Show us yer house and house-related meddlings

[danski]

not much to show but i just wired a table lamp so that it is controlled by the wall light switch (joins the circuit) and i think this is my proudest DIY moment to date, mainly because i did it without electrocuting self even once.

It is hugely satisfying to turn lamps on at a switch on the wall as you enter the room rather than scrabble round the backs of stuff.
I put a light socket in each corner of my lounge, switched as two pairs. It still makes me happy to enter and turn on. (Fnar)

 

[bimble]

It is hugely satisfying to turn lamps on at a switch on the wall as you enter the room rather than scrabble round the backs of stuff.
I put a light socket in each corner of my lounge, switched as two pairs. It still makes me happy to enter and turn on. (Fnar)

Was beginning to wonder when I will stop finding it fun to switch the lamp on and off from the wall repeatedly as if it was a magic trick and am glad to see the answer is probably never. Good.

 

[kabbes]

It is hugely satisfying to turn lamps on at a switch on the wall as you enter the room rather than scrabble round the backs of stuff.
I put a light socket in each corner of my lounge, switched as two pairs. It still makes me happy to enter and turn on. (Fnar)

I achieved the same thing by putting smart bulbs in the lamps and a smart switch on the wall. No wiring required, plus I can dim them collectively or individually just using voice commands.

 

[Aladdin]

I achieved the same thing by putting smart bulbs in the lamps and a smart switch on the wall. No wiring required, plus I can dim them collectively or individually just using voice commands.

Can smart bulbs work without a smart switch?

Sorry if that's a dumb question..

 

[kabbes]

Can smart bulbs work without a smart switch?

Sorry if that's a dumb question..

Yes, you can still use your phone or voice activation with a smart speaker

And don’t worry, there are no dumb questions.

(Only dumb people)

 

[danski]

Can smart bulbs work without a smart switch?

Sorry if that's a dumb question..

Yeah but then you have to use an app which seems to defeat the convenience.

Smart switch and speaker seem like good additions

 

[kabbes]

Yeah but then you have to use an app which seems to defeat the convenience.

Smart switch and speaker seem like good additions

This is true — there’s no way I could be arsed to just do it from the app. It kind of sounds easy but the reality is too much faff.

 

[bimble]

i don't think i'm ever going to speak to household appliances that can actually respond, no Alexas or smart lamps for me, unless maybe i need them for medical reasons one day.

 

[danski]

“why not, bimble?”

 

[bimble]

“why not, bimble?”

just recoil from the idea, not very rationally. Maybe just that i'd feel absurd doing it, standing there talking to my lights.

 

[kabbes]

just recoil from the idea, not very rationally. Maybe just that i'd feel absurd doing it, standing there talking to my lights.

When you’re walking in from the kitchen to the lounge with your hands full at night, telling it to turn the lights on whilst you’re still in the kitchen is very handy

 

[bimble]

I’m sure it is. A bath that fills itself remotely at the just right temperature & then stops, ready for when I get home, that might be the thing that eventually makes me join in with the wonders of the modern world.

 

[teuchter]

When you’re walking in from the kitchen to the lounge with your hands full at night, telling it to turn the lights on whilst you’re still in the kitchen is very handy

If it was really smart you wouldn't even have to ask.

 

[kabbes]

If it was really smart you wouldn't even have to ask.

I could make that happen, actually. Either with the sensors on my Nest thermostats and smoke alarms or by using cameras. The former seems too liable to go wrong, though, and the latter is just creepy.

 

[teuchter]

I could make that happen, actually. Either with the sensors on my Nest thermostats and smoke alarms or by using cameras. The former seems too liable to go wrong, though, and the latter is just creepy.

I find it interesting that a lot of people aren't happy for cameras to be constantly watching them, but seem happy for microphones to be constantly listening to them (which is what's necessary for any kind of voice command).

I'm not too keen on either.

 

[kabbes]

I find it interesting that a lot of people aren't happy for cameras to be constantly watching them, but seem happy for microphones to be constantly listening to them (which is what's necessary for any kind of voice command).

I'm not too keen on either.

You can’t hear me scratching. Or if you can, it’s not disgusting.

 

[Idaho]

i don't think i'm ever going to speak to household appliances that can actually respond, no Alexas or smart lamps for me, unless maybe i need them for medical reasons one day.

It's one of those things that just seems banal and routine after a while. You aren't conversing with these things, just flipping a switch with a sound.

 

[bimble]

It's one of those things that just seems banal and routine after a while. You aren't conversing with these things, just flipping a switch with a sound.

but its ok, i have fingers. Not that jeff bezos doesnt already know too much about my habits.

 

[equationgirl]

Here are some before pictures of my hall. It's a mostly square room with seven doors as all the rooms come off it.

The chest of drawers is falling apart and waiting to be disassembled for bulk uplift. The other unit has my inks and some stationery in it, and will remain in the hallway.

The kitchen is behind the door in the third picture.

 

[equationgirl]

Here is the first section of paint. It will definitely need two coats but the colour is what I wanted. Paint is Mid Slate silk emulsion by Dulux, although I think it's a bit on the light side for a colour called slate.

The room is lots of narrow and small sections so it's going to be mostly brush and small roller work. The woodwork is going to take a very long time.

 

[Idaho]

but its ok, i have fingers. Not that jeff bezos doesnt already know too much about my habits.

The reality of big data is that no-one gives a shit about your habits. You are just bundled into a mass of other people that the algorithm has flagged as being vaguely similar for advertising purposes. That bundling and marketing is already happening when you scroll, click and purchase anything.

 

[bimble]

The reality of big data is that no-one gives a shit about your habits. You are just bundled into a mass of other people that the algorithm has flagged as being vaguely similar for advertising purposes. That bundling and marketing is already happening when you scroll, click and purchase anything.

I know. I have no choice about that but the actual listening i can opt out of for now, and the voice command stuff just doesn't seem useful enough for me to choose to join in thats all. Apple contractors 'regularly hear confidential details' on Siri recordings ,

Privacy fail: Audio recorded by Google Assistant leaked to Belgian news outlet - SiliconANGLE

Privacy fail: Audio recorded by Google Assistant leaked to Belgian news outlet - SiliconANGLE

siliconangle.com

 

[kabbes]

I know. I have no choice about that but the actual listening i can opt out of for now, and the voice command stuff just doesn't seem useful enough for me to choose to join in thats all.

Voice command isn’t that useful but it also isn’t that expensive or that intrusive. An Amazon dot costs, like, £30 or something and I don’t somehow think it’s worth the risk of 4% of worldwide revenue if Amazon are caught illegally processing my personal data just to listen to me talk to the cat.

 

[friedaweed]

We've done shitloads to our place but this was one of the ones we're benefiting from the most lately.

 

[RubyToogood]

The incredibly dull cooker saga is finally over (touch wood). I have a new cooker. It works. I have cooked things on it.

If I was advising someone else in this situation I would say do not bother trying to understand the gas regulations yourself because it doesn't matter what you think they are, it only matters what the person installing your cooker thinks they are. Just order whatever cooker you fancy and see what they say when they turn up to install it. The worst that happens is that they tell you what you need to change and go away, it takes 5 minutes and you're not going to lose the price of the cooker, either they can reinstall it once you've changed things or they can refund you.

I obsessed over finding a cooker whose instructions didn't forbid it from being installed on a plinth, and consequently ordered a cheap Beko, because all the nicer ones said not to do that. When I read the instructions that came with the actual cooker they too said not to install it on a plinth but the installers did it anyway so

The point of the plinth thing is that it's supposedly a risk if it topples off, but given that they chain it to the wall that's not going to happen.

 

[equationgirl]

Painting of the hallway continues slowly. White section probably needs another coat in sections, and the cornice is proving to be a bit difficult as it just sucks up the paint. Woodwork looks like it has been done in the picture but it hasn't, I haven't started the woodwork yet.

 

[equationgirl]

I have some new lampshades too so expect to be thrilled by those in due course.

 

[moonsi til]

Ooh talking of lampshades I bought a third one of these. I had 2 in my old house upstairs hallway & now need 3 for downstairs hallway.

We are continuing sanding the stairs & I hope going to paint the spindles green.

 

[equationgirl]

New lampshade for spare bedroom:

 

[RubyToogood]

The incredibly dull cooker saga is NOT over as the damn thing doesn't cook properly. The ovens (it has a small top one and a larger bottom one) are at least two gas marks lower than stated. I think the thermostat is faulty. They start off ok and then just sort of peter out.

Obviously ao.com refer you on to the manufacturer. I have very, very low expectations of this getting resolved at all.