Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Recently, I moved to a new flat. As ever, there was much to sort out utility accounts to set up, stuff to move, insurance to negotiate and neighbours to make introductions with. And, of course, there is the prospect of DIY.

There is painting and sanding, putting up of shelves, minor wiring jobs and reinstating all the missing lightbulbs. It comes with the territory of a new home, and has its own reward; putting up a shelf that doesn’t leave a gaping hole in the wall and approximately aligns with the other horizontal aspects of a room is a small triumph in any man’s life.

Spending evenings with my sleeves rolled up got me thinking about gadget DIY. Most of us modern types know how to plug in a TV and hook it up to the satellite decoder.

That’s the basic stuff, the equivalent of wiring a new plug onto a table lamp, or putting up a shower rail in the bathroom.

But then there are the more complicated tasks - would you know how to install your own satellite dish for example? It’s not that hard to do.

There are web sites that can tell you which satellite you want to aim at. They take your location, do a few calculations, and give you the coordinates. There are even mobile phone apps that will tell you when your phone is pointing at the satellite.
Even better.

Granted, it’s harder than shifting the aerial on the roof a bit and seeing if the picture improves, but it’s also scientific, and therefore much more likely to work. Returning to the bathroom analogy, this is preparing the plasterboard, mounting some tiles, grouting and applying a silicon seal.

There are thousands more examples - from optimizing your hi-fi for the size and shape of a room to setting up a wireless network. And it’s all very well having a TV full of channels, great sound from your hi-fi and Wi-Fi in every room, except that you haven’t got anywhere to sit. Time to buy some furniture...

The problem with furniture is that it’s not very easy to take back to the shop if you find you don’t like it. You need a truck, lots of patience and a lenient approach to dings in your new paintwork.

So we take our chances and most of the time we can live with our choices. The sofa may be a bit long, or the table a bit wide, but that’s the price you pay for not lugging those items back to the shop. If only you could guarantee the furniture would fit and look nice in your new abode.

Enter Google Sketchup, a program that allows even the moderately computer literate chap (or chappess) to create a 3D model of their home and import bits of furniture.

You can create your home exactly to scale, paint it in the right colours, put in wooden floorboards or carpet and so on. Don’t like the couch? Hit delete and find a new one.

Want to know if the table’s too big? Slam it in, take a look around (you can ‘orbit’ it in the program) and see how it fits. Half the fun of DIY used to be the slightly unpredictable results, followed later by a phone call to the professionals to come and sort out the mess.

With the benefit of new technology, we can all look forward to fewer of those embarrassing calls.

Touch wood.