diy – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:23:51 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg diy – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog 32 32 <![CDATA[LED strips for under-bed lighting]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/led-strips-for-under-bed-lighting/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/led-strips-for-under-bed-lighting/#comments Sun, 17 May 2020 11:05:18 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=34862 When we moved house, we found the previous owners had installed under-cupboard lighting in the kitchen. It uses basic and cheap 12V LED strips.

Connectors on a 12 volt DC LED strip.

The strips are flexible and have glue on the back. We didn't like them in the kitchen. So we tried them on the stairs.

Meh!

Our mate Sam suggested creating an "illuminated boudoir".

Step 1 - remove the mattress:

Mattress removed from bed exposing slats.

Step 2 - thread the LED strips through the bed base's slats:

The hardest part is making sure the lights all face downward.

Lights threaded over slats.

The strips are tough, and the mattress is soft enough not to crush them.

Step 3 - plug them in!

Bed glowing. Taking photos in the dark isn't super easy, but you get the idea.

Super romantic! Poster advertising remantic [sic] under bed lighting.

Improvements

We've got these plugged into a smartplug so we can toggle them on/off from our phones. We can also shout "Alexa - make the bedroom romantic". The Alexa is kept far away from the bedroom. We're not monsters!

My mate Tiffany uses dimmable Hue LED strips. Coupled with a Hue motion sensor, they activate as soon as you enter the room - or if you get up in the middle of the night.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/led-strips-for-under-bed-lighting/feed/ 5 <![CDATA[Mondrian Windows]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/mondrian-windows/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/mondrian-windows/#respond Sat, 16 May 2020 11:26:09 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=34988 One of the problems with buying a house, is that you're inevitably stuck with someone else's taste in decor. Our new place isn't too bad - it's just a little dull. With lockdown in full-force, some of the boring bits of the house have been annoying me more than is reasonable.

I'm not a big fan of net curtains. They always look a bit ratty, and are a dust trap. So we decided to get some "stained glass" privacy film. We found this beautiful Mondrian-style sticker

Coloured squares separated by thick black lines. They glow with sunlight.

It brings me joy every day to see something so bright and illuminated. As a bonus, when the sun is just at the right angle, it shines a rainbow on our stairs.

A beautiful pattern of coloured squares dances on the stairs.

A long roll was about £8 on Amazon

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