master bedroom – Rõika 15

Front cam and ‘raamuitzetter’

When Martijn called me due to a scare around his house to ask if he could borrow a security camera I figured it would be a good idea to also install the front yard camera before our vacation.
This project took a bit longer then anticipated. Mainly because the drill had found the main wire the electricity which needed to be fixed before I could continue.
Good thing the drill had just cut trough the insulating mantel and shorted the wires there for a few seconds before I could pull it back. This resulted in a brown-out in part of the house, with some unexpected behaviour of some appliances. After fully resetting them all seemed to be in working order again and I could finish the installation of the camera and integrate it in Home Assistant.

For years I had been looking for some “raamuitzetters” like the once that are used in the Netherlands, but it seems they just do not exist in Estonia, so when I found out Ronald was in the Netherlands, I asked him to bring a few.
As we have double windows the telescopic screw once seemed to be the best option. I installed the first one and as it was a pretty windy day I could instantly see how it worked and it worked like a charm. Now we can keep the window open safely at any angle without flapping.

The rest of the month we spend in Denmark as it is time for a vacation again.

Pretty random chores

A new year. So let’s start with some of those small jobs that have been left. For a long time I wanted to add some power sockets to the dormers in the bedroom, as at the moment the only sockets are at the wall behind the bed.
I had prepared the backyard dormer already for some new power outlets when I installed network sockets there, so I figured I start there. I only had to take out the drawers, climb in, cut a wire and split in an extra wire to run to the sockets, so a pretty straightforward task.
For the dormer in the front of the house I had to find out how to get power there. I knew the easiest way would be from Mattias his room, but I was not sure how I would get the wire behind the empty space behind the toilet, but this also turned out easier the expected, so all in all a simple task, that just took a bit of time.

Over the years every month ot two One of the 11 LEDs in the ceiling of the sauna would start blinking and then stop working. I had already gotten a new set of LEDs from the sauna store, but it turned out the terminals where a bit shorter the the original ones, so I had to solder a piece to every one of them to extend them. When they where all in, the sauna was nice and light again.

The water company had already send out communications about replacing the water meter for an electronic one at some point, and now it was finally time. In a few minutes the technician of the water company exchange the old meter for the new one. I had already contacted the water company if they have an API so I can access the data as well, but they either did not think about it or did not care about it. either way, I will have to look for some way to access this meter. Most likely I will and up with some sort of AI on the edge type of solution where I have a small ESP32 device with a camera film the meter and interprete the data. Nothing I will do any time soon, but something for on my wish list.

Then finally the weather was good enough so I could climb in the tree and cut out a few (dead) branches. Getting in took some effort, but once I had a robe around a high branch, I could pretty easy climb in. I still need to work on my robe climbing technique, but I got in. Once I had secured the breach I was going to cut, I got my new chainsaw up in the tree, the joy was short lived. The new saw was so sharp and powerful that at the first undercut it already when in so far that the weight of the branch pinched the saw stuck. No way to get it out. So I ended up getting a hand saw in to cut loose the chain saw. Tree 1 – Ego 0
Luckily the next few branches went easier. And I got a nice clip of a controlled decent of the branch. This smells like more, later this spring.

Inside and outside

October is often a month for finishing of things outside and start with inside things again. This year was no difference. After another trip to Ikea, I put the blackout curtains in the bedroom. Nice in time for the dark months ahead.

On the roof I did some finishing touches around the chimneys, screwing the finishing profiles to the chimney and applying sealant for a water tight connection.

On the west wall of the house, I dug a trance next to the wall as deep as the gravel would let me to put some foundation insulation there. Once I have this put up around all the walls I will need to put some finish on it to make it look better then it does now, but for now it will be insulating.

Inspired by cleaning up the corner of the garage for the home gym I finally changed around the work bench and cabinets and made a start on a french cleat tool wall, which was on my wish list for a few years already. It really helped to get things organized. I guess this wall will fill up one tool (rack) at a time.

The curtains can be open to the top and to the bottom

Tiling the bathroom

Sometimes there are weeks where a lot of visible things happen and then there are weeks like these. Little to report. Some parts for the livingroom lights came in quicker then expected. I had ordered a QuinLED controller as I had heard good things about it and also ordered a powersupply and RGBWW LED strips that besides colour also can emit warm white light. I tested the combination and then put them aside until I will get to the living room.

Beside I finally had some time to figure out what was wrong with the cable to the last LED strip in the bedroom. After some measuring I concluded the cable was broken. With a bit of effort I was able to use the old cable to pull a new cable behind the ceiling. Some more effort consisting of cutting, stripping, and soldering and the third LED strip also lid up.

And than it was weekend and finally I could start tiling the bathroom. The first part took a lot of time as I first had to work my way down to make sure the tiles would line up with the window. From there on al the other tiles will be aligned. But a great start!

LED strips for the bedroom

With the new year, the winter also started. In the past weeks there was regular snow and wintery temperatures up or better down to -10.
Nice weather to work inside. Just over a year ago I already made a test setup, so I guess it as about time to actually put this stuff together. After some first trying it was not working stable, but with the help of some forums and my uncle I got the controller stable by adding a so called level shifter. Unfortunately the manual where somewhat unclear on how to connect them, but once I got it connected, the software was running stable and all effects instantly where picked up by the LED strip.

Time to cut the LED strips to length and install them on the beams in the bedroom. The first strip went pretty smooth and also the second strip was connected quick enough, but for some reason the third strip did not work. I need to really look into what is going wrong here some other time.

During the weekend we had a sauna, since the wooden floor parts are almost gone I changed to different wood, which seemed to burn hotter then the floor parts, with the result we had an unplanned new record high in the sauna. Good thing the garden is full of snow, so we could cool down making snow angels.

Some finishing touches

We had wonderful days camping around Estonia. In between we have been home for a few days when we knew it would be raining all day. But when we got home, there was again plenty to do to finish the bedroom and then to finish the second bedroom.

In the master bedroom I finally figured out how to finish the space above the drawer cabinet and in the second bedroom I put up lights and some art.

Shelves and a drop

So, the doors are in, the space under the roof now is a cabinet, time to get this space organized. I already bought some Ivar shelves from Ikea, but not everything was available, so I had to do another run. Since the longest parts where only 179 cm, I figured it would ‘easily’ fit in Anna’s Toyota IQ and I even had 1 cm left. My plan to cut the long part sides in pieces for a second layer of shelves worked nicely, so 3 long sides turned into 6 made to fit short sides.

With the finishing touch between the old and new wood from last week as an example I also made a filler piece for the sliding doors. After I had made a new sill for one of the windows on the south side I now could use my new learned skill to renovate the windows on the north side.

And than when the first real room was about finished it started raining again and the roof leaked like it had never been fixed. So back on the roof to see what I could do to fix it. I now noticed the dormer did not have barge boards and since it was very windy I figured that might just be the missing link on why it is dripping again.
So from the wood I had laying around I made a barge board and put it on the right side of the dormer. It was not perfect, but it would do for the time being, as a completely new roof is planned for next year anyway, so on to the left side. I moved the scaffolding and started on the left side. The preparation went well, but when I went up with the actual board, something started moving and before I fully realized what happened the scaffolding was sliding away from the wall and turned away from the house, while I was going after it. A second later I fell in the grass, which gave a pretty good impact, but I instantly jumped up and shouted I was OK. Further inspection showed a few scratches, so I guess I have been very lucky. A cool thing to notice was that during the fall my body was moving towards a better position for falling. Got to love the muscle memory from years of judo!

During the weekend we found a nice lamp for in our toilet, it is an elephant with a small night light in its belly and a main light in its trunk. Also I found some time to create a replacement construction for a small greenhouse for Mo’s mother.

Moving in and the last details

On Monday my patience was gone. I convinced Mo to have a test sleep in our new bedroom. It was great to finally be able to sleep in a bedroom again after just over a year of sleeping in the corner of the living room behind a cabinet. The new mattress was very firm, completely on the other end of the firmness spectrum from the mattresses we had slept on the last few months, which we both agreed where to soft.
The next morning we made a list of all the things, small and big that still needed to be done. After this night I was extra motivated. So things like putting the handles on the drawers, putting a ceiling in the toilet, working some wires in the ceiling, putting some finishing walls in the sliding door cabinet all went pretty quickly and than Mo got an email that our sliding doors where ready to be picket up. So I went to pick them up with Jan and discover new shabby corners of Tallinn. After I had put in the first door I was not happy, it seamed the floor was round in the middle and the doors did not want to be adjusted straight. Learning from the past I left it for the next day.
The next day became a few days later as there where a few very warm days, so we took the opportunity to take out the the windows to fix them up a bit and paint them. I did the fixing upping and Mo did the painting. I decided to try to clean the handles and hinges, which turned out great.
Then I put in the other set of sliding doors, this time it went much smoother and I also found the stopper strips, which helped a lot to keep the doors in it’s place. After that I readjusted the first set of doors and they now look perfect when the doors are closed, when opened you will see the floor is weird, but that is the charm of an old house.
We wanted to have the inside of the closet white as well, so Mo spend a few hours doing so. As a last thing this week I finally got a satisfying way to finish the connection between the old and the new wood, but cutting a piece of old wood to size and filling a small strip I cut of the new wood. I am super happy with the result.

Drawers almost ready to hold a lot of stuff

The last mile is the longest

It is nice to have an idea, but it has to be realistic. With all the (little) things that needed to be done to finish the bedroom, it was clear 7.7 would not work, but close to it would still be something to go for. So here is what we did this week.
With the long Estonian days curtains are pretty essential, so we went to look for something and as it has been so far, it was pretty easy to find something we both liked, it took about 5 minutes in the fabric store. Entering the curtain section I noticed something which looked very similar to my grandfathers curtains back in Leeuwarden, Mo saw the same fabric and it was done.
Back home I made and fitted the feather boards around the doors, while Mo started scraping of the old paint from the drawers.
Then she cleaned the old wood we kept in sight while I build the last walls in the toilet and we sanded and painted the windows.
I also had to get back on the roof, as during the rain, when the wind was coming from the east to southeast we had a bit of leaking again. I found the most possible suspect and covered it completely, so fingers crossed this will the last one until we will replace the roof.

Finishing slats

For the past half a year we have been climbing on the higher sauna benches, while the wood for the lower bench was standing in the corner waiting for the day it would become a bench. With the new sawing machine I wanted to test cutting under two angles, which would be perfect for the sauna bench. I made sketch, calculated the angles, set the machine the before I knew it we finally had our lower sauna bench. This completes the sauna very much.
After that I finished the drawer cabinet, so now we can take of the old paint and make it fit into the room.
Meanwhile Jan came from the Netherlands with a big trailer full of furniture and boxes. As my dad had sold his house and moved in with Tine, and I still love the leather couches my parents bought when they got married, I inherited them together with some other stuff from the house and some car parts! There was just the issue of getting it here. Jan had a similar thing and when he suggested to buy a trailer together and drive it here with our stuff I was all for it and now it finally arrived. We stored most of the boxes in the garage, but the one with my grandfathers clock went inside and I put it on the wall as it seems to be the safest place to keep it. It was really nice to hear it chime.
Mo had reminded me that at one point we had talked about the idea to move into the bedroom on 7.7, exactly a year after we moved into the house (jeez, time flies), but in order to do that, some end spurt would need to happen. Good thing there now is a trailer to pick up large slats as having the car parts in town does not instantly fix my car. Good thing I could borrow Jans Citroën CX. Lovely car to drive, it made me miss my BX.
I took the slats through the router table and then made them to fit all around the ceiling of the bedroom.
We also needed windows sills, which would be nice if they would fit the room, so we looked through the wood we had saved and found some nice boards. I made the first one to fit and then took it into the shower to clean it, as it was very dirty, this turned out to be an excellent way to clean it and after that it made a perfect finishing touch for the windows of the dormers.