Spinny

Here tis video mentioned... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zs2DwWqH5I

Well you could have a device detect the absence of the SPOC. I think there was someone on YouTube that had put a routine on a Shelly switch that triggered if the SPOC was down and reverted the relay to manual. Made sure the lights would work if the SPOC went down. Beyond that you could possibly switch to a mirror. i am not really sure how you could expect otherwise. Network routing failover is one thing but logic failover is another as logic would not be distributable - just capable of duplication and mirroring with failover ?

Ah ok, I meant slim circular downlight puck lights that get recessed into the cabinet base. About 12-15mm deep. Want circular to match the extractor etc Kitchen company have some but they are not smart.

These days you can have a smart home that doesn't depend on the cloud. Home Assistant can be local, Samsung Smartthings can be local. I havn't looked into the transfer of a smart system to another owner, but I would suspect there maybe relatively straightforward routes. And after all we face the same barriers if we want to transfer a mobile phone, a laptop, or even a TV to a new owner. Even my car has an App that would need sorting out if I sold the car. Personally I plan to stay in the house until I die - which may be sooner from all the stress of trying to get this building malarkey sorted. And I hope that a smart home will ease some elements of old age - no falling down in the dark - no being unable to reach the socket to turn the device off - people being alerted if you havn't got out of bed etc. And what we are doing doesn't go the whole hog, we do actually have physical light switches and you could remove all the smart relays and have a functioning home. Yes there is an element of it not being essential. It isn't essential when the car puts the handbrake on, turns the headlights on, heats the car, and applies the brakes before I hit something - but it is convenient, as you discover when trying to drive the spouses car with the handbrake on ;0) At least we don't have to do the washing up anymore, or refill the kerosene lamps. There has always been something irresistable about having automated and remote control. They just never fitted that module to the Mr Trump model unfortunately.

In my case the controls are attached directly to the mixer valve. The wall behind the shower is hollow and accessible from the other side for service access if needed (and pipes are easily accessed by removing the bath panel). But yes a little awkward if you don't get in before turning the shower on.

Anyone seen any thin lights for recessing into the bottom of kitchen wall cabinets that are actually smart and can be controlled remotely to change colour temperature as well as to dim ?

Here is ours. Went with neither 20 years ago, although the screen folds in half inwards, so it helps the screen clear the shower head. The centre line is on the left of the riser, i.e. midway between the riser and the centre of the shower head - you can count the mosaic tiles.

It certainly is, it is difficult to believe how slow and change resistant the market is. You would think, for example, that by now there would be a multitude of lighting suppliers offering smart down lights. I could only find one supplier, now taken over by another company that then instantly cancelled their smart lights from the range. If you are going to produce downlights where you can switch the power and colour temperature - why on earth in 2026 would you not be making them smart. And still, even now, idiot companies think people will buy their own branded hub to go along with 12 others. You sometimes wonder whether they actually do any research at all on where the market will be going.

Ah, I am going to skip wired wall switches for the blinds all together. What motors are you using for the blinds ? 240V ? Somfy ? I am waiting on what may be a hideous quote from a blind company. A lot of blind companies only seem to do the rechargeable ones - but I can't face having to recharge blinds.

Wondering why you would need that, if you mean a retractive that you can press both up and down. I find the one way retractive good enough for dimming = just hold down or press again to change direction. I anticipate using smart scenes anyway 95% of the time controlled through a seperate smart switch/cube/remote/knock sensor/smart rule/dashboard/voice. Starting to look at Click Definity. I notice they do some zigbee sockets which is interesting - anybody tried those ? Currently using Samsung Smartthings but anticipate moving to Home Assistant in the end.

Have been looking for screwless retractive light switches and grid switches - in a brushed steel finish. Any recommendations ? At the moment I have found some by Saxby - although only seem to have a limited range of engraved grid switches for appliances. I notice some by Varilight but seem to have rather mixed reviews. Anyone know whether all grid switch modules will fit into all brands of grid cover plates - are they interchangeable ? That is buy say a varilight switch and mount it in a Saxby screwless cover plate ? (Looked at SOHO but the cover plate has no edges and not keen on seeing the bracket when viewed edge on, plus very expensive) (Looked at BG Nexus but don't like the white plastic edges)

You could consider High Pressure Laminate type products, a la cladding type products like Trespa, Rockpanel, etc. We have been looking for a soffit material that would look like timber but not fade etc. The only one we could find in the right colour is a Fundermax one, made on the continent and widely used there and in the US. However our only route to getting it is a special shipment via a French distributor/fabricator it seems. https://www.fundermax.com/en/Portfolio/Collections https://www.trespa.com/en_GB/ https://pura-uk.com/ and https://pura-uk.com/products/fasciasandsoffits https://bbsfacades.co.uk/ Maybe well be too much cost and faffing for you though.

I think it depends on exactly what you do or don't want. Some just want some basic drawings for the planning application creating based on their own sketch. Some want someone that severely games the planning system to get plans through that should never get through. You can't build a planning application drawing, and any build quote you get will be fairly meaningless. To build you need construction drawings, or you start making it up as you go along. To get a proper quote you need construction drawings, electrical plan, structural engineer's design/report and a tender document which becomes part of the building contract. Some want actual creative design to address their life needs (i.e. the brief) and achieve aesthetic goals. Some want to build at £1.5k/sqm, others at £8k/sqm. Some want to accept whatever single design the architect draws unchanged, some want preliminary concepts to choose between, some want to look carefully at the plans and make improvements and changes to give them what they really want. I would always say plan, plan, and plan because the more you plan, the more problems you will avoid. Change on projects is always a killer. You certainly see so many extensions that are diabolical - saw one once where someone had built a kind of bridge with steps up and down to cross a staircase opening. Builders and Architects love to hate each other but each bring something essential. The best thing a good architect can give you is probably a route to a good reliable builder.

Looks amazing and in a great setting too. So good to hear of people achieving remarkable things despite everything life throws at us all. And an encouragement to all of us struggling with seemingly never ending projects to keep on keeping on. Based on my own experience I look at builds like yours, and those that were featured on say, Grand Designs House of the Year and I cannot really fathom how these things ever get built at all. I am still trying to get a simple extension finished after 3 and a half years of being ground down by endless challenges. I have absolutely no idea where you can find trades people that are capable of building such things, or indeed that reliably turn up. Clearly they are out there and there are people and teams out there that can manage the seemingly unmanageable world of building. Well done Sir.

PPS Just remembered there is also this type if you can drill into the frame to fit it (a bit like a door latch barrel), such as wooden frames... https://www.vesternet.com/collections/door/products/z-wave-plus-aeotec-recessed-door-sensor-7