The Self Builder’s blog

When you can buy one of these bad-boys. 

I wrote about home-automation and gadgets a tad earlier this week.

As I said, or typed, then, I’m trying to be as realistic as possible when it comes to technology in my new home.

There is absolutely no point paying a lot of money for gizmos, whose benefits would not really be fully yielded.

The house is set up to take TV aerials in each room, and there are cables run for Sky in several rooms, that’s if I do eventually decide to pay for my television viewing again.

But I’ve not gone much further. Biometric door lock aside.

That’s not to say that plenty of other products, or ideas, have not been appraised.

Robotic lawn mowers have been on the long list of products to be considered, reviewed, and dismissed, for now.

Because as well as suffering terribly with the domestically challenged gene, I do have a genuine concern that the maintenance on this gaff will become a bind.

With that in mind the gardener’s spec has contained the words - easiest maintenance possible - in bold from the very beginning.

Some new friends who are renovating a property in the same village as me, educated, or enlightened me to the existence of automatic vacuums or floor cleaners.

Apparently there is a particular cost-effective model that is brilliant on hard surfaces, such as the tiles and wood scheduled for my ground floor.

So after some initial research it appears that this idea could have wings, or batteries and a mind of its own anyway.

Well in ten days actually.

When I did the whole smarter home evaluation I started with all the knobs and whistles.

A wired network in every room, retractable cinema screen and surround sound music pipe-able everywhere.

Investigation of these systems, and a genuine realisation that I won’t really use the benefits, let alone be able to pay for them, has meant that they’ve been firmly shunted from the specification.

Plus it looks like I’ll be able to create a similar experience, through wireless equipment, should I choose to in the future.

But during the investigations, and visits to those sections of the various homebuilding magazines I came across biometric locks.

Now, that is the future.

Misplacing your keys isn’t a problem, well, it only becomes a problem if you also lose your thumb while you’re out.

I thought these things were going to be mega-bucks, but I was pleasantly surprised that I can get one for a little over £200, that’s if you can claim the VAT back.

Then the next problem it seems is actually getting hold of one.

Hence it’s not quite the future today.

I tried two different on-line security/smart homes set ups, both quickly cancelled my order - citing supply issues.

The actual manufacturer is now supplying me the lock, or has promised to supply the lock in ten days.

I’m now a one-off-pro-forma customer, who’s hopeful that he’s going to be able to access his shiny new house in a shiny new way.

I’ve started to think about how I might actually fill this house.  That’s with furniture by the way, I’m not looking for stowaways, yet.

Where better to start than with the Three-Foot-Foreman’s room.  Got to be the easiest to do, he’s smaller than me.

But it is proving more difficult than I imagined.

I’ve created a decent sized scaled drawing of the overall room layout.  Then I’ve cut out, to the same scale, my child’s existing furniture, and some ideas for what else he needs.

Then there is the eye on the future, where possible I don’t want to be buying stuff that is only going to last in the short-medium term. 

Granted, I don’t think his train table will last forever, it may be converted for use as something else.  But things like the wardrobes need to grow with him, and any other furniture needs to be adaptable for a growing man.

This is the first time that Max will really have a his own room, since we lived in our marital home.  And what I mean by that, is a room totally given over to him, or designed and decorated for his sole purpose.  His room.

Over the past, nearly, three years, while I’ve put pictures on his walls and bought rugs that are fitting with a child’s run, I’ve really been fudging it.

I want to get it just right for him.

He’s insisting on it being red and white, but other than that I’ve very little to work with.

I’ve seen a nice lampshade, it’s a planet with rockets attached to it.  I thought I could then put up some glow-in-the-dark stars and things.  His Mom has a star named after her, so I think that will be a great touch.

This should also tidy things up a little, and make bed time reading choice quicker.

I’m sure he’ll love it, after all it’s about three times the size of his current abode, and it has a karsey.