Hey friends,

Coming up this week:

• The finished photos of the nursery
• How I prepped to make hanging the door easy
• Twin slot shelving with clothes rails
• My method of drilling holes in brick (step by step)
• Motorised blinds - one for you techies
• Final thoughts

✨ Nursery Complete!

I know there are some new parents among you so I'll link some products:

• Gigi The Giraffe
• The Dyson Air Purifier/Fan (newer version) Abi got in exchange for me buying my DeWalt tools. My contention is it's better for the boy to experience dust and pollen in his early years but I lost that battle.
• Stokke Cot which expands as the kid ages up to 4 or 5 years old. I'm still pretty 'stoked' we got this for free.
• Refurbished Baby Monitor. The monitor broke after about a year but the camera works and we can see him with the app on our phones. It plays a few tunes and we can speak through it as well. Usually 'shhh shhh, please don't wake up!'. It's stuck to the cot with velcro tape.
• Accent Chair Abi used for nursing and now it's a nice place to sit while waiting for the lad to fall asleep. If you remember, this is where the USB socket is - very fast charging with USB-C to lightning cable, I'd recommend.
• Tree Decal/Wall Sticker. We didn't want to hang prints above his cot in case they fell and as I didn't want to hang wallpaper or paint a mural this was a quick and easy alternative to brighten up this wall.
• Ikea Changing Table/Drawers. The top folds out for a good surface for baby changing. When unfolded it becomes a bit unbalanced so they provide fixings for it to be attached to the wall. He's getting a bit heavy now so we tend to change him on the floor instead. I replaced the knobs with more substantial ones I had left over from our wardrobe project.
• Echo Dot. We have it linked to Abi's Spotify so we can say 'Alexa, play hop little bunnies' or 'Alexa, play guitar lullabies'. I try to remember to say please and thank you afterwards so he learns good habits. We intend to get a small lamp and smart bulb that will work with Alexa too.
• Playmat. Easy to clean and very spongey. With the carpet and underlay beneath it's super comfy. Bit pricey though. If you scroll down on the link there are different designs and sizes. Going back to the pile direction of the carpet it seems to magically move towards the door so I think I need to buy some grippers to keep it in place.
• Children's bookshelf. I'm happy to up-cycle a piece of furniture or make it if it needs to be a bespoke size but other than that I've decided that it's generally not worth my time and I'm much better off focusing on the DIY. I like that it's off the floor but I hung it low enough for him to be able to reach books from the lower two shelves. Charity shops are a bonanza for cheap children's books 👍.

🚪 Fitting The Door

Cutting the door to length; chiselling the hinges and hanging the door is all fairly simple if your door lining is perfectly square and plumb. So that's what I'll focus on here and we'll have to go back a few steps to explain it.

I took my time getting the two studs on the right side of the door nice and plumb and chose the straightest timber I had for them. The rest of the door opening I made slightly larger than the door lining.

A wooden door lining won't be perfectly flat or straight so by nailing it tight to my very plumb studs, this side also becomes plumb. (I used nails here to be kind to the person who eventually rips it out.)

As planned, on the other side I have a little gap but by using screws I could tighten them incrementally to straighten any inward bowing. For an outward bow I used packers between the door lining and door opening (stud) to push the lining back to plumb. Then screwed through the packers.

The resulting gap I filled with expanding foam for soundproofing and to firm it up some more.

There's always more than one way to do these things: previously I've made the door lining first, braced it with other timber to get it to a perfect rectangle, then used it as a template to frame around.

I used a nail punch to recess the nails and had used a countersink bit prior to screwing so I just had to fill these with wood filler, sand and paint. It's also a good idea to take the sharp corners off the door lining with a quick pass of sand paper in order that the paint adheres properly and won't flake off.

The door then went on pretty easily.

For some reason I'd forgotten that it's better to attach the door first and then fit the door stop. You can take it a step further by adding an adhesive foam strip to the door stop first, offering both up to the closed door then fixing it to the door lining. The foam's good for soundproofing and I imagine in the teenage years to prevent door slamming!

Still, attaching the stops beforehand worked out okay too:

👕 Twin Slot Shelving

There's not much space for a wardrobe in this room. We had an inbuilt wardrobe but I took it out to better fix the insulated plasterboard. The resulting alcove was a bit too narrow and not really deep enough for a new built in wardrobe.

My mum pointed out that fixed shelving wasn't a good idea and I should aim for versatility so I looked at twin slot shelving. I used Elfa's 'Traditional' shelving because it's the only one I could find that allows a hanging rail under the shelving. This is a lot better than fixing the rail from wall to wall because I can move it up and down as needed and fixing one side through insulated plasterboard probably isn't wise. This way all the weight of the clothes goes through the brick wall at the back.

I used two uprights (you can get different lengths and it can be cut with a jig saw with metal blade), fixed with these wall plugs and screws; 6 x 370mm shelf brackets with rail holder slot (it's the only size bracket they do that has slots 🤷‍♂️); 2 rail holders; a rail from screwfix which I cut to length (Elfa don't do white rails for some reason) and two rail end caps which in this instance aren't that important. The shelves are from cheap (and a bit nasty but do the job) 400mm white furniture panel.

Why he needs so many jackets I don't know.

We read that we should be rotating toys so that they don't create such a big mess and to prevent him becoming bored of them. We keep his larger toys downstairs but everything else now fits in these four baskets which we get down one at a time.

Overall I'm really pleased with this system and sacrificing a little aesthetics for functionality was a good call. In future he may become really studious and want proper bookshelves (unlikely since we seem to have identical personalties) or he may need a second clothing rail. No problem. The other thing that I thought of is he may want a little desk, so in that instance we can buy some longer brackets, plonk a shelf on top and now it's a desk that can move up a notch at a time as he grows. This is the reason I put a socket here for laptop/lamp etc.

⚫ Drilling Holes

I've done quite a bit of this over the last year and have got my technique down:

• I almost always go for my SDS drill over my combi. The weight of it and the more powerful hammer action make it the superior choice - goes through brick like butter. A combi is fine if you're just starting out in DIY though and it's more multipurpose.
• I like Fischer Duopower wall plugs. On the pack it will tell you the diameter of screw they work with, usually a range of 4.5 - 6mm. The wider the screw the tighter the plug will be in the wall. The pack will also state the width drill bit you need.
• The shank of the masonry drill bit will look a bit different depending on whether you're using a combi or SDS. You want to match the width of the drill bit to the wall plug. If you have poor light or eyesight and can't read the number on the drill bit then just hold it next to the wall plug to determine the correct size. I often do this anyway because some of my drill bits have imperial measurements and it saves me having to convert to mm.
• Next I'll work out how deep the hole needs to be. The minimum is the depth of the wall plug but the screw can go deeper than this (which is fine) so I usually measure my drill bit against the screw taking into account the depth of what it's holding in place. I then wrap a piece of tape around the drill bit so I know when to stop drilling.
• I learnt that hard way how much brick dust stains things so now I grab a sandwich bag and fold the back over itself by a couple of cm to let the front create a U-shape to catch the dust. Then I stick this to the wall with painters tape (see pic above).
• I'll start the hole with hammer action off until I'm through the plaster, then I switch to hammer action to go through brick. This way you get your hole in the right place (less drift).
• Once drilled I back the drill bit out while it's slowly rotating so it doesn't flake off the plaster. This also helps remove dust from the hole. No need to switch it to reverse spin.
• I guess leaving some dust in the hole may be helpful to fill gaps around the wall plug and get a better grip? However I find it tends to get pushed to the back and the plug doesn't go all the way in so I vacuum the hole to remove the dust which works better for the next step. I'll also vacuum the dust at the top of the sandwich bag and remove it. I find the painters tape will stick again for at least 4 of 5 holes.
• Here's where I do something a bit different. I've said before that I don't really trust wall. It's not like putting a screw into timber where it bites into the wood, you're basically relying on the pressure of the expanded wall plug. It's a funny thing going from my teens/early twenties where I put very little thought into self preservation to now having a child where I see dangers everywhere. One of which is the thought of something like the shelving unit coming away from the wall and falling on him. Sooo I like to dip my wall plugs into that hybrid sealant/adhesive stuff I mentioned the other week and then push it into the hole to get a really strong hold. Sometimes I'll dip the screw in too. What do you think? There are resins that you can use but they're probably a bit much for this type of work. Obviously, you'll want to get your screw in before the adhesive dries so that it squishes around the wall plug and locks it into place.
• Then the wall plug goes in the hole so that it's flush with the wall. Sometimes I can push it in fine with my hands, other times I need to use a small hammer which I tend to hold near the head for greater accuracy.

◻️ Motorised Blind

We (Abi) decided to go for a blind in this room rather than curtains, maybe for better blackout, I'm not sure. The last time I purchased blinds was for the garden room (pic below) which I got from Blinds2Go. Very good price and service and I could buy a blind for the bedroom window from them for about £60.

Then I thought, ooo what about a fancy motorised blind? Wouldn't that be fun. So I checked out what Blinds2Go had in that department. Unless I'm mistaken their offering only works through an app so the 'most effortless way to control light in your home' involves having a charged phone on you, getting it out, unlocking it, finding the app, opening the app and tapping whatever buttons.

Using an app may work for some situations where you simply automate opening and closing times but not for this room where his nap and bed times vary day to day.

What I really want is for it to work through Alexa, but I'll settle for a remote. I decided on a Somfy blind from here. This is my order if you want similar, it was about twice the price (in January sale) of a standard chain pull blind:

The main thing to know is there's no option for deciding which side the battery is, only the right side. This worked out as I've got the socket in the alcove. According to my calculations, for this drop (91cm) and raising/lowering it 4 times a day (day time nap) I should get about 3.5 months between charging. It gives you fair warning when the battery is running low via a beep or blink when operated. Other options include hard wired blinds or solar charging.

For a little more money you can get the wall switch but I simply stuck the remote to the wall using a command strip. As good as a switch and stops it being lost.

You can then fine tune the stops at the top and bottom of the blind:

You can also have pre-set heights but I haven't bothered with that. You just have to tap the middle button on the remote when the blind is the level you want.

It was worth taking the time to get the window board level (pic below). One really nice thing about these electric blinds is that they come down very smoothly rather than swaying to and fro so you can put things in front of it, like this train.

I wondered whether a motorised blind would be a bit gimmicky but it's great!

To get it to work with Alexa I would need a bridge. I haven't fully understood bridges yet but it seems to work on Zigbee so maybe any Zigbee bridge will do? Feel free to explain it to me.

Other than voice control I can think of a bunch of useful things a bridge gets you:

• Open at a particular time so you rise with the sun.
• Close automatically at dusk.
• Close in the peak of summer when the sun hits that particular window to keep heat out or prevent wood/paint/carpet from fading.
• Make it look like you're home when you're on holiday.

I suppose the app-based blinds I mentioned earlier do all of the above without needing an expensive bridge. I could probably do without voice commands. If only it came with a remote!

Last point - you can see the blind is back roll rather than the front roll I had in the garden room and that's because, thanks to the internal insulation, I now have a deeper window reveal. I just had to make sure I didn't set the blind too far back that it would hit the window handles on the way down, which I worked out using the laser.

💭 Nursery - Final Thoughts

I realise it sounds a bit dispassionate calling him 'the boy'. I do it because I don't think it's right to name him when he can't consent. But he's a good kid and a funny kid and I'm glad to have given him his own space, even if he did have to wait 2 years for it.

At first glance this room wouldn't appear too dissimilar had I just given it a paint and new carpet. However, underneath it most certainly is:

• larger
• 5 new, 3 additional, better placed sockets with new cables
• New, solid and smooth plaster on a solid ceiling.
• better thermally insulated
• better soundproofing
• more solid floor
• better radiator with insulated pipework
• brighter, more even and less energy intensive lighting

Would a typical homeowner go to these lengths by hiring all these separate trades? Probably not. I wouldn't if I didn't know how to DIY. I'd take the shortest and least costly route to get to a presentable room. But these things make all the difference.

👋

A couple of slightly wider angle shots. More colour-correct than the ones at the top:

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

P.s. If you think a friend will enjoy this newsletter, feel free to send them this link where they can sign up.

P.p.s. You can find all previous newsletters here.