(source: here) 

DIY or Do It Yourself is a concept that’s very popular in developed countries. However, the same has not caught up in India and I haven’t seen all those many people trying to make or even fix stuff on their own for that matter. I don’t see any real reason to this. We have our education system to blame ofcoure. But the mind set can be changed. It’s just that when we first start out to do something on our own and fail at it, we give up. Sometimes the results could be disastrous. It’s always advisable to have some first hand knowledge before getting down to working on things. But then as the saying goes, “Practise makes perfect”. So, only by repeatedly working on something can we master it.

People in America, build bikes and entire houses on their own. It’s high time we started out with smaller things at-least, like fixing that leaky flash or faucet in your toilet.

We can broadly divide Do It Yourself home projects into,

• Carpentry - All the wood work. Like a jammed door during rainy season

• Plumbing - Your faulty faucets and the like

• Civil - Brick and mortar.

• Electrical - All the wiring

We could also add furnishing, painting, interior decortion…etc to the list.

None of them are simple and one must particularly be careful when using machines. But having said that, extra care must be taken when using electrical equipment. Which is why it is probably best to call the technicians to install electrical equipments, wiring…etc.

Also, we have to make sure that we have the right tools and know about what materials to use. Using the wrong tools or wrong materials could result in not so desirable results. A trip to the local hardware store to get supplies is inevitable and it’s always better to check the rates with a few stores before going in to buy things.

I for one have always wanted to try my hand at carpentry. Wood is easy to work with compared to plumbing or civil work and definitely less risky compared to electrical work. And it’s fun too. It’s actually not all that hard to make a small table or something.

If you have experience in repairing things in your house, or building stuff, then do let us know. We would love to know that readers in India are actually into DIY. We will also try and cover some simple household tricks that can be tried and will be useful to everyone, in forthcoming posts. So, go on get your hands dirty…

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Technology seems to be going to the next level for practically every home appliance or accessory today. Even the door locks are not left behind in this trend. During the recent architect expo which was held in Chennai, we came across RFID based locks which were really amazing. Here is the story.

 Click on the image to enlarge

These locks have two ways to open the door. The first is with a traditional key. You put in the key into the slot, twist and open the door.

The second involves flashing the RFID tag (also called the key) at the door and presto, your door lock opens. All you need to do is push the handle and swing it open.

You may ask what are the advantages of such a feature. For starters, you need not fumble for the key slot in the dark. It is more convenient especially for elder people. And RFID allows you to have certain features which conventional keys do not offer.

1) Master key and Normal key - Here the RFID keys are of two types. The first one is the master key which is used to provide complete access to the home. The master key also enables the home owner to program “normal” keys which are given out to say, house maids, other occupants of you house etc.

2) Complete control - Master key can be used to enable disable “normal” keys anytime. Say that you and your family are going on a vacation, and you do not want your maid to gain access to you home. You can disable all the “normal” keys before you leave and have complete peace of mind. Once you are back, you can turn the access on again.

3) Passage mode - Normally, the RFID based locks opens and again automatically locks itself after a timeout of say 20 seconds (for example - not actual value). But say you are having a function at home, you do not want the door to lock automatically every-time. At this time, you can enable what is called a “passage” mode where the auto lock does not take effect.

 Click on the image to enlarge

Seen above is the range of RFID locks from Godrej which varies from around Rs. 4000 to around Rs. 10,000.

 Click on the image to enlarge

Shown above is one of the locks which has two colored RFID keys. We believe that the red colored one is the master key, while the blue colored one is the normal key. We also think that the number of keys that comes with the lock is customizable.

 Click on the image to enlarge

Shown above is the lock for the even more security conscious people. This model features a pin pad where you can enter a secret pin code in addition to waving the RFID key! This model is one of the expensive ones around.

All the units have a battery inside. These batteries can be changed from inside the home. There is a low battery indicator according to Godrej. Just to be sure, it is always good to have the traditional keys on the same key chain as the RFID key!

Drop in your comments……………….

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For readers who are familiar with Gallery Sri Parvati, we would like to give a short update that they now have a new website. You can access this at :

http://gallerysriparvati.com/default.asp

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We thought it might be a good idea to post on how to maintain ones wardrobe properly. I am sure people have their own ways of maintaining their own wardrobes. Whatever suits you fine is alright. If you think you have a better solution or think your solution works better for you, then by all means do let us know as to how.

We has earlier touched upon organising clothes here:

Organizing Clothes in your Wardrobe

With a few years of ironing experience behind me, I thought I’ll show people how to fold clothes before putting them in your wardrobe. This is just my way of doing things, and if you feel you have a better way of accomplishing the same, do let us know.

Folding a Half Sleeve* Shirt** in 10 Easy Steps:

Step -01:

Take you half sleeve shirt and fold the collar.

Step -02:

Lay it out flat, the buttons facing you and even the surface out. This is shown below

Step-03:

This is optional. You may want to button up a few buttons as you will be flipping the shirt later. If you feel, you can flip it without soiling it, then you can skip this step. (With some experience, you will find that you can skip this.) The downside of this is that, when you take your shirt out to wear it, you have to un-button it first and this takes time and can be annoying when you are in a hurry.

Step-04:

Flip the shirt over. Now fold one side of the shirt as shown in fig.

Step-05:

Now, just fold one of the sleeves as shown in the fig. below. Make sure all along that there is no wrinkling when you fold it.

 

Step-06:

Repeat Step 04 with the other side of the shirt. i.e., fold the other side of the shirt inwards. Make sure the spacing is uniform.

Step-07,08:

Repeat Step-05 with the other sleeve. There are two ways of folding sleeves. If you notice carefully, you will see that this sleeve has been folded differently compared to the way the sleeve was folded in Step-05. Both of them work equally fine. This is just to illustrate that it can be done in more than one way. However stick to the same kind of fold on both sleeves.

Step-09:

Now fold the shirt along the horizontal centre inwards, as shown in fig. below.

Step-10:

Flip the shirt over and you are done. Hopefully, it should come out as shown below , if you followed the instructions carefully. Now go ahead and out it in your wardrobe.

*Colloquially we refer to it as Half Shirt. However, half shirt means short tops and hence the usage is not appropriate.

** - It is assumed that you are using a wrinkle free shirt. Otherwise, it is better to iron your clothes. Even with wrinkle free clothes, ironing is suggested.

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Here are some interesting modular kitchen concepts. The first one is a classic “island” kitchen with two distinct rows. As you can see in the first picture on the left the cooking/preparation area is accessible from both sides. This could be useful if you have more than one person trying to cook

The second photo on the right shows the second portion of the kitchen(partially seen in the first picture too). This is primarily the storage area for raw material and cutlery.

 

Click on the images to enlarge

This kitchen has a 5 burner hob integrated into the counter top with a good electric chimney on top. The second portion also features the sink for cleaning soiled dishes and plates.

Click on the images to enlarge

The image above is a “L” shaped kitchen. It has a conventional cook top as opposed to a Hob which would go into the counter-top. Nice shelves for storing glasses and an overall a good contrast of colors - Red and White.

We don’t know what an office chair is doing in a kitchen though! On the left you can see a traditional oven built into the unit. The sink however is missing in this concept. Perhaps since it is an exhibition, they didn’t show it for this particular concept.

Do notice the color of the crockery! That too is red. Some way to match the colors eh?

Comments are welcome.

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