Teak wall - once more!

Never before has a single project required so much effort during the past 2.5 years than the slat wall in the downstairs lobby. Sourcing the teak started nearly a year ago, and since then Pekka has been relentlessly working on the different wall components. Finally, there is a light in the end of a teak tunnel.

162 teak slats

Also, the rest of Project Downstairs is moving forward. A few weeks ago a plumber installed a central heating radiator weighing just under 100 kg, so Pekka's assistance was once again welcomed to allow easy installation. The timing is perfect - the weather is finally starting to get a bit colder. This year winter seems to take forever to begin and even now, in late December, there is no snow in sight in the Southern Finland. But when the snow and cold finally take over we'll be ready: in addition to the radiator the downstairs is secured with 227 meters of floor heating cable underneath the slate.

Radiator

Pekka has been slaving to finalize the assembly of the slat wall in order to allow Kaitsu, our trusted electrician to finish the lighting (including the led-light system) and installation of the sockets. And as a result of their combined efforts, the darkness turned into light during the first week of December. 

24V transformer ready to be hidden

The slat wall has two openings for a satellite cable and for electricity. The first one is located close to the window on the bottom right corner of the wall. The second one is approximately in the middle of the wall and will be covered by a TV creating a visually "cable-free" outcome.

TV socket before

Pekka still needs to build hatches to cover both sockets. The hatches will allow electricity plugs to pass through even when closed, and they have been cut from the slats located the socket area. Naturally, this is to ensure both the tone and pattern of the grain will be a perfect match allowing a visual continuity.

TV socket. Hatch missing.

The led light was attached in two rows to an aluminium strip on top of the teak slats. Quite an intense moment to see the interaction of the led and the slat wall for the first time...

To the right

To the left

Finally - switch it on! The effect created by the led light is stunning. With a color temperature of 5500K the light reproduces the surrounding colors in a very natural way.

With a trace of disco feel...!

We are extremely pleased with how Project Slat Wall is becoming reality. The overall visual image of the downstairs lobby including slate floor and teak slats is spot on mid century modern. Perfect match to what we originally imagined!

Lights on!

Most of the work including the floor, ceiling and walls is now done. We still lack quite a few small details including for example doors, which might be a relatively considerate next step especially for potential house guests. We also have ambitious plans regarding the furniture and lights, but these are put on hold to balance the budget a bit before rushing into new investments - unless, of course, we run into something absolutely irresistible in some random auction.

Ceiling, floor and walls

Last but not least - a sneak peak of this years Christmas card! As an annual example of the seamless teamwork Minna prepares the layout and text and Pekka has the primary responsibility of the photo shoot. This year, naturally, we wanted to conduct the shoot downstairs and yes, you might already guess who the models (whose willingness for seamless teamwork seems to be a bit variable and require bribing in a growing degree) will be...

Ho ho ho!