Lifestyle – Lannix Design

Update: Shed Timber Wall Lining Progress

Nick — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 21:30:28 +0000

Ripping the last of the timber planks

I’ve been busy every chance I get preparing timber for the side wall of the workshop. We took out a whole lot of old hoop pine planks out of the inside of our house during renovations that I originally planned to use in the downstairs games room. We’ve since come to the conclusion that it would probably create a termite highway leading upstairs so I canned that idea.

They were sitting around in various spots around the place and I was left wondering what to do with them.

It dawned on me that since I had it in mind to create a sanctuary in the shed, away from the troubles of everyday life, that I could clean them up and use them for a feature wall in there.

So that’s what I’ve been doing the last few weeks, firstly checking them all for nails using a little metal detector, scraping off any chunks of paint and such, then running them through a thicknesser/planer to achieve a nice fresh face on each board.

Lining the rear wall of the workshop.

That process took what seemed like forever so I hope it’s worth it! The next step was to run the planks through a table saw to make them all the same width. There were a few that were close to 150mm so I did those separately. The remainder were between 128 and 135mm so I ripped them all down to 128mm for consistency.

That’s where I’m up to at the time of typing this article and I’m encouraged by how the timber turned out. The next job is to screw up some timber studs to the steel shed frame so I can start nailing on the planks ad I’m keen to get into that on the weekend!

As usual, there will be a video coming out documenting the process, so check back on our YouTube channel to see the result.

Your sincerely

Nick

Gallery - Update: Shed Timber Wall Lining Process

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Part one of the video series is already on our channel so check it out too if you haven’t already. It covers the roof insulation and building a timber wall frame to partition the single garage space from the workshop.

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Update: Shed Wall Linings Progress

Nick — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 21:30:53 +0000

Continuing on from the previous video related to the shed fitout, I thought I’d share an update on what’s been happening since. I acquired some 9mm ply sheets using the racks I built a while back. The racks have come in very handy and I’m glad I finally made them! Check out the video below if you’re interested.

Anyway, back to the shed. The ply was nice and light and allowed me to put it all up myself, starting with the back wall of the workshop.

Lining the rear wall of the workshop.

I chose to secure them vertically which would make the top pieces smaller and be easier for me to lift them up in to place alone. The polymer insulation batts worked out nicely too. There was none of that annoying itch that you get with fibreglass batts which made it much more enjoyable to install.

Over a few days, spanning multiple weekends, I had all the ply up and was keen to keep going with the last of the wall linings, the timber wall.

I’m aiming to have part two of the video series up this Friday so give it a watch if you’d like to support the channel and our business. Check out the gallery below for a sneak preview of the video content.

Gallery - Update: Shed Wall Linings Progress

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Update: Shed Insulation In Progress

Nick — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:30:29 +0000

After some time away from making videos to spend more time with the family and also because my main camera failed me entirely, I’ve slowly eased back into things, coming up with a plan of attack for the shed linings and insulation. I was leaning towards doing it in a way that allow me to get away with not painting anything but it seems I will have to don the old painting overalls after all.

Foilboard insulation ready to be shoved into the ceiling.

I heard about sheets for caravans that were pre-finished that I thought might be suitable but they were crazy expensive and I still would need to buy insulation. So we’ve come up with a mix of solid styrene insulation boards for the ceiling which will fit between the roof battens then we’ll cover the battens by screwing some 116mm mouldings to them. The whole lot will the be painted with ceiling white. I’m sure that’s not the best way to do it but for the ceiling we have to work with it seems like a reasonable solution for a shed ceiling.

For the walls, I’ve found a polymer insulation batt that will fit between the studs and we’ll line over them with some 9mm ply on the back wall and 7mm ply for the remaining walls, except for the North wall which I’ll line with the original pine boards that we took out from inside the house during the first round of renovations. I’ll build a stud wall to partition off the single garage from the double with a pine stud wall frame and 7mm ply linings with no insulation.

We’ve had no luck locking down an electrician so all that will have to be done later using conduits over the walls and ceiling which is ok by me. I’m thinking of painting them a metallic grey to make them a feature rather than trying to hide them with wall paint as would usually be done. Speaking of paint, I’m thinking of painting the back wall black to blend in the black shelving I have planned in front of it while the other walls will just be painted white.

Let me know what you think! The video of the whole process will be on YouTube eventually, and I’m working on something special that will be part of another video

Gallery - Update: Shed Insulation In Progress

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If you need more shed related content, check out the video below where I lay down an epoxy coating on the concrete floor! The lining and insulation video will be up as soon as it’s done and there’ll be more to follow as I’m working on setting out all the workbenches and tools virtually to hopefully find the optimal layout for the shed before forking over any cash!

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Lannix Shop Is Now Open!

Nick — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 21:30:25 +0000

I’ve been working on our store website in the background for a long while now. It was to be a place to sell my 3D printed goods and any other items I came up with in the meantime.

Since moving house over a year ago, the 3D printers haven’t been set up for mass producing and they won’t be until the workshop under the house is finally finished.

You’ll know if you follow my blog that I’ve moved to creating content for YouTube as an outlet for my creative energy.

Consequently, the shop will offer fabrication drawings produced in the process of creating the video content for YouTube. You’ll find the drawings are of a high standard and the price is very low in the hopes of getting people interested in my products. I produced fabrication drawings for a living in my previous career as a mechanical engineer and I hope that the quality reflects that.

The site is powered by WooCommerce and has the proven security and reliability that they have built on for many years. So please, if you want to support me and my family, take a look at the online store and check back in the future as the shop is continually updated!

Thanks so much!

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Check out our first video of 2024! I’m working on continual improvement in my video production and I hope it shows. I’m particularly proud of this one.

Also, plans are available in our online store if you’d like to build a treasure chest like this for yourself or a loved one!

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Merry Christmas From Lannix Design!

Nick — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 21:30:07 +0000

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Lannix Design! We’ll be back in the new year with some new projects.

Check out our YouTube channel to see what my little man Emmet received for Christmas!

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Original Artwork by Nick

For some people the holidays can be a not so festive time. If you’re at a point where you feel you need to talk to someone regarding your mental state, please get in contact with Beyond Blue or any support network that may be able to help you in a time of need.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Take care of yourself, friend.

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Backyard Blitz! – The Video

Nick — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 21:30:55 +0000

We’ve been busy with multiple projects going on at once but this is one we’re glad is finally finished. We take you through cleaning up the backyard and preparing it for the concrete driveway pour. Then I hired a mini excavator and levelled everything in preparation for laying 100 square metres of turf.

Enjoy!

Check out the link from our YouTube channel

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If you need more backyard related content, check out the shed build video below! There will be more to come as we add linings to the walls and ceiling and deck it out for getting into the long list of upcoming projects.

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Update: Backyard Blitz!

Nick — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 21:30:43 +0000

I have a couple of projects on the go at the moment, as well as some health issues that I’ve been dealing with. At the top of the list has been preparing the backyard for a concrete driveway into the new shed. I wasn’t able to do the concreting myself since it’s not a one man job and I don’t have any friends nearby who’d be able to help out.

So we contacted Andrew from Farrow Concreting and he had it done within two weeks of my call. He and his crew did the slab for the shed and were a real pleasure to deal with. It seems hard to get trades in to do work these days so I was glad he could accommodate us so quickly.

Give him a call on 0413 131 185 if you’re in Brisbane and in need of some concreting.

The start of all this backyard transformation stuff.

While the concrete was being done I took the time to take out an old chain-link fence that ran the length of our block and served no purpose. I was glad that the baby monitor has the range to reach the backyard so I can get things done out there.

After the driveway was laid and allowed to cure for a couple of weeks, we tried to get in someone with a machine to level the yad and spread out some topsoil for us. Unfortunately, nobody was available so I thought I’d have a crack at doing it myself, hiring a mini excavator. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the machine!

Next step is to lay some turf and find a company to build a front fence for us so we don’t have to worry about the little man running around in the yard.

Stay tuned to our YouTube channel for the video documenting the process, coming soon!

Gallery - Update: Backyard Blitz!

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Snake!

Nick — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 21:30:27 +0000

While I was downstairs editing the latest video for the channel, I felt a little tickle on the side of my foot. When I looked down ad saw it was this slithery little guy, I have to say, I jumped out of my seat faster than I ever have before!

I’m not a big fan of snakes, and these red belly black snakes are quite venomous, so I called Rob the snake catcher. He came around in good time and after about an hour of trying to find the snake in amongst the junk under the house, he eventually caught the little bugger.

So, now I’ve moved my office upstairs…

Check out a short clip of Rob taking the snake out of his sack.

Rob the snake catcher. What a unit.

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Gold Coast Trip – Photography

Nick — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 21:30:46 +0000

The family recently took a trip to the Broadbeach so my partner could run the Gold Coast (half) Marathon. I took the opportunity to get some practice using my camera since there’s plenty of interesting photo ops down there.

I ordered some neutral density (ND) and polarizer filters which had arrived just days before the trip, so I wanted to try them out in the bright sunlight. I’d noticed on our Sydney trip a few months ago that it was impossible to get decent exposure on the distant cityscape while taking videos at the proper shutter speed and minimum ISO setting. The adjustable ND filter would allow shooting in these bright conditions at Burleigh Heads but unfortunately it left dark patchy spots on the images, especially when turned to the darker setting. This is a bit disappointing since apparently the solution to this is to buy multiple filters which quickly gets very expensive.

The polarizing filter seemed to work well though but I didn’t use it very much. The main reason I wanted it is to adjust the reflective characteristics of a car’s paintwork while taking pics and videos. I’ll have to wait til I can get my hands on a nice shiny car to play with it a bit more.

We also decided to visit the rainforest at Mount Tamborine so I had a go at some long exposure shots at the waterfalls. Happily, these turned out quite nicely. Check out some of my favourite photos in the gallery below. The images have been reduced in size quite a bit since the raw files are about 13MB each.

Enjoy!

The Curtis Falls rainforest walk at Mount Tamborine.

Gallery - Gold Coast Trip - Photography Practice

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House Renovations – Part 3 – Bedrooms

Nick — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 21:30:40 +0000

The bedrooms were the easy part of the renovations. We just had to remove the inner linings on the walls to the exterior of the house to install some insulation, put in the new built-in wardrobes and paint the walls.

We suspected that the doorways would have breezeways above them, as many old Queensland homes do, and when we took a peek behind the lining it turned out that the openings were still there. We got to work in Emmet’s room, the master bedroom and the front doorway to reveal the breezeways and fix them up since they do a good job of keeping the place cool during hot summer nights. We had new frames made up that will fit in the breezeway openings but they haven’t been installed yet. They’ll need some glass cut to fit in them before we can install them and will be useful for keeping some heat in the rooms come winter. Of course they’ll be hinged so that they can be opened for summer.

There was somewhat of a rush to get the built in wardrobes assembled in all the rooms so that we could get the plasterer to come patch the ceilings and throw up the cornice before the painter arrived.

The foreman being carried around by mum.

Master Bedroom

I wanted something a little more interesting for the master bedroom after watching the series ‘True Blood’ and seeing Bill’s house after he became the sheriff or whatever. A darker colour and something more visually striking than a plain old Gyprock wall. I spent a couple of days fixing belt rail in a frame pattern on the walls to create the feature I hoped would look good. I believe this process is called wainscotting. The photos don’t really do it justice but I’m very happy with the result and the darker colour keeps the room nice and dark for a good night’s sleep.

The timber look Polytec wardrobes were custom designed by Jade and I reckon the brown timber finish looks great against the dark blue paint. The top wardrobe doors were delivered unfinished and painted in the wall colour. Between the cabinets will eventually be a doorway into the ensuite which is part of stage 2 of the house renovations.

There are still a few paint touch-ups to do since the apprentice electrician was a bit wild with the solder but they’ll be done once it’s time to get the breezeways (fan lights) installed.

Gallery - Master Bedroom

Emmet's Room

We tried to concentrate on this room first so as to create a dust free space for our baby to nap while we worked. We were cautious about keeping the room tidy and it was vacuumed regularly to keep it clean. I think the first job we did was to strip the lining so that we could get insulation in and new FC sheets up. Thanks to our chippy mate Sam for helping out for the day and getting this done for us.

The paint colour for all the rooms except the master bedroom was Dulux Pre-School Quarter which I believe Jade picked because she’s so happy to be a new mum and it reminds her of our baby boy. It contrasts nicely with the wardrobe colour which is Steel Blue and the Beech colour timber laminex. Again, Jade is responsible for the wardrobe design which has a little nook for everyday items, a bookshelf up higher and more storage up above that.

The wall beside the wardrobe has framework for a window which would have been in the original house design but was walled over when the previous owners built in the front verandah. Stage two of the renovation will have this opened up to be a doorway into an office that will be built on the on the other side.

Gallery - Emmet's Bedroom

Janey's Room

In case you’re wondering, Janey is a placeholder name for our non-existent second child. Whether or not this child actually comes along is out of our hands but we do know one thing and that is if they do come, they won’t be called Janey. In the meantime, this room is being used as a temporary office setup for Jade, storage for things that don’t have a place anywhere else yet and an extra play area for Emmet.

After insulating the exterior walls, the timber frame wall battens needed to be extended to allow for the different thickness wall sheeting, ie going from a 19mm thick pine board to 4mm thick FC sheet panels required some timber behind to compensate so that the wall would be flush to the window frame. This was the case in the master bedroom and lounge room also.

The entry door to the room was in a makeshift hallway with a sheet of masonite on top just above head height. We ended up building a proper frame wall structure that rose up to the ceiling and was designed to house a built-in cabinet that would be the linen cupboard. The wardrobe in the bedroom was then designed to fill the alcove created by the frame structure. I think we nailed the design in regards to the most efficient use of space and positioning the linen cupboard just outside the bathroom. Again, the wardrobe was conceived by Jade and features a bookshelf and built-in mirror.

Gallery - Janey's Bedroom

This is the last of our renovation updates for now. There have been a few small jobs done since the photos were taken so I may do a follow-up blog down the road with a few updates for anyone interested. There are still a few little jobs around in the stage one part of the house that need finishing and we’re slowly chipping away at them.

The next step is getting the back shed built which should be in about four months time since everyone wants a shed now it seems. They’ve told us we’re in for a six month wait when we gave them the go ahead. Once the shed’s built I’ll be able to make some space downstairs and start building the Lannix Design office and 3D printing workshop.