AndyBlog: Making, Modifying and Mending

Here's the wonderful Terry, adapting the speaker cabinet in a clever way.
Then on the right, the fantastic results of his labour. He's amazing. It's official.

So Terry was here today from darkest Durham and Paula & Dave were here from even darkest'er Yorkshire. We were a new grouping, but one that collaborated surprisingly well. Amidst such a wealth of DIY know-how, I wisely took a back seat - preferring instead to make drinks and sandwiches. I know my place. Besides, I had exciting things to do, like meet Jason after his long six month holiday away.

Not to be outdone, Dave, from Huddersfield, put up our DVD shelves.
It was a tricky job, but he had his Paula to help out. Thank goodness.
Liz did other, more secret, things. I cannot speak of them here, but they were outstanding also.

Obviously, you'll see our DVD racks when you visit, but suffice it to say here, that they were not easy to put up. IKEA stuff is, on the whole, very well prices and clever almost to bursting point - but some of the cheaper items are a little inconsistent. So Dave battled this as he tried to fit 8 Lerberg DVD racks flush next to each other on an undulating hollow wall. Massive respect to him for succeeding so well.

Terry's feat was also a significant one. In reality, a much bigger task to start with. Back at Griffin House, he made a huge coffin-like structure to house my two centre speakers for my surround-sound setup. It was a "hammer to crack a nut" solution, but it worked beautifully.

Coming here, the unit fitted nicely in the corner, but it needed to work a lot harder, as there was not room for more big speakers either side. So, Terry's job was to house a pair of Tannoy speakers for the Left and right - and a Celestion in the middle as a centre speaker. Not only that, he had to fit a shelf half way up and house all the AV gear - Amplifier, SKY+ unit and DVD Recorder. Then, on top goes the TV. Easy.

The amazing thing is that he did it - not only that, but it actually looks like it was meant to be that way all along. When you see it, you'll never believe that there are three full sized speakers in it - it seems like too little space for them. I find it hugely satisfying that he has made it all work. I'm relieved that the amplifier still works after over a year in mothballs.

I am still totally buzzing that we now have a lounge that we can really relax in. We are so blessed to have such a lovely space - after the "crampedness" of the last one, it feels like a cathedral. I took large spaces so much for granted at Griffin House - then I was taught that life can exist in much smaller spaces in the next two places I have lived. So much so that I really appreciate this one.

I don't want to gloat or be over-proud or anything like that - I just want to express my childish glee at having somewhere nice to be. It's so cool.

Later on, we had laptop lessons about Blog posting.
I wish I even had the first idea how to do that...
(Look at all those intent faces)