[groove]

Hey guys,

In keeping with the tradition of things here thought I would try and document my lounge overhaul , which im doing in preparation of a 508XD arriving from AV Sales ( when they get a delivery that is ).
It was a condition of the wife's that if I wanted a new TV , the lounge had to decorated........that wasn't a tought decision

So rather than slapping a bit of paint up thought id take my time , and create something that befits the new screen. Usually these plans stay at the planning stage and the easier option taken , but this time Im actually following it through !

Please bear with me , im trying to get this done in evenings and weekends , and as the Pioneer is nowhere to be seen yet the pressure is slightly off..

So I started with a mock up in Google Sketchup so I knew what to aim for -

The idea being the panel if floating off the wall and will be illuminated behind for that subtle cinema style glow.......

[Skiprat]

Nice

[groove]

In the grand scheme of things its nothing like some of the awesome installs on here , but for me , its a huge project.

This is what i started with , the off centre mounting of my previous panel was due to the god awful brick fireplace left from the previous owner. I had done my best in the past by encasing it in oak veneered mdf , and as the carpet had been cut round it had little other option.

But the budget is there for a new carpet as well now , so it all had to come out.

Bought an awesome SDS drill which made like work of the fireplace !

[groove]

I wanted to get rid of the many cables running under the carpet , and put in some structured CAT5 for my consoles, new phone socket for Sky HD box , and finally get my KEF 5005's wall mounted properly with hidden cables.

Took the opportunity to run new double shielded aerial cables up to the loft and upstairs bedrooms at the same time.

So it was out with the SDS drill and on with the goggles to get the walls all channelled out.

New power sockets needed as well....

The illumination is going to remote controlled along with the rest of the lighting courtesy of some rope light from TLC. Here it is finally wored up and drooped in place for something to admire whilst i carried on working

Some shots of the rear of the room and more channeling !

[groove]

took a couple of days off end of last week to really get the back broken , got my first bit of plastering ever done ( this really is an art that I really havnt got the skills for , but a bit of sanding and it will be perfect ).

Framework build started and finished over the weekend -

The rope light was installed arounf the frame using the proper mounting strips from TLC , I plan to paint the frame its mounted on white just to give a little more reflection

And a shot of the lights at night , you will not see the rope light itslef when the MDF panels are installed as it will overhang the frame top and both sides by 4cm , so I should be left with just the glow from behind.

And that is as far as i have got to date. Weather permitting i hope to get the 3 MDF panels cut tonight , they are 18mm thick and bl@@dy huge , so im not exactly looking forward to it.

Really pleased so far , has gone so much smoother and quicker than I anticipated.......

[cybrey]

Looks really good.

[FoooManChu]

I was a little unsure about the rope lights but the pic with lights down gives you a good indication of the effect you're gonna get...

Nice work

[Scifi Lord]

Looking good mate, keep the pictures coming.

[Example]

looks good so far, i think its gonna look suberb when its finished

[groove]

Cheers fellas......managed to get the MDF panels cut to size last night , but run out of time and energy to get them mounted.

Hopefully i can get them place mounted tonight , as I cant fully fix them until the TV arrives. I need to know exactly where to cut the slots for the cables to drop through and down behind the panel. Once i can do this , I can get them mounted permanently and the joins filled ready for painting.

Come on AV Sales...where is my 508 ?

[inzaman]

Looks good so far, cant wait to see the finished article

[elootos]

Looks promising. I too am planing a floating wall in my main bedroom and thought your rope light was a dodgy idea but the night shots make it look good; hurry up and finish so I can see what other ideas I can nick!

[groove]

dodgy ???? lol

Everyone screws their face up when i mention it , but i got the panels in place last night and it is just the effect i was after , and as it is dimmable via remote control i can make it as subtle as i want.

Ill get me skates on

[albriscoe]

Just shows what a bit of imagination can do

keep up with the pics and thats an order


cheers Allan

[groove]

AV Sales just came through...Pioneer 508XD will be here Friday !

All lights also turned up today, although ceiling lights are coming from Austria so are going to be a couple of weeks. Who needs lights though ?

So ive got the day off on Friday, that gives me another 3 days straight to work my butt off whilst staring at the lovely new cardboard box. How much more motivation do you need !!??

Expect some big updates and photos starting Friday.

[Scifi Lord]

Looking forward to Friday.

[ANGUZ]

Looking good mate, I think the lights will look cool when done, keep the pics coming

[massivedragon]

looking good your giving me some ideas here

Keep up the good work

[FoooManChu]

I think Reuters have just announced sales in rope lights have increased across the country! You're leading the charge!

Looking forward to the weekend update pal

[chelsea.tone]

Rope light is wicked idea ! So far so good

[groove]

Cheers......wicked idea and pretty cheap too....only £1.99 mtr from TLC Direct and i needed exactly 7 metres.
A lot of effect i think for a small outlay.....

[Scifi Lord]

Not long till Friday now.

[Nick 156]

Looking forward to those pictures! This should be a great install! Good luck for today and the rest of the build

[Daipac]

Been lurking on this thread, I have to say I am VERY impressed by your progress and the rope lights idea is fantastic !



Quick question regarding the longevity of the rope lights. How long do they normally last before bulbs start going ?

[groove]

Sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend....it was a choice between sit on here updating , or getting my ass in gear and doing some work.

3 10 hour days later and this is where I have got to currently -

Friday and Saturday were primarily spent getting all the new skirting on , and new coving in place. The rain didnt help as i couldnt cut anything in the garden , so two workhorses were in the lounge along with all the materials....good job i dont have a cat as there was no way i would of been swinging one !

First sheet of MDF offered up on Sunday morning , and started marking the positions of all the joists to ensure easy screwing.

Oh...just as an aside....my motivation was covered up

I had gone through about 5 different plasma mounting solutions , and had even bought 3 or 4 different kinds of hardware , from Coach screws , to Coach bolts , you name it i had considered it.
I wanted to use projecting anchor bolts , but couldnt find any long enough that would project through the timber (47mm) and the MDF ( 18mm) and the bracket....FOcus , Homebase and Wickes all had them with max mounting thickness of 60mm but of course that wouldnt be long enough....
So itried one last place , a B&Q warehouse...and low and behold some anchor bolts that supported a thicknedd of 80mm..... PERFECT !

After marking the position i drilled straight through the MDF , through the timber and marked the wall for the bolts postition.

Mounted these bad boys straight into the wall....

And started re-assembling , putting the timber back over the bolts ,

Then the MDF panel

Bracket mounted , just to check level etc -

My daughter got hold of the camera and caught me in the act.....and insisted i post it !

Ok time to crack the screen out , for its inaugaral hanging , and to allow me to mark the cable entry holes in the panel........

Bracket fitted to back of screen , the lower two holes didnt line up with any of the thousands of holes in the bracket , so off to Homebase again for a 10mm HSS drill bit.......10 mins later.......perfect , all 6 moutnings utilised.

And there she is , looking a little bare at the moment but I was in awe nonetheless -

And the wife walks in and says " Oooh it sticks out a long way "......grrrrrr
But she was right , these Pioneer screens are really deep compared to my Panny screens before , and indeed it did seem to 'project' into the room a fair way.

So a few head scratching minutes later and a cup of tea , I decided to cut the MDF round the bracket and mount the baracket to the timber , losing the 18mm MDF thickiness......see the comparison shots -

Much better....and the wife was happy......phew.

Ok i know you're waiting , here is a couple of hasty shots later in the evening , with some rudimentry power and just an aerial lead into the totally uncalibrated or setup 8G......just to show how the lighting effect is coming along. -

And thats it for now......getting close to final fix of the MDF now , and then its onto prepping the walls , and arguing with the misses over wall colours

Sorry for the glut of pictures, but i thought , that maybe one day , they may help somebody........nothing like seeing exactly how somebody else overcame a problem.

[noidea]

Philips Ambilight eat your heart out

[Example]

It's starting to look very nice

[wywywywy]

Can't wait to see everything painted!!!

[ANGUZ]

Looking good mate ,
As a side note for all you rope light fans... I noticed Aldi had some in the other Sunday, but I can`t remember the price.

[MarkP80]

That's looking really good Groove, nice one.

to allow me to mark the cable entry holes in the panel

- I presume you mean the MDF and not the Pio

I have to say, there's no way that screen is going to fall down, that's some fixing you've done. Did you consider big screws into the timber, I would have thought it possible to get an adequate fixing that way?

I've always liked those rope lights, ever since I lived in the Middle East - they were very popular there, where the favourite use was to wrap them in a spiral around the trunk of the palms in your garden. I've actually got a coil in the garage ready to go round one of my trees here, but the wife's not sure it will look the same in North East England It looks really effective behind the MDF, that's a great application. Someone asked about the bulb lifespan - I've used these for a lot of years in harsh outside conditions - over 50DegC in the shade, and these were in direct sun, and they are pretty durable. Odd lights can fail, but they're in parallel so the overall rope isn't affected. I have seen a degredation of light output over a long period, and a bit of yellowing of the casing, but I suspect that was due to the environment. I suspect it will last many years in this application. And at 1.99 per metre....

Groove, you've not mentioned speakers - is that cable above the mdf for the speakers, or wall lights? And what about a centre speaker? - Are you using one, and have you put cables in? Or are you using the TVs speakers?

This is looking good, keep the pictures coming

Cheers,
MarkP