I LOVE my motion-triggered light in my pantry /laundry room. It does exactly what you'd want it to do: When someone approaches carrying a load of laundry or an armload of groceries, it turns on automatically. Less evident, but also important: It turns OFF after ten minutes or so. Prior to installing this, this light was left on all too often, and no one'd notice it 'til we sat down to watch TV and realized that it was causing a glare from across the kitchen. The only problem we ever have is that occasionally someone turns off the lightswitch, and then the lights won't turn on. When that happens, I stand there like an idiot waving my arms, trying to get it to "notice me" . . . then I realize what's happening, and I reach over to turn on the lights. I don't think I"d be happy with a door jam style. Our door isn't always closed, so I think I'd run the light needlessly. I don't know which type costs less, but my husband installed ours himself, and I don't think it cost more than $25-30 . . . though I am guessing. He didn't act like it cost much of anything. In our new house, we will have motion-sensored lights in several places: - Garage - Hallways - Closets - Laundry - Pantry - Bathroom night lights, if that's possible -- I don't really want the master bath light to come on automatically because I wouldn't want the light to spill into the bedroom during the night - Maybe some outdoor lights? Uncertain.

We have CFL floods and I love them. They look just like floods but if you look close inside you can see the swirled CFL behind the frosted glass. We live in Florida and I don't want hot lights, so we replaced all our 30-year-old recessed light cans for newer ones. Also, all the wiring was old scorched aluminum so we're gradually replacing all the wiring in the house at the same time. The big thing with CFLs is that you have to be patient for the lights to come to full power - I think it's about 60 seconds for most of the light and 90 seconds for full lumens. I like that because in the morning when I turn the lights on, it's not shocking me awake, rather gradually lighting up. Some people need that "GOOD MORNING!!!!" shock in their systems, I suppose, and they don't like it. Or they turn them on, say, these aren't nearly bright enough, and forget it, because they don't understand the warm-up time required. It's definitely worth it to have a cooler kitchen.

Brand - Juno Size - line voltage 5" housings. They also make a 6" & 4". The 5" seemed a good compromise. Better light output than the 4" but not quite as big a fixture as the 6". Type of lamp - Line voltage Halogen. 75 wat par floods on dimmers. Good task lighting and halogen makes the granite sparkle. Trim - Wheat Haze Alzak. Blends in nicely with a white ceiling and cuts down on any glare. How many - Centered on the edge of the counter top about 3' apart such that the cones of light interesect leaving no dark spots. Our small kitchen (about 11'x11') required only five. We also have 2 pendants with 30 watt halogen floods on dimmers over the peninsula eating area, 3 small halogen floods as part of the exhaust hood over the range, and 4 line voltage zeon under cabinet fixtures made by American Lighting in a bronze finish with a hi/low switch on each fixture. We purchased the Juno housings, trims, and dimmers from Laner Lighting: www.laner.com The under cabinet fixtures from Pegasus: www.pegasusassociates.com We got good prices and good service from both of these companies.

Hi june, I am on about 4 acres and there are woods on most sides of the property and only one neighbor on one side that I can see and its fenced there lol. So escapee passiflora and other vines aren't a problem. In fact, there are "wild /rogue" trumpet vines, japanese honeysuckle, and carolina jessamine growing all crazy out in the woods and up various trees on the back of the property. I have a lot of gulf frits so they do keep the escaped (from pots) passies under control here too. For additional control, I grow most of my passiflora in pots and use 3 tall bamboo poles tied together at the top in the large pots. Then I use fishing line and black electrical tape to create a little trellis for them to attach their tendrils onto between the bamboo poles. Then I position the pots up against a fence or tree and let them climb that way once they grow over the bamboo poles. When it freezes, I cut them back to the length of the bamboo pole/trellis and move the pots into the gh because some of the passies I grow will freeze back badly and some are tropical so gh culture during the winter is best for those. ~SJN