This is the story of how a huge personal project called The Nerd Centre came about.
I have, this past two weeks, been working harder than I have all year. By harder, I mean in short bursts and mostly sitting down. I’m sure a fully healthy person would have finished on day two. I am not fully healthy.
Where things began
Our story today starts a few years ago. I friend offered me some money to decorate my admittedly tatty looking front room. I said thank you very much and roped in the aid of some other friends who know what they were doing when it came to decorating and picking out colours. K & K were awesome.
Moving stuff about
I did not enjoy this stage at all. I’m not great with large changes and hardly cope at all with disruptions in my living space. Nevertheless K & K made sure a proper redecoration happened despite me being mostly in the way.
As part of that I was persuaded to chuck out some tatty shelves and go for something a bit better looking. This meant that a lot of books and other nerdy stuff ended up in my spare room. The one designated to become a mixed arts and crafts space and YouTube filming set.
Desk and shelves
The plan had been to order timber of appropriate plank sizes, stain it to match the fireplace, and build a custom desk and shelving unit. This was to go roughly where whoever was holding the camera in the lsat two pictures was standing.
This has still yet to happen for a number of reasons. One of those being the studio, the other being COVID-19.
Studios come and studios go
After evicting some stuff to my bedroom, the studio was starting to take shape. The walls were painted, the floor carpeted, and the larger parts moved in. K & K helped to make that happen too.
In the picture below, you can see my smaller sofa and a rather versatile IKEA unit already in place. You can also see some curtains which needed to go. Also, note my cat deciding if she approved.
Friends in need
Just as the YouTube studio was coming together, a friend found himself with nowhere to live. So, I gave up my hopes of having a filming space, emptied the room and let my friend move in.
Can you guess where all my stuff went?
If you guessed it all ended up in my bedroom, you are 100% correct.
Oh, man…
After all of that happened, I tried to find me a chippy (a carpenter) to build my shelves. I am still trying to get someone to come and give me a quote.
Without shelves in my living room to hold my books and nerdy toys the bedroom was so massively cramped. Not put off, I set up a filming space in my living room. After all, look down was in effect and a living room that guests can sit in was not needed.
Lock down lifted and I had to put the living room back into receiving guests mode. However, I had a plan.
The Nerd Centre
It was at arround this time that I had a cunning plan.
I had been saving for some time. With those saving I brought a bunch of KALLAX stuff from IKEA. If you have yet to discover KALLAX, you are missing out.
The plan was “simple”:
- Separate an area for the bed and an area for other stuff.
- Move stuff about like the worlds least fun sliding puzzle.
- House as much stuff as I can inside accessible storage.
- Chuck out, give away, or charity shop things I can do without.
- Cover my super ugly walls with nice stuff (maybe even paint them).
- Make a nice space within all this where I can film.
- Reduce the effect that all the hard surfaces give when recording.
How well did this go?
If you are reading this, you probably know how well that plan went.
I remember this type of work being a heck of a lot easier. Even popping a poster on the wall left me needing a sit-down.
I can do a little bit while sat down, then go and have (some more of) a sit down and a cuppa.
Without my friend who moved into my spare room to do some heavy lifting, this project would have stalled completely. There were several steps that I physically could not do. Thank goodness for able-bodied mates.
The net result is that things are going slowly. So slowly that there is no way I want to put my camera anywhere near the room. I am prone to dropping stuff when a room is tidy. With boxes and stuff everywhere… Oh, hell no.
Arts and crafts
I have, however, been engaged in some of the nerdiest arts and crafts ever. As soon as the bedroom is safe enough to take expensive equipment into, I shall post an update with actual pictures.
The space that I have taken to calling The Nerd Centre is slowly taking shape. Mostly it looks like a bomb has hit it. So many boxes have been sorted, emptied, and evicted. It still looks like a hoarders house. Much more evicting of stuff to go.
In case you were wondering, “just how ugly are the bedroom walls” check out the nasty colour behind my post-it notes in this video about my writing planning methods.
How are you at DIY, spring cleaning, and being organised
I hope that I am not the only one who is slow, fair-to-middling, and overall a bit rubbish at DIY, housework, and being organised. How do you get on with DIY and organisational stuff (and/or tidying up)? Let me know in the comments – am I the only one who sucks at this stuff?
