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For example, a gray paint color that appears neutral on the paint swatch might reveal a green undertone when applied to your walls, or a bold, rich blue could turn out duller than you expected. Depending on the room’s lighting, the color you chose can look significantly different than it did in the store. Natural light is a huge factor, of course, but the type of lightbulbs you choose also influence whether your paint colors appear dimmed-down, intensified, or true to life....

The best defense is a snow shovel appropriately sized to help you get ahead of the problem. Shoveling with a shovel that’s the wrong height or weight can spell a workout complete with a sore back and arms. Luckily, there are many smartly-designed snow shovels to help clear your home’s paths without any pain. The Most Common Types of Snow Shovels 1. Standard Shovel Standard shovels are the most common type used for snow removal....

How to Cook a Whole Chicken in the Oven This is our Test Kitchen’s tried-and-true method on how to bake a whole chicken in the oven. Here’s how you can make a roast chicken dinner in five easy steps, with five (or fewer!) ingredients. Step 1: Prepare the Chicken Preheat the over to 375°F. Make sure to note how much your bird weighs, as this determines how long to roast a chicken in the oven....

Erika Woelfel, vice president of color and creative services at Behr Paint, credits some of this renewed craving for color as a reaction to time spent mostly at home during the pandemic. “When we couldn’t seek adventure through travel and socializing outside the home, we looked to bring a little adventure inside,” she says. Woelfel also notes the influence of popular TV series such as Bridgerton, The Crown, and The Queen’s Gambit, which showcased deep, dramatic colors in their costuming and set designs....

How to Deep-Fry a Turkey To start, you’ll want to prepare the turkey for frying by removing the neck, giblets, plastic ties, or pop-up timers. From there, use the following steps to make a deep-fried turkey. Getting the Right Fried Turkey Temperature Our Test Kitchen recommends frying the turkey in 350°F peanut oil or other vegetable oil for 3 minutes per pound. Take the internal temperature in the meaty part of the thigh (it should register 180°F)....

The good news is that the price tag of an outdoor renovation project is, in many ways, in your hands. It will be based mainly on what you set out to create and how you decide to accomplish the work. Options range from embarking on a DIY effort that costs a few thousand dollars to hiring professionals to create something with luxury-style glam on a much larger budget. “You can spend $500 to $2,000 for simple DIY improvements like fixing the lawn, planting shrubs, or building a pea gravel or concrete paver patio....

When to Plant Onions About 2-3 weeks before the average last frost date for your area is the best time to plant onions outdoors. Exactly when to plant them depends on how soon you can work the ground in spring. Onions, which are a cool-season vegetable, can survive light frost but it’s best to wait until your low temperatures stay above 28°F. In warmer regions, onions can be planted in the fall, at least a month before cool weather arrives so they have time to grow some roots....

Raspberry Varieties The first step in growing raspberries is choosing the right type for you. There are two different categories of raspberries: Summer-bearing and fall-bearing (also called everbearing). Summer-bearing plants produce one big crop of fruits in late summer. Fall-bearing plants produce two crops a year: one in early autumn and a smaller crop early the next summer. Raspberries come in three common colors: red (varieties such as ‘Latham’, ‘Autumn Bliss’, and ‘Heritage’), black (varieties such as ‘Blackhawk’ and ‘Bristol’, not to be mistaken with blackberries), and yellow (varieties such as ‘Honeyqueen’ and ‘Fallgold’)....

First, before you start any installation, double-check the location of your old thermostat to ensure it’s in the best place. Then, you’ll need to make sure your home’s heating and cooling system is compatible with a smart thermostat. Also, download the thermostat’s mobile app (if available) to track your usage, set your thermostat while you’re away from home, and learn how to use less energy. What You Need Programmable thermostat (we used the Nest Thermostat)ScrewdriverCamera or smartphoneJoint compoundPutty knifeSandpaperPaintbrushPaintScrewsDrill (optional)...

Perhaps the most common board-and-batten arrangement uses 1x10 boards and 1x2 or 1x3 batten. You can also use 1x8 or 1x12 boards and 1x4 battens. To seal out moisture, the boards should be in sound condition and free of any open knots—the battens themselves should lap at least 3/4 inch onto the boards on both sides. Cedar is a good lumber of choice because it’s soft; harder wood, such as pressure-treated pine, will not seal as well and is more likely to crack after installation....

1. Clean the refrigerator drip pan. The drip pan is a small tray that captures condensation from your fridge so it doesn’t leak into your kitchen. The heat from the refrigerator coils usually causes this moisture to evaporate, but if excess liquid builds up, it can result in a pool of foul-smelling water. The drip pan is underneath the fridge and typically accessed from behind a kick plate in the front or back of the appliance....

How to Make Meatballs When it comes to DIY meatballs, there are three essential components: meat, binders, and seasonings. There are endless variations when making homemade meatballs, so here is a basic guide on meatball ingredients to get you started. Ground Meat: Choose ground beef, veal, pork, Italian sausage, lamb, bison, turkey, or chicken. Some recipes call for a mix of two or more ground meats. Lean ground meat works well and makes the meatballs more healthful....

What Is Milk Bread? Milk bread (aka Hokkaido milk bread) is a slightly sweet Japanese white bread that is known for its super soft, fluffy texture. The secret to getting milk bread’s so-soft texture and whispy pull-apart strands is the heated milk and flour paste known as tangzhong. Cooked on the stove top, the starch in the flour retains more moisture so the rolls (bonus!) stay fresh longer as well....

The flowers of the alstroemeria plant are so interesting and diverse that they are often likened to orchid flowers. You can always find an alstroemeria to meet your design needs, thanks to the wide variety of color combinations available. The center three petals on these beautiful blooms feature streaks and speckles that are almost reminiscent of whiskers. Some flowers come in multicolor blooms with brushstrokes of color. Where to Plant Alstroemeria Alstroemeria plants are easy to grow in USDA Hardiness Zones 6–10....

“When tackling houseplant insect pests, the first step is to ask yourself how much you value the plant,” says Laura Jesse Iles, director of the Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic at Iowa State University. “There are no quick fixes and it will take time and dedication to manage the pests.” If you decide to treat instead of tossing your infested plant, Iles recommends isolating it to keep the problem from spreading to your other plants....

Secure labels and tags on a clipboard for easy access. Tuck tissue paper in a wire-mesh wall file, and suspend scissors, bags, and wrapping paper rolls, so they’re within reach without cluttering the table. Editor’s Note: Simplify your approach to holiday gift wrapping by sticking with a single color palette. Buying wrapping paper in two solid colors and two patterns will give you enough variety to create many different gift looks....

When Starbucks launched the PSL in 2003, it was an instant hit, according to Starbucks espresso division product developer Peter Dukes, who helped with the initial marketing and rollout. When you look at the data, the PSL started making gains in Google searches in September 2010 and peaked in 2015 (when “pumpkin spice and everything nice” was the thing to post on social media). Now, the term “pumpkin spice latte” is back to its 2012 volume on Google Trends....

Before your next wine shop visit, check our champagne buying guide. Champagne can be pretty expensive, so you’ll want to know how to look for the best sweet champagne or dry champagne. Here are a few things you should know before investing in a bottle of bubbly. Champagne Buying Guide: The Basics Champagne is different from sparkling wine. Champagne with a capital “C” can only come from the Champagne region in France, which means it comes with a hefty price tag....

Related Video

Why Does Pumpkin Pie Crack? As with most baking recipes, there’s a science to making custard-based desserts such as pumpkin pie. Here are some important factors to avoid pumpkin pie cracks. Over-baking your pumpkin pie is one major cause of cracks in your baked dessert. Custard pies continue baking once they’re out of the oven, so you’ll want to follow the timings exactly as your recipe states. Follow our tips to know exactly when your pie is done in order to prevent your pumpkin pie from cracking....