at a cost of around $10 a day. Benton says he does it all for one reason -- so kids young and old can enjoy it (figure J).
Sponsored Resource: YLIGHTING: Online Lighting Superstore. See Resources, below, for information.
RESOURCES :
Holiday Wreath Book: 80 Wreaths to Celebrate Birthdays, Anniversaries & Holidays Throughout the Year
Model: 0806986964
Author: Eric Carlson
(1992)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.
Website: www.sterlingpub.com
Making Wreaths for All Seasons
Model: 1880029251
Author: Pamela Westland
(1996)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Creative Homeowner Press
Website: www.creativehomeowner.com
Christmas with Jinny Beyer: Decorate Your Home for the Holidays ...
Model: 1579541941
Author: Jinny Beyer
(1999)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Rodale Press
Red Oak, IA 51591
Phone: 515-242-0282
Christmas Naturals: Ornaments, Wreaths & Decorations
Model: 0806983612
Author: Carol Taylor
(1992)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.
Website: www.sterlingpub.com
Quick Christmas Decorating Ideas
Model: 0312146434
Author: Leslie Linsley
(1996)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
St. Martin's Press
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212-982-3900
Fax: 212-777-6359
Email: inquiries@stmartins.com
Two-Hour Christmas Crafts: 200 Inspirational Decorating Ideas to Celebrate the Season
Model: 0806996218
Author: Michelle Thompson
(1992)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.
Website: www.sterlingpub.com
GUESTS :
Blan Benton
Fountain Valley Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37918
Phone: 865-922-7768
Businessman
| 
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
