hello and welcome back to another episode of dfixx
the decorators channel and on this episode we're going to look at how we created these
invisible switch and socket outlets using the perception cfx range from hamilton
so what have you got on the decorators bench for us gary well i've got a nice cup of coffee
it looks like you've just finished your cup of tea and all the biscuits are gone so i'm
blaming you for that yeah well we're dabbling in decorators today which is a bit of a departure
for efixx here but uh we've got i see we've got a range of wallpaper gary yeah but we didn't go for
anything simple did we look at the patterns and designs of the paper that we selected we didn't
go for anything plain did we no we didn't and we've got these socket outlets and switches to
have a look at where you can seamlessly blend them into the wallpaper and that was to be
quite frank I'm a little bit scared when these turned up because yeah you're right there's some
high-end wallpaper here and having to cut it to fit these exactly yeah we were a bit
uh and you're going to see our first attempt as we get through this presentation so hold on for that
but i think first of all let's delve in and have a look at the actual switches and sockets themselves
yeah so we'll bring this in where do you want to start you can stop the switch yes the first thing
they're screwless accessories okay yeah which obviously normally means there's a front plate on
to get that front plate off its screwdriver that pops off okay so it's a clear plastic front okay
and there's a template but that is not just a template is it yeah so it's a template to cut
a wallpaper but you can if you want to match a specific paint finish you can just paint this
so this is like a lining paper we didn't do that though that would have been easy that would have
been easy and it wouldn't have really demonstrated the full uh the full power of this range really
and i think it is fantastic um so apart from that it's the usual quality you'd expect from
hamilton in terms of their accessories and the vast arrange of finishes in terms of
the rockers and the switch mechanisms and the actual inset as well yeah so yeah the full range
is there and we think it almost future proofs the accessories within your installation don't we yeah
well you know we're in yorkshire here gary we're a little bit careful sometimes with the money yeah
so if you invest in this range you're set for life it doesn't matter what you do without wallpaper
or that paint color you can just clip the front off and yeah cut a new insert in there and
yeah you're aware so we've gone from rope edge maybe to to chrome to brush chrome to black to
nickel and everything in between but with this range it's only the wallpaper that changes
and our accessories blend in therefore we stay on trend i'll tell you what you could probably print
off a picture of a rough edge brass and put that in there that would be novel if you went back to
the future then yeah we could we're obviously not going to and yeah it's going to take a little bit
of a technique isn't it we were very patient when we did ours and you're going to see that as we go
through in order to get it cut in perfectly but the results are splendid aren't they are i
mean i love this we've had a lot of fun yeah in doing this you know had some some tense moments
but yeah i think it's a fantastic job i mean i love this cycling paper here yeah that's great
yeah so shall we see how i got on for my first attempt when i did i think it was the socket
outlet just here and obviously the full gang switch here let's have a look at origami gary
so let's prepare the wall for the wallpaper first we're going to use these new Splatez to help us
out gary yeah they usually use when marking walls for plasterboard over the front but we
think by having that solid edge all the way around it will make it easier to remove the wallpaper
that will sit in there that we're going to need for our template just get some paste on so i'm
deliberately not pasting over the Splatez itself because we're going to recover the wallpaper
around the socket box so we can just roll it down yeah making sure we go on to that splake now this
is really good because of those four corners we can actually pop that through the paper and
because the splat's in place and there's no empty box i'll have a hard edge to run around with my
knife yeah so just lightly press those through so we can find the edge of our box behind there
okay so i'll bring that edge up so i now know that that's plate is in place i'm not going to
fall into an empty box and potentially rip the paper i'm trying to salvage in the center or
the paper that was going to be left behind around the outlet yeah okay so yeah it makes life a lot
easier got something to put that straight edge against and we are using a sharp scalpel here
yeah i'm sure there's other techniques again i was just doing this on the fly to see how i could
come up with the easiest possible one for me so this section here i'm just going to take this out
yeah so we're not going to use this for the final socket we're just using this as a template to get
the exact mark of the repeat on the pattern so you can see the splits behind it there
so now we can remove that as we fit this socket so we're going to need to retrieve the template
and obviously fit it let's screw the socket outlet so as we lever them out as we always do
we can take the clear front and the template out
okay on the trend i'm sure you'll mention chip paper at some point yeah you can't use woodchip
with this i think you'd struggle okay so now we're going to prepare both accessories so
we've got some dolly switches there and they've just got these little bezels that
you remove for that tool yeah so pop those out the way and then obviously i'm going to
retrieve my template again fitted to the box and then i'm off and running just pop it out
take a screwdriver don't do the same as we've shown before just clip it once it's the center
sort of the usual metal metal framed screwless accessories we've seen on the channel before
okay so pop that one out
and retrieve my template so just gently get that one out of the way and then fit it and then i'll
show you how i went about my first one for the socket outlet this is my first attempt so i'm
learning as i go i'm going to use this actually as the template rather than cutting out from that
okay so yeah so this is the exact piece of wallpaper we need to match the pattern that
we've got on the wall but we need it slightly bigger to fit that clear plastic plate so first
of all i'm going to be a little bit bigger than i need to be by using the clear plastic plate and
going around it i'll be larger than i need it but that will make it easier when i do the next stage
so just bear with me so you've reversed that plate so it's the flat front surface that's lying down
against the paper yeah it just made it a little bit easier as a hard edge to run around with pen
so take that all the way around and now i've got a nice fresh piece of wallpaper to work with
so move this out of the way you'll be able to see what i mean by that so drop that out and now you
can see the template i'm going to keep the gap at the very top and all the way around it the same so
that will be that running edge all the way around it is at the same gap therefore when i drop on my
knife i'd love to just take a very small slither of that template with me so if you watch here
that means i'm absolutely on the running edge of that template oh yeah i can see that yeah
so i'm going all the way around again we said this was a inexpensive wallpaper you're probably
going to struggle this is a very thick expensive wallpaper obviously that blade is cutting into
it beautifully yeah okay we've got a cutting mat behind here so yeah it's best to have a
good a good surface to cut onto as well and the sharp blade because it's symmetrical i can use
it on the back just be careful on the single sockets that you get in the right way round
so i'm going to mark it out now using a pen okay a pencil or a pen we had a pen at hand so
i'm just going to mark around it with a pen and then i'm going to cut that out as well
just like being back at school gary well when i did go you know maybe doing brass or oven next
yeah i'm sure i will so you can see now there we go i've got now cut that out and again i improved
my technique here i was a bit bit cautious pressing really firmly so you notice my hand is
shaking sighs the amount of pressure i'm putting on it i don't want to go around two or three times
i've done the straight lines first but i think my second technique is better so any decorators
watching this yeah chip in with your advice here so we're not uh we're just dabbling decorators
here yeah i'd really appreciate that feedback as well so as i come around i'm more interested in
getting absolutely right than the speed involved so well charging by the hour yeah pop this one out
so yep this one comes out so just gently tease it out and okay we don't need to dub it yeah so
still don't know whether it's in the right place but there's the first one now what's the second
technique i roll it i'll leave the blade on all right you're speeding up yeah yeah i'm trying to
tell us it got me more confidence so run down the edges and then just rotate the paper there you go
and then around the corners yeah that did make a big difference as well yeah and again sharp blade
and a good cutting surface makes a big difference as well yeah i wouldn't be uh confident to use a
pair of scissors yeah or that rusty standard knife you use normally yeah that's right there we go so
now we've got to see whether it's it's right so it's not a fresh piece of paper not the piece
that was uh behind the splake there we go lay it into position so this is the time to make sure
your hands are clean you don't want fingerprints on the wallpaper or on the plate itself
and then just click into position it's quite satisfying it says it clips in just make sure
it clips all around the actual outlet itself just push it firmly into place and you step back
and i think i've made a reasonable job of that that is a perfect match thank you
so let's have a look at that switch that should be easier because they're just round holes
yeah just exactly the same process i used the template i used the extra piece of paper on top
of the the wallpaper exactly as i've just shown for the socket i could have been a little bit more
liberal here with these holes because of the dolly that would have covered them yeah the bezel on
the dolly yeah that fits up yeah you have got some tolerance there but i went for a snug fit yeah and
pop that one on considering that's my first two efforts of doing this it may be slow but it's good
yeah let's finish these off okay so just going to put the the bezels back on then just the tool
just to nip them up so you don't over tighten them because you distort the plate but um that's yeah
it looks pretty good obviously got them in line we want them out of line but yeah it's a great match
we're no decorators and i'm sure we just proved that wow when you take your time and you go
through the stages and you've got the kit i say suggest that that sharp knife and this board here
was really crucial to it let's have a look at what we had let's have a look at your remnants yeah so
we can see the bits you cut out there gary yeah this is our cutting board we found that useful the
sharp scalpel and the splats which is something we haven't used before it's not really meant for this
purpose but i think yeah getting that straight edge so we could identify a bit of wallpaper but
it made a big difference yeah and look what you get when you're left over you know it's
that top end you know people can come into your installation they're gonna look at that feature
wall you're a big fan of wallpaper aren't you and you think you're going this way don't
you know well mrs r yeah i've had a few uh heated discussions when it comes to fitting wallpaper
yeah especially when you mess up a raft door's difficult edges now that's the thing you obviously
put a lot of attention into cutting out them the electrician would suggest needs to put the same
level of care into making sure that the back box is level i don't think you'd get away with
having a box that isn't level and then having to adjust it on the adjustable tabs in the back box
because you really do want that um bang on with the wallpaper yes a little bit of care from us
and we're not suggesting the electrician necessarily is going to be the one doing the
wallpaper but if you're doing it at home you might be mine and in your case that might be yeah yeah
for clients this is i think it's a great a great option something unique yeah again the clear but
the clear bit stops the obviously damaging around the socket yeah i i like it and there's even
uh attention to detail as well so you know we haven't stepped you up to doing the usb
version yet we weren't going to mention that there's a little bit more involved in that one
yeah and obviously we always we love a regulation on the efix and part of those regulations you have
to identify the charge current and they've got a little sticker for that yeah so there's even
a little sticker that comes on that you could stick underneath the wallpaper to identify the
current as well so that's that attention to detail we're used to seeing from hamilton
i love this range you know what do you think of the hamilton perception cfx range what do you
think of our dabbling in decorating i'm sure i'm sure you could throw some top tips at us
if you've fitted this range before put some comments in below and help others and yeah
just feedback always welcome and we'll see you on the next edition of decorator fix.