New Study/Den

Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2011
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Location
Portsmouth
We moved in just over 2 years ago and this downstairs bedroom with ensuite wetroom has been our store room/dumping ground whilst we finish the rest of the house.

Now we've pretty much got the rest of the place to a state we can pause and start on this room (albeit a complete rip-out & refit of upstairs bathroom & kitchen/diner in the next few weeks), I thought I'd share some pics.

I'm a wheelchair user, so this room is specced with that in mind - doors are 1000mm wide and ensuite is a fully tanked & tiled wet room (which is mainly used for washing the dog).

I also suffer from cluster headaches, so having a quieter space away from the open-plan lounge/kitchen/diner that can also be light controlled will be really helpful. My 10 year old daughter also suffers due to a brain malformation, so she'll be sharing use of the room, too.

Photo Dump:
























We decided to paint the ceiling the same Denim Drift, as it helps reduce the amount of light in the room. We'll be putting in an IKEA Hemnes daybed, instead of a sofa, as it's more comfortable to sleep on and gives us the option to pull out into a king-size when family visit from Canada.

My desk will go on the wall next to the ensuite door and a 65" TV on the same wall, opposite the day bed.

I've consolidated the network cables and shortened the excess lengths - the POE switch for our security cameras will be hidden in a wall mounted cabinet, along with a PS4 for media duties (I'll run an HDMI cable from my PC for when I want to play on the bigger screen).

Will grab more photos when I've cleaned up, since the Scotia is now in.
 
"SiMuLtAnEouUsLy iMpReSs tHe wiFe WiTh yOuR DiY sKiLLs aNd iNdUcE a pAniC aTTaCk bY dRiLLiNg tHrOuGh tHe mAiNs aT 2:45pM oN a fRiDaY..."
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Flooring in, scotia sealed & temporary door transfer bars installed (waiting on some special order 1000 wide aluminium Z bars to cope with my chair).

Slight change of plan as my service dog Poppy is about to have her first litter, so we've got some cheap lino to throw under the whelping pen (thankfully a similar colour/pattern to the new flooring).





Picking the Daybed up from my folks now, so The Boss has somewhere to sleep when she's on Midwife duty.
 
Ooof. Very late advice, but, Never drill directly above, below or to the sides of electrical outlets including lighting. "Prescribed cabling zones" ;). I'm guessing you hit the wires up by where the shelf is, as there are two sets of brackets kind of in line with the socket. Have you had a electrician come and check its all safe?

Looking good still though.
Yeah, it was a complete brainfart on my part - out of the 5 double gang sockets around the room, guess which is the only one that has a fused spur running vertically from it..?

Sod's Law, but thankfully the Old Man had finished early, so he was straight round with his kit (he's a Comms Engineer, but has his 18th Edition cert).
It took longer to fill and blend than it did to repair.

Currently scrubbing the "barely used" daybed from my folk's house - it might not have been slept in by humans, but the cat's had a really good go on it :rolleyes: . Nothing a bit of elbow grease & Dettol/StarDrops won't shift.
 
The colour choice for that room is amazing. Love the ceiling painted in the same colour too. Congrats on a great job.

Your dog is so beautiful too, proper teddy bear looks! :D
Appreciate the kind words. It's been a long, slow process - I've done everything bar lay the flooring and fit the light, so I've spent the last 6 months resurfacing the walls, digging up the manky council floor tiles and pouring self-levelling compound to try and reduce the dips, then painting walls & ceiling, sanding, priming & glossing both doors (1000mm wide, fire rated solid wood - bloody heavy!) then tidying the mess of network cables.

It's taken so long because every day I spend working on the room costs me 3-4 days of recovery (more if I really overdo things). I have to carefully balance how much of my energy/pain tolerance I can spare between getting the study sorted and my other Husband/Dad duties.

Today's been particularly tough, as the Daybed was on the top floor of my parents' 3 storey house, then needed every piece given a really thorough clean before putting back together. Thankfully my brother-in-law offered to do all the heavy lifting, which helped tremendously.

Mattresses arrived tomorrow, but to get an idea:








It takes up a fair bit of space, but we'll rarely need to pull the bed out into a double. I looked at sofabeds, but I've found you always compromise on a supportive, comfortable mattress. We'll see how much use either option gets for a while, then decide if we want a small recliner sofa instead...
 
I'm quite suprised how cool that room looks all grey! i'm moving soon and will have a new man cave now your just giving me ideas :cry: nice job!
It's Dulux Toughcare "Denim Drift" - much more blue than grey in person - the lighting cancels a lot of the blue out on my phone's camera.

We chose a scrubbable paint as we have 2 Persian/Exotic girls (my Wife's a hobby breeder) and they have a terrible habit of sticking their faces next to the wall and having a sneezing session . I'll be building some cat shelves for climbing as soon as I find a suitable bracket to hold them. Hopefully get them sorted before Kitten Season...

Looking forward to having a few bundles of crazy chasing my mouse pointer across the screen again:






I can't imagine how difficult that must have been doing it from a wheelchair. Well done, man!
Thank you!
It's hard going, mainly because anything you do at full reach from a seated position takes tremendous core strength (try it - sit on an exercise ball or a chair with feet off the floor and hold a 2kg dumbbell with your arms stretched out in front, for more than 3 minutes ;)) - when you use a paint roller on an extension pole, most of the effort comes from leveraging your hips, knees and buttocks, rather than arms...

I've been a full-time chair user for nearly 20 years, so I've built up a different set of muscle groups to compensate - my neck, shoulders and upper back look like I've stolen them off Alan Ritchson (if he'd refused to ever do a sit-up or leg-day, he'd probably look like me :cry:)
 
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Puppies are doing great - 10% weight gain in 24 hours. Kids are enjoying learning about the process (although my autistic son was horrified to learn what Poppy does when they poo & wee :rolleyes:)



I'll put the thread on hold until I've got updates relevant to the room (unless you all want "Pupdates"?)
 
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OK well either I'm autistic or your son has a completely normal reaction :cry: :cry:. Either is very plausible!

Looks mega, love the colour. The dogs are the icing on the cake. Are they for sale?
He was diagnosed age 4. I had to go 40 years before being given my "not just a ****, but an autistic ****" certificate, so it's possible :cry:

Pups will be offered to Poppy's Service Dog trainers first - they loved her temperament & work drive so much, it's why we considered a litter from her. If they meet the strict criteria, then they'll take them on. If they don't, we've got a couple of interested families.

...might see one or two in the Member's Market in a couple of months, being traded for a 4090 :p

(Edit: Just in case there are any overly-literal admins: I'm joking!)
 
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10 day Pupdate:




All are gaining well - of course the male makes the most noise when he loses a teat :rolleyes:
Poppy is doing brilliantly - although we have to be watchful as she'll pick a pup up to show me (like she does with my Crocs when I get home), or she steals dirty socks from the laundry basket (her favourite thing, ever) to hide in her whelping pen.

Kids have named them Skye, Everest, Liberty & Rubble, after the Paw Patrol pups.

Really proud of how Poppy's taken to motherhood, but I'll be pleased to have my Wingman back; the sofa's not as cozy without her.
 
2 Week Pupdate:
Gaining nicely, 3 out of 4 have their eyes open. The male ("Rubble") is the noisiest, the girl with white splodge on her forehead ("Skye") is definitely the snuggliest (and will be the hardest to let go of).











Poppy's trainers have a full allocation this year, so we'll need to start vetting families over the next few weeks.

Looking forward to the next bit, where they start weaning and becoming more active: it's brilliant to see their individual characters emerge.
 
Lots more activity now all four have their eyes open. They're rolling around the enclosure, biting each others ears and growling about it - I don't have a YouTube channel to share the video, but it's getting noisier by the day.





Poppy's maintaining weight nicely since we've upped her to 5 raw meals a day - hungry pups can easily deplete Mama of the calories she needs to stay healthy.

I give it 6-7 days before we start weaning - no teeth have broken through just yet (which is what we look for to start them on gentle solids).
 
Today we tried some scrambled egg, as we start to gently wean the pups away from Poppy and onto raw/kibble.



I didn't get to take photos at the time (emergency surgery for my son's cat), but my wife said Everest & Rubble absolutely demolished the plate, getting it everywhere. Poppy had fun cleaning up, too.

Also starting to reduce the blanket area and increase the overall space in the whelping pen, so we can start toilet training. Pups have already started using the same corner to wee on the puppy pad, so we just need to encourage and reward that behaviour.
 
So the Pets4Homes advert went live last night and my phone has been non-stop. Whenever I list the Boss's kittens, I put *all* the information they need, so as to reduce the amount of details we have to give in a phonecall/videocall. It means we can spend more time talking about the animal/ourselves, and help the prospective buyer see that we're genuine. It's equally a chance for us to vet the buyer and decide if we want to move forward and arrange a visit.

Seems puppy adverts get just as many scammers/chancers/eff-wits as the kittens :rolleyes:

...No, I don't want to bring all 4 puppies to a motorway services "so you can compare in person".

...No, you're not having my exact address and the hours I'm at work. Yes, I have 24/7, 360° CCTV.

...Yes, we're "real people" and the puppies do, in actual fact, exist. No, I'm not sending a video "with my passport and today's newspaper clearly on show".

Anyway, it's almost time to take nicer photos, now that the puppies are more active and starting to walk.
This is the setup I use:


And these are a few quick edits of Rubble and Skye (the two we've had genuine interest shown):







Uploading a quick video to YouTube and I'll share it here once done (excuse the huffing & puffing - just getting over a horrible sinus infection)

 
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4 Weeks (tomorrow) Update:
Everyone's growing steadily and having enormous fun with scrambled egg.
Managed to get some better photos, although they're a little timid in the pop-up studio.











We've got potential buyers visiting this weekend for Rubble & Everest, so fingers crossed they pass muster (and so do we).

The next few weeks are the hectic, exciting & fun period; weaning, toilet training and click/treat response. We'll also gradually increase the time Poppy is brought out of the pen, to increase their appetite and encourage use of the puppy pads for toilet business.
 
They are beautiful, were they all picked up?
They're not ready to leave until they're 8 weeks old, so we're currently meeting potential buyers.

Two are likely going to a lovely family who've bought kittens from us before (my Wife breeds Persian/Exotics for a hobby). We met Rubble's buyer today - she works in construction and thought his name too serendipitous to ignore.
 
5 weeks old yesterday. We're now in a bigger pen and weaning onto solids nicely. We found buyers for all 4, but the Wife did some excellent detective work and discovered the lady interested in Everest has actually been banned from owning dogs by the RSPCA (mistreatment/puppy farm :mad:), so we've refunded her deposit and still looking for the right home.





Their individual characters are really starting to show now...

Everest: the biggest, hungriest pup. Lovely temperament - while the others are squabbling over the food bowl, she'll plonk herself face-first or attack anyone that gets between her and the food.

Rubble: the first to cry for Mummy. Loves rolling & chasing his ball and wrestling with Liberty. Snores.

Skye: calm, gentle & placid, really loves to nuzzle in for a cuddle, but also cheeky & playful.

Liberty: the smallest & loudest, but definitely the ring leader. She attacks wiggly fingers and thinks it's hilarious to charge into the other pups as they're mid-poop.
 
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If we weren’t having our first human baby on Tuesday Everest would definitely be joining our 3 year old Cavapoo…
Congratulations on your incoming bundle of joy!
I grew up with *big* dogs (Ridgebacks & Dobermans), but my Wife was wary. After intense negotiations that might have involved some level of hypno-trickery on my part ("I promise darling, Viszlas are small and gentle...") we agreed on a Cockapoo (hypoallergenic coat) and to wait until our youngest was big enough to push a dog off of her, at 4 years old.

...we brought Poppy home on the exact day my daughter turned 4.
 
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So puppies went off to their new homes last weekend - all lovely families who we'll keep in touch with.

These are a few snaps from their last day. My kids were devastated but put brave faces on (it might have got a little dusty for me, too).













The little whirlwind "Liberty" was picked up just before school ended for half term - her owner managed to get home in time to surprise her children (the video was brilliant!)

The largest pup "Everest" was also a surprise for the buyer's elderly father (they also own Poppy's brother) - the video they sent us when they handed Everest over was a little less loud & exciting, but really lovely. Dust-attack yet again.

A few pics from their new homes:





House has been awfully quiet since they've gone, but I don't miss coming into the lounge each morning and surveying the carnage.

Poppy is doing great - she went to the groomers for a pamper/spa day and is putting the weight back on nicely. Once her milk finishes and she's less sore, she'll be ready to work again. I'm currently limiting her to no more than an hour each day - I think she's secretly enjoying the extra sofa-cuddles, even though she keeps bringing her Service Dog harness & favourite ball to me.

 
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