Here we go...

MitsiTurbo

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Well then guys, following on from my gallery thread here, http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=453262, I am getting the keys to my first house on Friday! To say im excited is an understatement. Im 23 now and as I didnt go to Uni, this is my first time living away from home so its a whole new world!

Anyway, ill post a couple of pics first as im going to need some opinions on speaker locations etc.

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The last photo is of the main bedroom.

As you can see, the lounge isnt huge and is a bit of an awkward shape. I will sketch out my intented setup tommorow, but at the moment, the plan is to put the screen on a false wall (for ease of mounting) on the wall to the left of the window. The main seating position will then be in the 'recess'. So the first question is, if I do that, will I get any booming etc from the speakers as the sound will be bouncing around the walls at the seating position?

I intend to only have the screen, speakers (FR, FL, C and Sub) on show on that side of the room. I like the idea of having all the equipment hidden in another area of the room (was thinking behind the sofa in the recess). To get the cables to the screen and speakers, I was thinking of copying what my parents have in there lounge which is kind of like a pelmet with rope lighting in it:

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The light is dimmed very low in this picture. This will provide a lighting feature and also a place to run the cables around the room. (Speaker cables, 3x HDMI, 1x VGA and 1x RCA).


I will be mounting a 32" LCD in the bedroom in the recess that can be seen in the photo. This will again be on a false wall of some kind, probably a much smaller one. If I locate the equipment in the lounge behind the sofa then I can easily run a component lead up into the bedroom. Using a Component 2:1 buffer, I can get SkyHD and the output from the Pioneer DVD player on the TV upstairs.

I have an electrician friend who will fit downlighters for me in the lounge, bedroom and kitchen.

Theres a fair few weeks work before I can move in and its looking like I will be going back to the Phillipines for a couple of weeks at the beginning of April so its going to be quite a while before I actually get in there!!

I will be updating this thread with progress pics and a diary type thing.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially regarding running cables around the room as I would probably prefer to avoid doing the pelmet. Trunking is a no-no!!

Many thanks for looking

John
 
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Looks like you've got a job on your hands there John. Good luck with that and your first foray into living on your own!!!

Ref your parents pelmet / rope light. Do you have any daylight pictures? I want to do something similar, but ceiling height is an issue.

Ramdor has a thread on here with excellent pictures of his feature pelmet but he has more height to play with (oo err).

All the best

Barry
 
Alright mate,

Looking good, a nice blank canvas to work with!

Looking at your bedroom setup in the other thread, you've got an awful lot of (really nice) equipment. Those are steep looking stairs... good luck with that :rotfl:

Nah seriously, all the best with the move... looking forward to seeing some photos of the work in progress!
 
Thanks for the comments guys. Got the keys yesterday but it hasnt quite sunk in yet that im a homeowner!!

Bardel, will try and get you some daylight photos this weekend.

Stu, the stairs arent too bad, I took the photo using my 10-20mm fisheye lens so its stretched them out a bit! The hardest bit is going to be getting stuff onto the top floor.

Legend, good luck to you aswell mate! Make sure you get up some photos when youre done!
 
Well then guys, an update is seriously overdue here! Due to overseas trips with work and getting stuck in to working on this place in the spare time I have had, I have unfortunately neglected to take photos of all the things ive been doing.
So, I forced myself to take some last night as I knew I would regret it otherwise.

First up, the kitchen...

19" Samsung LCD mounted on the wall:

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This has a Coax, HDMI and Mark Grant component cable going to it. I cant find a reasonably priced VGA lead to run to this as the route is about 13m long. I still need to get a sparky in to fit a fused spur behind the TV so the power lead is hidden. Damn Part P regulations :mad:

Below the TV is the ceiling speaker volume control and Cat5e cable for IR control back to the lounge:

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And the ceiling speakers themselves (excuse the awful quality photo):

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These are B&W ccm65's and sound fantastic! You can also see ive cut the holes ready for downlighters to be put in. Another thing I need to get a sparky to do!

Next up is 'Node 0' which will be located in a fitted wardrobe in the master bedroom. All that will be going here is a Cat5e patch panel and switch and an amp that powers the ceiling speakers in the kitchen and eventually, bathroom.

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The Cat5e runs to the second bedroom/study and to the lounge. I have yet to work out how I am going to remotely power on the amp. I still need to add a spur here aswell.

Ok... so moving on to the lounge:

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This shot shows the frame for the TV and floating wall. This floating wall is slightly different as it runs floor to ceiling. You may notice that the batten across the top is bigger than the bottom one. This is for boxing in ;)

You can also see the bundle of cables coming out of the ceiling ending up in this rats nest:

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In there is:
Coax to kitchen and bedroom for Sky RF2 control. Also coax to the study to connect into my PC so I can watch Sky while working.
Mark Grant component cables to Kitchen and bedroom
HDMI cables to kitchen and bedroom
Cat5e for data going back to bedroom cupboard
Cat5e for IR distribution to bedroom, bedroom cupboard, study and kitchen
Telephony cable for a point to connect Sky
Coax cable connecting back to existing aerial point on other side of the room . This cable will be hidden behind the light trough.
Phono cables to bedroom, bedroom cupboard, study and 2 to the far corner of the lounge for my decks (in and out)

I think thats all of them so far. Theres still a few more to be added including 2x CT100 for Sky.

Surround speakers are now up aswell:

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These look a bit out of place, so I might consider di-poles in the near future.

The cable for the surrounds will also be hidden behind the light trough. You can see in this photo that the drop for them is also concealed:

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You can also clearly see the 45degree batons in place awaiting the MDF for the light trough. These are fitted all around the lounge.

I was then able to try a test hang of the LCD in the lounge:

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What are your opinions of the height? My dad seems to think its too low but I think that his is too high.

The first two bits of rope light arrived so I bashed up some MDF I had lying around to get an idea of how it will look:

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And you can also see in that photo, my newest addition to the setup:

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Its a Sapphire Mayfair electric screen. The largest I could fit in the recess. Its about double the size of the 40" LCD. I have a Panasonic AX200 on order but now need to find out if I should mount it on the ceiling or on the wall. Obviously I need to decide to plan the cable route.

And finally, a close up of where the cables exit the ceiling:

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Well, I think thats it for now. Excuse the quality of the photos, I didnt have a tripod and was only using my little point and shoot.

Comments welcome!

Oh and if anyone could suggest where I could get some custom cut MDF from that would be very helpful. Needs to be in lengths, about 150mm deep and have 45degree chamfers on both sides.

Also, advice about the projector would be very useful!

Many thanks

John
 
Thanks Barry. Ive just seen where I wrote ages ago that I will get you some daytime photos of the light trough! Apologies! I will get some as soon as possible for you

John
 
Thanks Jamz :cool:

Barry, finally got a photo of how my parents light trough looks!

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The lighting in theres is slightly uneven as it isnt clipped down. You cant tell at night, but im going to do it with mine to make sure I get the even look during the day.

And my new toy arrived during the week. Got the vogels mount for it yesterday so got it up on the ceiling. You cant see the cable hole behind the mount which is good. Just got to fit a fused spur for it now.

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Lighting trough looks great, we install and manufacture lots of different styles in plaster at work
 
Looks like another top quality thread.

Very professional job so far, well done.
 
This is looking excellent, particularly the lighting. Nice job :smashin:
 
Thanks for the comments guys. :D

Barry, I actually drive a Starlet turbo. Well, Glanza V-spec actually. I always wanted a Tommy Makinen Evo 6 when I first started getting into cars hence the name. The Starlet is great fun though and I think id struggle to sell it for anything right now even though ive had her for 3years! Im getting more and more tempted by an S15 Silvia at the moment though...

Anyway, small update. The strips of MDF for the lighting trough were ready to be picked up today after ordering them on Saturday:

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I got them cut at my local Travis Perkins. 20m worth at 150mm wide with 45degree chamfers on both sides. Theyre spot on and only cost £30 supplied and cut. So for this lighting trough (not including paint) has cost me £30 for the MDF, £6 for the angled batons and £40 for the rope light (including mains connection and clips) = £76 :thumbsup:
 
Excellent, I can't believe how cheap that is!!! And I didn't realise that you could order the wood with the chamfer added for you, is that normal or do you know the man behind the saw???

Looking forward to seeing it go up on the wall, how are you planning to fix it to the baton, screws or glue?

PS: I've got an Evo VI (just under 400hp), which is why I asked in the first place, it's going up for sale soon too! :)
 
any more pics of the coving light going up? interested in doing it myself.


regards

Dave
 
Very nice.. The trough is a great idea, and a bargain one at that!

I've always liked that lighting effect. Seems a very neat way of doing it without compromising on ceiling height too; a square trough would extend into the room a little more would be coved as normal where it meets the wall.. (and could make the ceiling seem lower)

Looking forward to the end result!
 
No updated photos just yet im afraid lads. Ive been in the Philippines for the last couple of weeks (3rd but unfortunately last trip there this year) but am not back in the office until Tuesday to get over the jetlag so will hopefully get a load done.

Barry, sounds like a beauty! What you going for instead? As for the fixing, the batons are already attached to the wall using no more nails. The job I need to do today is find the ones that have studs behind them and whack some screws through to take the weight. The boards will be glued first, and then countersunk and screwed and then the joins and screw heads sorted out with p38, before being primed and painted. Oh, and as for the cut chamfers, didnt know anyone there! They just have the right milling equipment to do it. Travis Perkins was the only place I could find that could do it though.

Torn, will get some more up mate as and when I get stuff done. Started painting the inside of the trough white yesterday so will hopefully have the rope light up by the end of the day.

Shrollski, thanks bud. The square trough can look good if you have a high ceiling in a bigger room. Someone on here did it and it looked great. I dont have the space or the height to do it but im hoping this will still look good! It also provides somewhere to run the rear speaker cables.


Should have some more pics by the end of today...
 
Looks like you're doing a really good job there and have thought of everything :thumbsup:
 
Thanks Toon. I hope ive thought of everything! Will be a bit stuck afterwards if ive missed anything!! :suicide:

Anyway, got a bit more done today.

Painted the area that will be behind the pelmut white to help reflect the light and got the rope light clips fitted and rope light up:

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And then... let there be light!

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Still got some cables to dress in and need to connect the rope light to the lighting circuit. I started work on priming the MDF panels today aswell so will start getting those up tommorow
 
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that looks lovely, and what a way of hiding the wires too, never thought of that.
i would love that lighting when i move into my new place...in a week or so hopefully!
 
Thanks mate. If you wanna do anything like this then when you first move in is the time to do it! Thats why im doing so much now so I dont have to once im settled.

Got some more done over the weekend. Started getting the MDF up to make the light trough. This proved more difficult than I wouldve hoped! The 45degree batons are perfectly straight but because the wall isnt perfect, some of them are further forwards or backwards than others. Also, none of the corners seem to be 90degrees!! If anyone else is planning on doing this, then get a mitre saw. Its the only chance you have!! Despite the problems, I have managed to get quite a bit up that is now straight. The corners will need some filling as do the screwholes and where the MDF meets the wall.

Excuse the photo, it was taken on my phone!

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Getting there slowly!! Hope to have all this finished over the next couple of days
 
i dont fancy doing it in our open plan living room, dining room and kitchen mainly because its huge and would take a while! and cost more then ive probably got with everything else!
imagine that the open plan room is 46m² so its pretty big.
maybe when we actually get our first buy then maybe.
 
Looking good! The lack of 90 degrees or flat walls is a bit of a pest, but that's what filler is for.. :)
it will instantly look a million dollars when you fill and paint!
 

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