Our Tiny Smart Scandinavian Home (Without ID)

[PinkMonkey 5]

Planning for Living Room - Part 3 (Wall Panel.. Cont)

This is how Wall C is done.
Even for the top part, the wires are concealed.

For Wall A & B, its the same. Except it does not need Layer 1. It only needs layer 2 and 3.

Layer 1 and 2, anti-insect and anti-termite oil are applied, this helps to prevent insect in future. (Just to play safe).
Layer 1 is there to level the wall, as there is wires passing through.

Layer 2 is where they nail the plywood onto the wall.

Layer 3 is where the laminate are pasted on. And then Layer 3 paste onto Layer 2. So there is zero nail on layer 3 and yet holds together very strongly.

 

Edited April 11, 2016 by PinkMonkey

[PinkMonkey 5]

Current progress, the wall panels are up for living room. Hubby also fixed his speakers, but yet to do his cable management.
Remaining work for living room : Curtains and skirting.
Contractor also helped to fixed up the sofa and chair we bought from TaoBao. Will share our TaoBao buyings later. 

The wall panel for TV looks lighter in real life than in pictures.


Look from master bedroom out. Our fengshui plants is also placed. Draceana plants are also chosen NASA plants to purify toxic in the air, hope to purify those renovation chemical smells away. The wood panel in this pic looks more like the real life color we see.

[PinkMonkey 5]

Planning for Living Room - Part 4 (Universal Remote)

Since the blog titled "Smart"..... this is introduction of the 1st "Smart" things we use.

Our living room looks pretty empty, minimalist. And you wonder where are the TV boxes?
They are all in the home shelter. Main challenge for this approach.

1. Remote control
2. Heat (will talk about this when home shelter is done).

For us, there is 2 popular options we seen in our colleague home oversea.

1. HDMI + IR over Cat5 or Cat6
   (Example: Sewell HDMI over Cat6)
2. WIFI enabled Media centre IR blaster.  

We chose the "smarter" choice of the 2. Because if we use IR over Cat6, you still need alots of remote controller to control each devices, the only benefit is that it repeat your signal to some faraway hidden area. Whereas option 2, we picked Logitech Harmony , it does even more. (you can get them cheaper during golden deals or logitech sales).

What it does?
Well... we have these items that we need to control.... Android TV Box, Viewqwest TV Box, Marantz AV Receiver, PS4

So what this remote does is, we can program a set of task to these shortcut keys.
Example: If i press TV logo, it auto switch to HDMI port 2 of my AVR, and then turn on my Viewqwest TV Box.
Or if i press "Off", it send a off signal to all my devices. 
You do not have to carry many remotes even when you have lots of devices. And best of all, you do not need line of sight since it doesn't use IR.
 

+ Point
Even if you don't use the remote, use any iOS or Android device, you can control the hub as well. If you have AppleTV or other popular TV box, you can do voice search as well. 

[ricepapergirl 21]

9 hours ago, PinkMonkey said:

Planning for Living Room - Part 4 (Universal Remote)

Since the blog titled "Smart"..... this is introduction of the 1st "Smart" things we use.

Our living room looks pretty empty, minimalist. And you wonder where are the TV boxes?
They are all in the home shelter. Main challenge for this approach.

1. Remote control
2. Heat (will talk about this when home shelter is done).

For us, there is 2 popular options we seen in our colleague home oversea.

1. HDMI + IR over Cat5 or Cat6
   (Example: Sewell HDMI over Cat6)
2. WIFI enabled Media centre IR blaster.  

We chose the "smarter" choice of the 2. Because if we use IR over Cat6, you still need alots of remote controller to control each devices, the only benefit is that it repeat your signal to some faraway hidden area. Whereas option 2, we picked Logitech Harmony , it does even more. (you can get them cheaper during golden deals or logitech sales).

What it does?
Well... we have these items that we need to control.... Android TV Box, Viewqwest TV Box, Marantz AV Receiver, PS4

So what this remote does is, we can program a set of task to these shortcut keys.
Example: If i press TV logo, it auto switch to HDMI port 2 of my AVR, and then turn on my Viewqwest TV Box.
Or if i press "Off", it send a off signal to all my devices. 
You do not have to carry many remotes even when you have lots of devices. And best of all, you do not need line of sight since it doesn't use IR.
 

+ Point
Even if you don't use the remote, use any iOS or Android device, you can control the hub as well. If you have AppleTV or other popular TV box, you can do voice search as well. 

Wow this is really cool! I'm slowly reading through the Amazon and Logitech website, but can I just quickly check: how does this work? The hub connects to your devices via IR (does your devices need to be compatible? I can imagine hooking up my PS4 and XBox360 to this, but how about if I also wanted to connect a low-end DVD player and maybe SCV? Or even an Apple mini?) and then the remote works purely on RF to the hub itself? Did you get it locally or shipped it from Amazon?

[pipsqueak 3]

10 hours ago, PinkMonkey said:

Current progress, the wall panels are up for living room. Hubby also fixed his speakers, but yet to do his cable management.
Remaining work for living room : Curtains and skirting.
Contractor also helped to fixed up the sofa and chair we bought from TaoBao. Will share our TaoBao buyings later. 

The wall panel for TV looks lighter in real life than in pictures.


Look from master bedroom out. Our fengshui plants is also placed. Draceana plants are also chosen NASA plants to purify toxic in the air, hope to purify those renovation chemical smells away. The wood panel in this pic looks more like the real life color we see.

Woww!!Everything looks so good together! Looking forward to more updates!

[Starrain 4]

Wow! I just started reading your blog. Thanks for all the tips!! Good tips!

You mentioned you compared your contractor laminate with Lamitek laminate. Which was your choice in the end?

I'm also a 3 roomer! Waiting to get my keys!!

Oh! Your wall panels are so beautiful!

 

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by Starrain

[bykaraanne 30]

LOVE the floor and the laminate wall -- goes together very well! You guys make me feel like I need to do more for my own house. Haha! 

[PinkMonkey 5]

12 hours ago, ricepapergirl said:

Wow this is really cool! I'm slowly reading through the Amazon and Logitech website, but can I just quickly check: how does this work? The hub connects to your devices via IR (does your devices need to be compatible? I can imagine hooking up my PS4 and XBox360 to this, but how about if I also wanted to connect a low-end DVD player and maybe SCV? Or even an Apple mini?) and then the remote works purely on RF to the hub itself? Did you get it locally or shipped it from Amazon?

1. Device compatibility - you can check your list of devices here https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/compatibility

• It will then tells you if it is compatible or not, and tells what it can do. Example of what it can do on a PS4: https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-playstation-4

2. My experience with low-end player... So far, i have tested on both the old and new Mio TV box. Both works perfectly... those SCV box or Mio TV Box, most are from Motorolla, when setting up, key in Motorola brand, then key in the model number in the setup. You can find the model number on the box itself.
Then the hub will present you all the available function for your SCV box, and ask which button you want to assign them. For some functions that duplicates, for example, both TV and SCV box have the volume control, then you can choose the Volume control on your remote to control only the TV or only the SCV box.

3. I bought it through Amazon. It's quite expensive locally.

4. How it works

• Remote control connects to Hub via RF
• Hub communicate to low-end devices via IR (Infra-Red) using the IR blaster
• Each IR Blaster can blast an area of devices with IR signal from the hub. If you want to blast more than 1 area, for example, you place your devices at 2 different areas in your cabinet, the Hub can connects up to 2 IR Blaster. 
  - You need to buy these 2 things if you want an additional IR Blaster. (Because the Hub is
  a) 2.5mm to 3.5mm convertor
  b) IR blaster

Perhaps this video explains better on how it works: 

 

[PinkMonkey 5]

12 hours ago, pipsqueak said:

Woww!!Everything looks so good together! Looking forward to more updates!

Yes, will post more updates ! 

[PinkMonkey 5]

11 hours ago, Starrain said:

Wow! I just started reading your blog. Thanks for all the tips!! Good tips!

You mentioned you compared your contractor laminate with Lamitek laminate. Which was your choice in the end?

I'm also a 3 roomer! Waiting to get my keys!!

Oh! Your wall panels are so beautiful!

 

 

We chose Lamitek, their wood selection looks more natural. Actually the contractor can use any brand of laminate, in the end he helped us buy also (cheaper as well)

[PinkMonkey 5]

10 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

LOVE the floor and the laminate wall -- goes together very well! You guys make me feel like I need to do more for my own house. Haha! 

Thanks, was quite nervous about how it will eventually look like, even thou much homework are done.... until finally they are put together. 

[PinkMonkey 5]

Kitchen Update - 40% completed. 

[ricepapergirl 21]

48 minutes ago, PinkMonkey said:

1. Device compatibility - you can check your list of devices here https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/compatibility

• It will then tells you if it is compatible or not, and tells what it can do. Example of what it can do on a PS4: https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-playstation-4

2. My experience with low-end player... So far, i have tested on both the old and new Mio TV box. Both works perfectly... those SCV box or Mio TV Box, most are from Motorolla, when setting up, key in Motorola brand, then key in the model number in the setup. You can find the model number on the box itself.
Then the hub will present you all the available function for your SCV box, and ask which button you want to assign them. For some functions that duplicates, for example, both TV and SCV box have the volume control, then you can choose the Volume control on your remote to control only the TV or only the SCV box.

3. I bought it through Amazon. It's quite expensive locally.

4. How it works

• Remote control connects to Hub via RF
• Hub communicate to low-end devices via IR (Infra-Red) using the IR blaster
• Each IR Blaster can blast an area of devices with IR signal from the hub. If you want to blast more than 1 area, for example, you place your devices at 2 different areas in your cabinet, the Hub can connects up to 2 IR Blaster. 
  - You need to buy these 2 things if you want an additional IR Blaster. (Because the Hub is
  a) 2.5mm to 3.5mm convertor
  b) IR blaster

Perhaps this video explains better on how it works: 

 

Thank you for the detailed explanation!! Very useful!

[bipps 4]

On 4/1/2016 at 0:17 AM, bykaraanne said:

Excited to see your tile as countertop!! What a great idea although I cannot imagine how it is done.  

Me too! Since my kitchen is not done yet I also like to consider something more affordable than stone. The size of the tiles have more seamless fit to the conventional small square ones. Updates please @PinkMonkey !!!

[dukebluedevil 1]

13 hours ago, PinkMonkey said:

Kitchen Update - 40% completed. 

Love the tone and colours in this photo. Was this taken with a camera phone?

Edited April 13, 2016 by dukebluedevil