Ikea Vilaby Table Renovation

 Vilaby is a coffee table with legs made of laminated bent wood and matches well with Poang chairs.

I picked one up in November or December 2022 on Freecycle. It was needing love as it been well used. 

I planned to start the restoration once the weather got warmer. There's been a couple of dry enough days to do the sanding of the legs the past few of weekends outside as I don't have anywhere inside that I wouldn't care about the dust from all that sanding.

As can be seen, a bit of a state - I think the previous owners said it'd been their garage for sometime and before that well used and I assume well loved.

This is the first leg that I sanded back to bare wood - it was the worse looking one of the two.

This week I had 2 good enough days to give the legs their first coat of varnish and the light sandpapering they need between coats and then their second coat of varnish. They will need at least another one coat of the varnish. Then I can start thinking about restoring the table top and the lower shelf. The table top has had a fair amount of wear and, I think, water damage as the edges of the strips of veneer look like they are separating from each other :-( I'll know better once it is sanded. The lower shelf won't be a problem as there is only surface discolouration.

20231001 Update

I did sand the table top a few months ago and it didn't go well :-( The veneer was so thin and the colour, due to sunlight ageing, was very uneven. I did one coat of varnish and not at all happy with it. I've put the project on hold until I decide if I'm going to re-veneer it or not. I can bet sufficient Birch veneer in iron-on format but it is more than £40 through Amazon :-O

Net MD now usable

A few years ago I had a bit of a spending spree on eBay and bought a Sony MZ-N10 Net MD Minidisc Recorder, USB transfer cable and mains power supply for it.

I had become frustrated with my 60GB iPod Classic that has all my music on it - trying to find something to play is poor when you have 10,000+ tracks :-O I had a plan to go back to using Minidiscs as my original MD Recorder worked on an AA battery with 40-50 hours playback ad 2 albums on a disc so easier to find music.

Then I discovered that Sony's software (Sonic Stage) for transferring music to minidiscs didn't work on Windows 7 :-( After months of doing google searches, I found a way to install it on Windows 7. Then found out it was rubbish and had to spend a very long time converting all my Apple iTunes format music to MP3s to be able to use Sonic Stage to convert them to ATRAC for transferring to Minidisc. Even then it took ages to burn a Minidisc :-( So, I basically gave up on that project and wrote off the 60+ pounds I'd spent.

Was bored the other weekend and did a google search for Net MD on Windows 10. Imagine my surprise when I found a website that described how to install on Windows 10 but went on to ask "why would you when there's Web MiniDisc Pro?"

I investigated and there's this web-based APP that you can transfer any format music and name tracks on existing discs as well! And it works on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Been trying it out on my MacMini and can transfer Apple format tracks and FLAC and MP3s and it's fast. Also used it to rename the tracks on some of my existing Minidiscs.

https://web.minidisc.wiki/ is where it's at - I'm so glad I found it :-)

I've now got to decide whether my next project is to replace the built-in battery of the NetMD or just use it as the transfer device and for playing connected to the stereo in the room my MacMini is in :-O

Vintage Pello Chairs Renovation

 So, more furniture from Freecycle.org to restore :-)

This time it was 2 vintage IKEA Pello chairs which were is a sorry state -  the wooden frames were well worn and neglected - I think they had been stored in a damp garage for some time :-(

Anyway, I sanded the dismantled wooden frames and gave them three coats of a matt varnish which got them looking much better.

The frames hanging from the washing lines waiting for the varnish to dry :-O

So then I assembled one of them to see what next. Unfortunately, the padding had shrunk (I assume a previous owner had machine washed in too a hot wash) just too much to fit on the metal frame. So, I spent a few weeks pondering how I was going to proceed. I considered various options like buying new Poang cushions from Ikea - the cheapest cost 30 pounds and they only had them in black.

The edge of the padding tore trying to stretch it over the metal frame :-(

So, I decided to recover the padding and full seat metal frame but then I had to find somewhere that sold suitable fabric. I tried a place in Cardiff and despite arriving at its well hidden location (inside an antiques centre on Penarth Road Cardiff) an hour after their advertised morning opening time, they weren't professional enough to actually open up shop . So, I gave up on them :-)

I eventually caved in and went to Dunelm Mill which I knew had cut back drastically on fabric. Sadly, they had no fabric on the roll except wipe clean PVC tablecloth material.

Limited choices in their clearance section but I found a single curtain that was big enough to recover both chairs:-) And to make a couple of matching cushions if I want to. I may try making neck cushions like some Poang cushion sets have.

The first one was a completed a couple of days ago and doesn't look too bad ;-)

And, I've finally finished the second chair :-)

Tarting up a bit of the Garden Wall

Since I moved here 8 years ago, there's been a bit of the wall of my neighbour's extension that's a bit unsightly - awful pink blockwork :-(

So, some months ago I got some tiles on Freecycle that I decided I was going to tart up that bit of wall with :-)

It took me some time to get around t it as I'd noticed that they had a damp course that I couldn't bridge. I eventually found a couple of bits of scrap wood to support the first row of tiles and got started with mortar to stick tiles on.

Ten things went a bit pear shaped and the mortar wasn't sticking very well and one of the picture tiles fell off and broke into 7 pieces :-( So, I gave up for a few weeks until a colleague suggested a product that I could try...

So,here's the end result - I think it looks better than the awful pink blockwork.

Pello chair Project #2

So, after dog walking this morning, due to Sunday trading laws, several hours of dead time.
I was in the mood to do more sewing and this is the result :-)

Update a few months on, it didn't take long for her royalness to make the fleece fabric fuzzy with digging in it. Only a few days but it doesn't look any worse after a few months and it protects the fabric below:-)

IKEA Pello chair project

On Sunday I spotted a Pello chair on Freecycle - it was advertised as a Poang :-O

Got it home and cleaned the woodwork with baby wipes (best thing for dusting and wiping things clean), removed the cushions from the cover and the support fabric from the metal seat frame and laundered them :-)

My little princess gave the chair her seal of approval and she has been lying on it when I'm working from home.

However, even though I tuck the fleece throw down the back of the seat cushion and under it she still manages to remove it when she decides to dig lol

So, I decided that slip covers were in order...

Made one for the seat cushion this morning (from an IKEA Polarvide fleece throw) and put it on - it got her roylaness's princess seal of approval - going to use it for the next week and do the back cushion next weekend once I have decided if I like the colour :-O

Digital Music Woes

This post is, I guess as I've typed more of it, a bit of a moan on how difficult it is to get old digital music formats to work with each other 😯 And how you can shoot yourself in the foot by not realising the consequences of decisions you make...

I bought a portable Minidisc recorder in 2000 which I used to transfer a lot of my CDs to - was great - had it plugged into my CD separate via an optical lead and I could put 2 CDs on one disc. Then play them on the player that fitted in my shirt pocket and played for 50 hours on one AA alkaline battery 😊 Unlike the portable CD player that was just too big for most pockets and despite having anti-shock still skipped tracks when I made a sudden movement☹️☹️☹️

But then I won an iPod mini 4GB in a Walkers Crisps promotion in 2005 and the Minidisc Walkman (it actually is a Sony one) went into storage. I've had a 2nd hand iPod Classic 160GB for about 8 years and it holds all my music and plays for about 50 hours on one charge. However, it has one big disadvantage - finding particular albums or tracks in the 20,000 tracks sitting on it.

So, I thought about it for a while and 2 years ago via several ebay purchases (Recorder, Charging dock and mains supply, USB cable) I got a newer Minidisc recorder (for a total spend of about £60-70) that connects to my old Windows laptop a couple of year ago. I'd be able to put 2 albums on each Minidisc and find them easier and I have about 40 Minidiscs 7 of which never used and still in the cellophane wrapper and Minidiscs don't degrade with use and reuse like tape did. So, a great solution -- no because you couldn't get Sony's equivalent to iTunes (Sonic Stage) for anything newer than Windows XP and my old laptop has Windows 7 😕

Recently, through many support forums, I managed to download a patched version of Sonic Stage that worked on Windows 7 and the Windows 7 drivers for the Minidisc recorder. I then discovered that I had very few tracks in a compatible format that Sonic Stage could transfer to minidisc 💽 OK, I'll convert a copy of all my iTunes music back to a format that Sonic Stage likes. More forum searches and trying various free downloads before then I finally discovered that iTunes can do it for me. Cue more searching to get it to do it as the menus to do it weren't visible - you have to change the format it rips CDs to before you get to see the menus that convert existing tracks in the iTunes library. So, I set it to convert all 20,000 tracks -- it took 3 days of waiting to convert them all 😯

Great! I can transfer an album to Minidisc - errr no, as there were many duplicate tracks and you can't tell which are the best quality. You know how your digital music grows? Some tracks you downloaded from Napster back in 2000 as poor quality mp3s then when you get an iPod you rip them from CDs or you download them digitally or you "forgot" to delete a copy you made of a friend's music when you transferred it off to an external drive when you were rebuilding their PC ten years ago or when you got a 2nd hand iPod and bought a program to transfer its music to the computer before you reset it. The ways we accumulate digital music are numerous and iTunes kindly grabs it all for you.

Cue another search for software to remove duplicates but it only works for filenames where the name and size are the same. So, I'll have to do my own coding in VBA in Excel -- I can do that -- I just need to adapt the code I have already written that scans a directory hierarchy and lists its contents in a spreadsheet to compare filesizes and filenames.

That was about a month ago and I just haven't been in the mood to do the hard thinking to work out the logic of the filenames as to which one I keep. Some digital music I have acquired wasn't originally ripped by iTunes so uses different naming conventions for the tracks -- different track numbering especially with double albums.

Maybe today is the day to think out the logic and do the coding? Then I can have the new one with its shagged-out rechargable battery in its main dock attached to my micro system in my bedroom and my still perfectly working older one for when the Welsh government eases lockdown and lets us get out and about for more than 5 mile journeys and when it's safe to use public transport again.

G4 iMac Update

The G4 iMac in the bedroom that I used as a jukebox (connected to a cheap CD micro system I got in a charity shop) stopped working mid May :-(

Unfortunately, it was the screen that was broken - probably the inverter. I had flashed the firmware ages ago to extend the desktop to my flat-screen TV which was a big mistake as I hadn't told it to mirror when I'd last used it to watch a movie on the TV. This meant I could boot the iMac with it connected to the TV and see the background on the TV but see nothing so I couldn't reset it to mirroring to use the TV as a display all the time :-(

I tried the old Core Duo macMini from the spare bedroom that I only use for ripping VHS tapes to digital. It played music on iTunes fine with its internal speaker but kept cutting out when connected to the micro system :-(

So, for about 6 weeks or so I had to share my iPod Classic between work and music in the bedroom :-( A couple of weeks ago, my brother gave me back my old 4GB ipod Mini that I won in a Walkers Crisps promotion about 12 years ago :-) So, it became the bedroom music player but still not as good as the G4 iMac...

I had another broken G4 iMac that I'd stripped the guts out of last year and tried a mod to turn it into a monitor that I lost confidence in as it didn't seem to work at the testing phase of a how to I was trying. I thought the inverter was broken so I had ruled out swapping that screen with the bedroom's one. Decided this week that it was worth a try and did the swap this evening and... it worked :-)  Result!!!

I had to open up the bottom as it wasn't seeing the SATA drive to boot-up -- it's been moved around quite a bit and the adapter board for ATA100 to SAT must have worked loose. Opened it up (there's 14 screws you have to undo to get inside and take the drive-bay out) and checked all the connections then the task of tucking all the extra cables back in to reassemble it without nipping any in the case. Everything is working again :-) took me over an hour as I took it down to the spare bedroom for more space to work. Then I had to move the macMini out of the way and dust the top of the chest it sits on. Yet to test it playing iTunes through the micro system as I'm still enjoying listening to Liza Tarbuck on Radio 2 :-)

Well Liza is finished now so time to test iTunes through the stereo...

Yay! Everything back to normal - Paul Heaton's Acid Country is sounding great :-)

Mac Update

My 1st generation iPad was basically rubbish - I'd had it in a wall-mounted, handmade, pine frame in the kitchen for recipes for 2 years but its browser was regularly crashing :-( I sold it on eBay for about £80 just before Xmas :-) I spent the money on a G4 iBook :-) (more about it below).

My main (most powerful) iMac has a 2TB hard drive in it and a WD MyBook for Mac 4TB external drive used as its Timemachine :-)

Media Server is now a WD MyCloud 6TB drive. Both my flat screen TVs connect to it via WD TV Live boxes. When I go on holiday I take one of them with me and 2 WD My Passport 2TB drives which hold most of my TV show Boxed Sets and Movies. The WD TV Live model I have has both analogue and HDMI outputs so I can connect to the hotel room's TV and plug either WD My Passport drive into one of the USB ports of the WD TV Live to watch my media. I also take an old Samsung Chromebook with me to backup photos I take with my phone to one of the WD My Passport drives.

In my bedroom I have an old G4 1.25GHz iMac with 1.25GB RAM (recently replaced the 512MB SODIMM with a 1GB SODIMM) and a 500GB SATA drive which has a small SATA to ATA100 adapter board to talk to the iMac's ATA100 interface.

Currently typing this on my G4 1GHz iBook with 1.25GB RAM (recently replaced the 512MB SODIMM with a 1GB SODIMM) and an 80GB hard drive (recently replaced the 60GB hard drive) .

I've been using the iBook to learn Java with a book called "Head First Java". Wanted to learn Java so I could use iText to do a project for work where a large quantity of pdf documents from the 1940s have to be electronically stamped with a message and a hand written signature. Unfortunately, the book "iText in Action" I bought is the old edition and the current version of the iText library available online isn't compatible. Now that I have learned Java, I'm close to being able to get things working :-)

When I do get things working, I will be able to reveal more about the documents as they will be able to be published online -- they're currently Classified :-(

Watch this space lol

Just connected my iPad to the TV :-)

Had to post about this :-)

Wanted to be able to connect my iPad to a TV for watching movies on when I'm away on holiday.

I've had the iPad about a year and a half and taken it on holiday abroad 3 times now. In November I got a bonus at work for finishing a project and bought a GoFlex Satellite WiFi hard drive that talks to the iPad for movies and other media. So, I have all my DVD movies and TV boxed sets ripped onto it :-) And it's great I don't need to pick which movies to take with me on holiday -- I just take them all!

Before I went away for Xmas I was looking for a device/cable to be able to connect it to a TV in hotel rooms to have a bigger picture. I couldn't get anything in December as no-one sold such a thing. Popped into Maplin today for a browse and they had this iPad/iPod/iPhone AV cable on special offer for £14.99 :-D bought one and it's great! I'm watching a movie just now from the iPad. Only difference is the one I got was black which is better anyway as my 1st Generation iPad is black :-)