Full House Refurb log - Work in Progress - Dark to Light
Discussion
Time for some updates!
Highlights:
Sharps managed to get the dimensions of the cupboard doors correct and they've now been fitted.
Carpets fitted upstairs apart from lobby and stairs.
Have had word that the roofline will get started next Monday, so need to get on to the installer and flesh out the planning for the downlighters, security cameras and motion sensor lighting positions.
Windows have been pushed up for delivery end of April, possibly installation in early May depending on the fitters schedule.
Lowlights:
Karndean flooring - Original joiner had misjudged the depth of the plywood so needed to double up on the plywood base for the living room. Will need to run round the edges with a bit of caulk just to tidy up a few small gaps. Should have just laid them on the floorboards like originally planned.
Secondly, the edging / detail strips were ordered incorrectly. They delivered Chocolate instead of a light grey. Floor has been laid with the chocolate as a temporary finish but they're not stuck down. Edging strips on order.
Fitter has decided that the walls in the porch are not 100% square so wants to order up white border to fit round the edges. Means that we will have to wait again for that to be done, but will lay the main floor in the meantime.
Plumber has been back round, sorted the pipes in the porch and the downstairs bathroom. Small bit of patching to be done on the tiles where the old radiator pipe came out. Still waiting on delivery of the radiators for the porch and the bathroom as he'd ordered the wrong ones. However as it was his mistake, and the correct ones are more expensive, it won't be going on the invoice. (seeing as it's already been paid it most definitely wont).
Anyway, on to some pictures.
(yes I'm aware that it's a lot of footballer grey but promise there will be lots of splashes of colour!)
Single layer of ply (was told it was 9mm.)
Also in a hilarious turn of events. The plumbers said they would get hold of some kitchen units to use in the garage for installing the sink. They were ripping out a kitchen earlier this week and this is what they've turned up with and dumped in the garage.
Highlights:
Sharps managed to get the dimensions of the cupboard doors correct and they've now been fitted.
Carpets fitted upstairs apart from lobby and stairs.
Have had word that the roofline will get started next Monday, so need to get on to the installer and flesh out the planning for the downlighters, security cameras and motion sensor lighting positions.
Windows have been pushed up for delivery end of April, possibly installation in early May depending on the fitters schedule.
Lowlights:
Karndean flooring - Original joiner had misjudged the depth of the plywood so needed to double up on the plywood base for the living room. Will need to run round the edges with a bit of caulk just to tidy up a few small gaps. Should have just laid them on the floorboards like originally planned.
Secondly, the edging / detail strips were ordered incorrectly. They delivered Chocolate instead of a light grey. Floor has been laid with the chocolate as a temporary finish but they're not stuck down. Edging strips on order.
Fitter has decided that the walls in the porch are not 100% square so wants to order up white border to fit round the edges. Means that we will have to wait again for that to be done, but will lay the main floor in the meantime.
Plumber has been back round, sorted the pipes in the porch and the downstairs bathroom. Small bit of patching to be done on the tiles where the old radiator pipe came out. Still waiting on delivery of the radiators for the porch and the bathroom as he'd ordered the wrong ones. However as it was his mistake, and the correct ones are more expensive, it won't be going on the invoice. (seeing as it's already been paid it most definitely wont).
Anyway, on to some pictures.
(yes I'm aware that it's a lot of footballer grey but promise there will be lots of splashes of colour!)
Single layer of ply (was told it was 9mm.)
Also in a hilarious turn of events. The plumbers said they would get hold of some kitchen units to use in the garage for installing the sink. They were ripping out a kitchen earlier this week and this is what they've turned up with and dumped in the garage.
Schmeeky said:
Looking great Rich! It's a helluva transformation..
Thanks, can't quite believe how far we've come in 5 months. Have to thank my project managing partner who's taken basically 6 months off work to make it all happen whilst I head away for a month at a time.
On a plus note, movers have arrived at the rental place and will be moving over the last of the furniture today. So when I get home next week it will be to the new house. Which after a year and a half of boxes and moving between properties is going to be awesome.
Hah, still havn't decided what I'm doing with the garage. Painting it white was just an easy job to do to start with.
Not going to get much updates today as she's busy orchestrating the movers. That should be the last of it from the rental place.
Oh, and in other good news the built in dishwashers shagged so that nice little guitar i had pictured for the living room is now an appliance.
Not going to get much updates today as she's busy orchestrating the movers. That should be the last of it from the rental place.
Oh, and in other good news the built in dishwashers shagged so that nice little guitar i had pictured for the living room is now an appliance.
loop swing said:
Loving every update to this thread 
It looks fantastic! I love seeing a progress thread. We've changed a few bits and pieces on our place, and it's easy to forget how bad it was before without plenty of pictures. I can't imagine what it's like having to oversee it from offshore though. Kudos sir!
Quick question; where did you get the replacement side door for your garage? It looks solid. Our current one is wood and is a bit long in the tooth!
Aye, i reckon this last few trips away have been the worst ever. Just dieing to get home and get stuck in. So many projects in mind. It looks fantastic! I love seeing a progress thread. We've changed a few bits and pieces on our place, and it's easy to forget how bad it was before without plenty of pictures. I can't imagine what it's like having to oversee it from offshore though. Kudos sir!Quick question; where did you get the replacement side door for your garage? It looks solid. Our current one is wood and is a bit long in the tooth!
The garage door is a full on Solidor type composite door in an aluminium frame. Same specs as the front door. Just doesn't have any windows.
https://www.solidor.co.uk/
PixelpeepS3 said:
Awesome thread, thank you for sharing.
Quite similar to what we are doing - bought a 1980's build bungalow in july 2017 - it hadn't been modernised at all - the 'might-as-well-be-single-glazed' windows with their dark stain wood to match the skirting, doors, architrave etc. along with floor to ceiling waredrobes with doors falling off and that horrible varnished wood stink.
Coving, bare lightbulbs, nasty artexed ceilings, matrix style heating with what looked like straws as pipes and the non-rcd consumer unit located in the toilet!
we are probably 60% through, and already killed our £50k budget but we have redone the ceilings, put RGB-C/W/N/White LED downlighters, ceiling speakers, rewired and relocated the consumer unit, flood filled Cat6 back to a coms cab in the office, knocked the kitchen and diner through and put a new shiny white kitchen in, new boiler and rads - everything chased, plastered and then painted in plain white. Everything is white. it looks 10000% better but we still feel we're living in a building site.
Bathrooms next!
That gave me a chuckle, sorry for your pain! My sister and her husband bought a house about a year ago now that hadn't been touched since the year nineteen seventy oatcake and went through the same thing. Poor BIL was working full time, then heading to the new house almost every day for six months to get a lot of it done. Think it nearly broke him. Quite similar to what we are doing - bought a 1980's build bungalow in july 2017 - it hadn't been modernised at all - the 'might-as-well-be-single-glazed' windows with their dark stain wood to match the skirting, doors, architrave etc. along with floor to ceiling waredrobes with doors falling off and that horrible varnished wood stink.
Coving, bare lightbulbs, nasty artexed ceilings, matrix style heating with what looked like straws as pipes and the non-rcd consumer unit located in the toilet!
we are probably 60% through, and already killed our £50k budget but we have redone the ceilings, put RGB-C/W/N/White LED downlighters, ceiling speakers, rewired and relocated the consumer unit, flood filled Cat6 back to a coms cab in the office, knocked the kitchen and diner through and put a new shiny white kitchen in, new boiler and rads - everything chased, plastered and then painted in plain white. Everything is white. it looks 10000% better but we still feel we're living in a building site.
Bathrooms next!
I will be eternally grateful, and so will my wallet, that the bathrooms / kitchen and major electrical are alright for now.
Right, end of the week update:
Living room flooring - detail strips on order, temporary "chocolate" strips in place
Porch flooring - walls not straight enough and would compromise the pattern so fitter has ordered more white edging.
Not sure when all that will be available for fitting.
Plumber has been back and finished the pipework for the porch and bathroom downstairs. Radiators not arrived yet as they ordered the wrong finish so also waiting on that. Going to have to find a bit of tile to fill the hole left in the bathroom floor but it's hopefully not going to be so noticeable.
Movers have come and gone, moved the heavier stuff up the stairs and left the rest in the garage for the time being for us to sort through.
Dining table and 'feature' chairs for the living room have been delivered.
Friday morning the roofline chaps turned up and started. Had to get in touch with the electrician to make sure that he was coming on Monday to organise the installation of the new LED security lights, downlighters and NEST cameras on the facing boards.
Living room flooring - detail strips on order, temporary "chocolate" strips in place
Porch flooring - walls not straight enough and would compromise the pattern so fitter has ordered more white edging.
Not sure when all that will be available for fitting.
Plumber has been back and finished the pipework for the porch and bathroom downstairs. Radiators not arrived yet as they ordered the wrong finish so also waiting on that. Going to have to find a bit of tile to fill the hole left in the bathroom floor but it's hopefully not going to be so noticeable.
Movers have come and gone, moved the heavier stuff up the stairs and left the rest in the garage for the time being for us to sort through.
Dining table and 'feature' chairs for the living room have been delivered.
Friday morning the roofline chaps turned up and started. Had to get in touch with the electrician to make sure that he was coming on Monday to organise the installation of the new LED security lights, downlighters and NEST cameras on the facing boards.
Ruskie said:
Great thread. Some of the best threads on PH are ones like this. If you could work a bit harder and finish though please? 
Hah, well wont be much updates for a few weeks as once I get home I'm almost straight away again. Will be less frequent but bigger updates I guess. All of the first posts covered quite a lot of time period!morgs_ said:
With the 'connected home' elements, how much did you know/plan yourself and how much was from a professional? I've done a bit of research so far, but a little overwhelmed with the amount of choice/combinations. I'm reasonably techy, but it's trying to figure out what I want/need and how to put it all together.
Pretty much planned it all myself including designing the cabinet and tv wall. Google sketchup and some free time was all that was needed. I had Nest thermostat and some Hue lighting in my previous place along with some cable runs hidden in walls. This was the first time I got to fully plan it all but I knew what I wanted. Suppose better at least throw up some pictures of the roofline progress. Lads have done quite a bit. Decided to go for a tongue in groove style for under the porch. Electrician on site just yesterday to assist in wiring up ready for downlights and security lights etc.
The porch ceiling is actually the floor of the loft space so got the lads to pack it with some insulation we had in the garage. Hopefully keep a bit of heat in there.
The porch ceiling is actually the floor of the loft space so got the lads to pack it with some insulation we had in the garage. Hopefully keep a bit of heat in there.
morgs_ said:
Thanks for the reply. Haven't come across sketchup so will give that a look. I have a reasonable idea of what I want, but slightly complicated by wanting to extend in the near future and not doing things now that will hinder or not be cost effective when hopefully doing the extension.
Fire me a PM if you need. Although I am a little Google / NEST biased as that's what I've used for the whole house. Sketchup I just used to design the cabinets and draw the floorplan for the house. I actually just used excel a lot to plan the wiring.
Right then, looooads to update on the house. Had a month at home, but due to internet upload speed currently sitting at 0.7 mb/s I didn't even bother attempting to start uploading photos whilst I was there.
Had a couple of days after I got back from work before we disappeared to Tenerife with some friends for a quick holiday and some sunshine.
First things first, to get the telly up and running as well as do a dry run for the cabling and wiring in the media unit. Also needed to get the Google Wifi setup and bin the Sky hub internet box for a dedicated setup.
As it was before I started, none of the shelves are screwed in yet as I needed to get a multi tool in and cut out some of the shelf supports in order to run the cable management.
Got rid of the Sky box and then found out that Sky are a crap provider who make it as difficult as possible to change out their hardware for your own. I believe now that under EU legislation they are required to allow you to use your own, but in no way will give you the log on and details needed. Spent a few hours searching through Google to get what I needed and at least get connected. Also setup the 8 port switch to feed everything else in the cabinet.
Needed a whole stack of 0.5m and 0.3m jumper cables.
And the first Wifi hub set up on top of the unit. Planning to have one upstairs, and then the third hard wired out in the garage.
Next up was a nosy behind the TV to sort out the cabling there. I had the cable management stuff on order so primary concern was just to get a signal to the TV and allow us to at least watch some Netflix in the evening. The wall mount really makes moving the television in and out very very easy.
Before I could get the Soundbar set up I needed to put up the floating shelf. It's find and level, very sturdy, but cants toward the rear a little. Also I could have installed it a little higher to try and hide the brush faceplates better. But as it is I can still access everything I need.
Running cabling to and from the soundbar was a PITA. I found out that the electrician had installed the faceplates on standard plastic back boxes, but there wasn't enough access to run the cables through. Also the Soundbar cable is integrated in both the plug and the unit. Had to faff about pulling them off and modifying the back boxes to allow multiple cables and also to be able to fish them through.
Next up, Soundbar time! Ran the HDMI cabling from back of the TV into the brush plate at the shelf, and then the HDMI from the shelf down through the cable run to the media unit. Slightly over estimated the length of cable needed so will just have to coil and hide the rest of it underneath the lower shelf. Also never realised the thickness of the HDMI cabling I bought,. it's a bit unweildy.
Sky box plumbed in but forgot that I don't have any short Co-ax cables, managed to get a length of co-ax and some connectors from the sparky so will have to see if i remember how to build a co-ax cable. Think last time i had a special push fitting crimper and a trimmer.
And the subwoofer in it's temporary home. Will have to see where it fits the best.
And finally, we have light and sound. Although for some reason the ARC HDMI isnt working and I'm using a short optical cable for the time being until I can sort something out. Long term if for some reason there's a compatibility issue I will just run a longer optical cable from behind the TV.
Had a couple of days after I got back from work before we disappeared to Tenerife with some friends for a quick holiday and some sunshine.
First things first, to get the telly up and running as well as do a dry run for the cabling and wiring in the media unit. Also needed to get the Google Wifi setup and bin the Sky hub internet box for a dedicated setup.
As it was before I started, none of the shelves are screwed in yet as I needed to get a multi tool in and cut out some of the shelf supports in order to run the cable management.
Got rid of the Sky box and then found out that Sky are a crap provider who make it as difficult as possible to change out their hardware for your own. I believe now that under EU legislation they are required to allow you to use your own, but in no way will give you the log on and details needed. Spent a few hours searching through Google to get what I needed and at least get connected. Also setup the 8 port switch to feed everything else in the cabinet.
Needed a whole stack of 0.5m and 0.3m jumper cables.
And the first Wifi hub set up on top of the unit. Planning to have one upstairs, and then the third hard wired out in the garage.
Next up was a nosy behind the TV to sort out the cabling there. I had the cable management stuff on order so primary concern was just to get a signal to the TV and allow us to at least watch some Netflix in the evening. The wall mount really makes moving the television in and out very very easy.
Before I could get the Soundbar set up I needed to put up the floating shelf. It's find and level, very sturdy, but cants toward the rear a little. Also I could have installed it a little higher to try and hide the brush faceplates better. But as it is I can still access everything I need.
Running cabling to and from the soundbar was a PITA. I found out that the electrician had installed the faceplates on standard plastic back boxes, but there wasn't enough access to run the cables through. Also the Soundbar cable is integrated in both the plug and the unit. Had to faff about pulling them off and modifying the back boxes to allow multiple cables and also to be able to fish them through.
Next up, Soundbar time! Ran the HDMI cabling from back of the TV into the brush plate at the shelf, and then the HDMI from the shelf down through the cable run to the media unit. Slightly over estimated the length of cable needed so will just have to coil and hide the rest of it underneath the lower shelf. Also never realised the thickness of the HDMI cabling I bought,. it's a bit unweildy.
Sky box plumbed in but forgot that I don't have any short Co-ax cables, managed to get a length of co-ax and some connectors from the sparky so will have to see if i remember how to build a co-ax cable. Think last time i had a special push fitting crimper and a trimmer.
And the subwoofer in it's temporary home. Will have to see where it fits the best.
And finally, we have light and sound. Although for some reason the ARC HDMI isnt working and I'm using a short optical cable for the time being until I can sort something out. Long term if for some reason there's a compatibility issue I will just run a longer optical cable from behind the TV.
So, back from holiday and whilst away the boiler decided to play up and wouldn't fire up. It had previously given a warning light that needed resetting, but the SSE engineer went through every part of the system to ensure it was working correctly. Final conclusion was that it was the wiring for the NEST that needed changed.
When the electrician first wired it up he used the cabling that was originally used for the HIVE system in place, but that was routed through an old Scottish Gas timer box and was causing issues. The boiler wasn't getting through the 240V needed to kick over and supply hot water. Anyway, had to get the sparkies back out (different chaps) to removed the SG system and just directly wire up the NEST so it's working fine now.
Wee treat to myself as John Lewis were doing 250 quid off the new Pixel 3 and my Pixel 1 battery was dieing on it's arse, only lasting 9 hours use during the day. Set up the charging stand and the first Google Home up in the bedroom.
Next up was also starting to plan the lighting system for the house. First little Hue accent light set up in the living room.
Testing the side LED setup for the TV wall. It's a bit rough and ready behind the access panel but not a lot I can do about that right now. It's all hidden anyway. Very happy how this has turned out for ambient lighting and contrast for the TV when it's on.
When the electrician first wired it up he used the cabling that was originally used for the HIVE system in place, but that was routed through an old Scottish Gas timer box and was causing issues. The boiler wasn't getting through the 240V needed to kick over and supply hot water. Anyway, had to get the sparkies back out (different chaps) to removed the SG system and just directly wire up the NEST so it's working fine now.
Wee treat to myself as John Lewis were doing 250 quid off the new Pixel 3 and my Pixel 1 battery was dieing on it's arse, only lasting 9 hours use during the day. Set up the charging stand and the first Google Home up in the bedroom.
Next up was also starting to plan the lighting system for the house. First little Hue accent light set up in the living room.
Testing the side LED setup for the TV wall. It's a bit rough and ready behind the access panel but not a lot I can do about that right now. It's all hidden anyway. Very happy how this has turned out for ambient lighting and contrast for the TV when it's on.
Next day was far too nice weather to be mucking about in the house so decided to finally tackle the first cut of the grass in the garden and give it a bit of a tidy up. Shifted the old garden furniture round to the back, and moved the cast iron stuff that came with the house out of the way. Made a wee trip to B&Q to pick up some new toys as well!
Grass at the front wasn't too bad, grass at the back was starting to get a bit long. Just did a quick mulching cut to see how long it would take (3 hours by the way).
At some point the previous owners must have had a water feature or something at the back of the garden. There's an old water supply at the back of the garden sunken into the grass and hidden underneath a slab.
Also a little more than concerned with the boundry wall. It's not moving if you push it but the roots have obviously shifted it over the year. Once I've planned out the garden upgrades a bit better I'll get some better ideas on what to do with it.
Also found time to do a quick construction project
And the handy little helper that it will house. Uhmed and Ahed over mower choice. Decided to go for the McCulloch and havn't had any issues with it yet. Ran the boundry wire and the guide wire and had plenty spare at the end. Only issue being the power supply that came with it. Not only an integrated plug but EU two pin. Ordered an adaptor cable but had to give it some creative engineering until it arrived. Once it did I housed it in a waterproof enclosure just to be safe.
Grass at the front wasn't too bad, grass at the back was starting to get a bit long. Just did a quick mulching cut to see how long it would take (3 hours by the way).
At some point the previous owners must have had a water feature or something at the back of the garden. There's an old water supply at the back of the garden sunken into the grass and hidden underneath a slab.
Also a little more than concerned with the boundry wall. It's not moving if you push it but the roots have obviously shifted it over the year. Once I've planned out the garden upgrades a bit better I'll get some better ideas on what to do with it.
Also found time to do a quick construction project
And the handy little helper that it will house. Uhmed and Ahed over mower choice. Decided to go for the McCulloch and havn't had any issues with it yet. Ran the boundry wire and the guide wire and had plenty spare at the end. Only issue being the power supply that came with it. Not only an integrated plug but EU two pin. Ordered an adaptor cable but had to give it some creative engineering until it arrived. Once it did I housed it in a waterproof enclosure just to be safe.
Schmeeky said:
Lovely stuff!
Love the Hue gear - I'm a sucker for coloured, ambient light.
The first time you get google to turn on a light just by asking is a properly cool moment. I remember watching Tomorrow's World years ago when they'd do a house of the future spot - this is where we are today, living in that future, and it's great!
Thanks mate, must admit I'm a sucker for it as well. More to come!Love the Hue gear - I'm a sucker for coloured, ambient light.
The first time you get google to turn on a light just by asking is a properly cool moment. I remember watching Tomorrow's World years ago when they'd do a house of the future spot - this is where we are today, living in that future, and it's great!
Antony Moxey said:
Looks utterly fabulous. Any reason for not upgrading from Sky HD to Sky Q, and with the wiring you currently have in place would it be a problem to upgrade?
No, would be no issue at all. I actually had to get a Sky engineer out to troubleshoot signal issues, turned out it was the 2 way faceplate at the back of the media cabinet causing issues. Just bypassed it. Also had to get the dish re-aligned. I was offered SkyQ but at the distance I'm viewing currently 4k isn't going to be much different to HD. In addition to that our internet speed is only 4.7 mb/s download so it's not like I'm going to be able to take advantage of any 4k content via streaming or downloading any time soon. As it is an HD episode takes a few hours to download at minimum. Until that increases I don't see the advantage.
richatnort said:
wow mega update i love it! If you get any time have a look at Home Assistant on a pi! I've just started making my house automated and it's great! i've currently got lights to come on with sensors & a dog to bark from my bose when the cctv triggers motion 
.
Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
Thanks mate, I'll have a nosy at that. The Hue stuff integrates pretty well with Google Assistant. I'll go into the sensors and things in a wee bit. Still sorting through photos as I have a months worth of updates to dump on here. . Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
Spoiler alert I did manage to sort the ARC over HDMI, I think the soundbar and telly just needed to update as its working consistently now. I've kept the Optical cable in place just as a safeguard.
Ok, so on with the media / lighting install in the living room (as of course this is a priority!)
All of my cable management stuff arrived. This consisted of some square conduit, cable ties and sticky pads for tidying everything up.
I had a spare Hue LED strip and decided that I wanted some ambient lighting behind the TV itself. I knew it was going to be slightly compromised due to the wall bracket and that it would be slightly lighter at the bottom. Generally it's OK, it's no ambilight but it will do.
I found out that the Soundbar isn't true Chromecast in the same way that a separate dongle is. It will allow audio to be cast to it but doesn't have visual capabilities which is a bit naff. I dug out my old Chromecast HD and plugged that into HDMI 2 on the TV, just meant I had to run the power cable for the LED up from the lower power points and through the brush fittings.
These little cable tie holders are great for running and securing cables rather than having them hang loose behind the TV. One thing I did find though is that you have to account for cable stretch when pulling or pushing the TV around on the mount.
First run of the ambient lights behind the TV. I did some more faffing around as you can see the shadow of the HDMI cable from the TV on the bottom of the recess in the TV wall.
I dissassembled the entire media unit again to give me access to the shelf brackets. I mentioned previously (i think) that the joiner had made a single runner all round the edges of the wall which was different to my plans. It meant that I needed to use a multi tool to cut out a small section to allow me to run the cable tray up the wall. Didn't take too long to do this and then start to install everything from the ground up again.
Can also see the two HDMI cables from the cable run under the floor.
I guess I'm pretty chuffed at how well it's all worked out from the planning to the execution. Glad I spent the time obsessing over the layout of everything, and I still had to be flexible in how it came out. For one I was not expecting the HDMI cables to be so thick. This meant that for the time being I only have 2 x HDMI run from the soundbar. I use the XBOX so infrequently that I can swap over the Blu-Ray to the XBOX when I need to.
The missus also decided that she wanted a home phone set up (which I hate) but never mind, so that got added to the set on top of the unit. So here's the room with media install pretty complete. I still have to rig up the IR repeater to use the Blu-ray and the Sky box from the universal remote.
With the living room pretty nicely set up it was time to get crafty on a secret project that I had hinted about to my partner, who was more than a little dubious.
Some minor things. Whilst we were away we had the floor installers come round and finish the porch and the living room. Had family round for Easter Sunday BBQ and managed to get the place looking at least mainly presentable and tidy and clean. Spent the evening opening and putting up some art as well. My old living room furniture is doing fine in the conservatory for the time being.
All of my cable management stuff arrived. This consisted of some square conduit, cable ties and sticky pads for tidying everything up.
I had a spare Hue LED strip and decided that I wanted some ambient lighting behind the TV itself. I knew it was going to be slightly compromised due to the wall bracket and that it would be slightly lighter at the bottom. Generally it's OK, it's no ambilight but it will do.
I found out that the Soundbar isn't true Chromecast in the same way that a separate dongle is. It will allow audio to be cast to it but doesn't have visual capabilities which is a bit naff. I dug out my old Chromecast HD and plugged that into HDMI 2 on the TV, just meant I had to run the power cable for the LED up from the lower power points and through the brush fittings.
These little cable tie holders are great for running and securing cables rather than having them hang loose behind the TV. One thing I did find though is that you have to account for cable stretch when pulling or pushing the TV around on the mount.
First run of the ambient lights behind the TV. I did some more faffing around as you can see the shadow of the HDMI cable from the TV on the bottom of the recess in the TV wall.
I dissassembled the entire media unit again to give me access to the shelf brackets. I mentioned previously (i think) that the joiner had made a single runner all round the edges of the wall which was different to my plans. It meant that I needed to use a multi tool to cut out a small section to allow me to run the cable tray up the wall. Didn't take too long to do this and then start to install everything from the ground up again.
Can also see the two HDMI cables from the cable run under the floor.
I guess I'm pretty chuffed at how well it's all worked out from the planning to the execution. Glad I spent the time obsessing over the layout of everything, and I still had to be flexible in how it came out. For one I was not expecting the HDMI cables to be so thick. This meant that for the time being I only have 2 x HDMI run from the soundbar. I use the XBOX so infrequently that I can swap over the Blu-Ray to the XBOX when I need to.
The missus also decided that she wanted a home phone set up (which I hate) but never mind, so that got added to the set on top of the unit. So here's the room with media install pretty complete. I still have to rig up the IR repeater to use the Blu-ray and the Sky box from the universal remote.
With the living room pretty nicely set up it was time to get crafty on a secret project that I had hinted about to my partner, who was more than a little dubious.
Some minor things. Whilst we were away we had the floor installers come round and finish the porch and the living room. Had family round for Easter Sunday BBQ and managed to get the place looking at least mainly presentable and tidy and clean. Spent the evening opening and putting up some art as well. My old living room furniture is doing fine in the conservatory for the time being.
morgs_ said:
Neither my wife or my wallet are going to thank you 
Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
Hah, yes, I've been told by several friends that I am terrible for temptation. Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
I figured if we're planning on having the place for 20+ years then setting it up right the first time is worth the short term pain (plus new toys!).
The Google Wifi has been great so far. I've even disconnected my TV and Chromecast from the hard wired network just so I can optimise over Wifi. Only things plugged in directly to the router are Sky and Hue hub with the option for the Xbox on either wifi or hard wired to router.
I've set one up upstairs and the primary one in the living room. No wired connection between the two. Gives regular usage and speed monitoring checks. Allows you to set up guest networks and route or prioritise traffic.
So to continue on with some interior details / lighting.
Following on from this thead: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
And using the following components:
5m of Hue controllable light strip for £37.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GLEDOPTO-ZIGBEE-Le...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-LED-Strip-Light...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-x-AC-100V-240V-t...
I rigged up the lighting behind the headboard in the master bedroom. Obviously a little more fiddly to get going than the Hue stuff, and the power transformer is a lot bigger. But when it's hidden away you don't see it anyway. All Hue and Google Home voice controllable as part of the wider house system. Handy for a nightlight.
Also finally received our corner lamp for the living room and got rid of the little table lamp. Due to this being silly little light fittings can't fit Hue to it, so resorted to a standard remote switching plug in the wall and a little remote control that turns it on / off to avoid having to scrabble about for the floor switch.
Managed to persuade the other half that I of course needed a guitar in the living room....
Following on from this thead: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
And using the following components:
5m of Hue controllable light strip for £37.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GLEDOPTO-ZIGBEE-Le...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-LED-Strip-Light...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-x-AC-100V-240V-t...
I rigged up the lighting behind the headboard in the master bedroom. Obviously a little more fiddly to get going than the Hue stuff, and the power transformer is a lot bigger. But when it's hidden away you don't see it anyway. All Hue and Google Home voice controllable as part of the wider house system. Handy for a nightlight.
Also finally received our corner lamp for the living room and got rid of the little table lamp. Due to this being silly little light fittings can't fit Hue to it, so resorted to a standard remote switching plug in the wall and a little remote control that turns it on / off to avoid having to scrabble about for the floor switch.
Managed to persuade the other half that I of course needed a guitar in the living room....
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