- 2 days ago
whoops 😬
Link to what I think is the best desk on the planet (Secretlab MAGNUS Pro): https://secretlab.co/products/magnus-...
Link to what I think is the best desk on the planet (Secretlab MAGNUS Pro): https://secretlab.co/products/magnus-...
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00This is $52,000 of truly terrible decisions.
00:05Two years ago, we built our dream smart home.
00:07But what we didn't realise at the time is we were making some of the greatest mistakes of our lives.
00:12So, here's where we went wrong, but then also how we eventually turned this into a home that's optimised beyond
00:19our wildest dreams.
00:20Starting with the living room.
00:21When we first moved in, I spent an entire week trying to find the perfect wireless chargers,
00:26specifically designed to look like Pokeballs.
00:28These were so rare, I ended up paying $150 to import them from Japan.
00:34So, imagine my pain when I realised no one wants to use wireless chargers.
00:39Every time someone came over and were playing a game over there,
00:42Oh, for goodness sake, and their battery was running out,
00:45they didn't want to banish their phone to the other side of the room just to charge it.
00:50Leading us to what we've realised is the better solution, power banks.
00:53Two of these new anchor bricks covers the power needs of every single person on this floor.
00:58They charge phones, they charge laptops, they've got this magnetic base to pop them back onto when you're done,
01:02so even your parents know how to use them.
01:05And then we just keep these tiny USB-C cables plugged into them at all times,
01:08because they're practically invisible from the front.
01:10And then, for when you can't even be bothered to grab one,
01:14we found that these Belkin wall chargers are an insanely useful product to have strategically dotted around the house.
01:2067 watts of power, enough for most laptops, USB-C with the cable built in,
01:24and the cable itself is retractable, so no cable mess either.
01:29Oh, damn it.
01:30But the kitchen mistakes cost us quite a lot more.
01:33The first big change was the drinks area.
01:35When we moved in, we had this idea that we were going to host parties every other week.
01:39We had Ciroc bottles and a ninja slushie maker to turn those into something even more fun.
01:43But the reality is, we only really drink tea and coffee, so the slushie's gone.
01:49But in its place, we have figured out how to truly master the warm beverage.
01:53So for coffee, my learning was, surprisingly, don't go for a machine from Miele.
01:59I got their highest-end model from a recommendation, but I hated it.
02:03It was so loud, it took so long to do anything.
02:06And most of all, the user interface was abysmally basic for a 2026 product.
02:11Half the time, you couldn't tell what drink you were asking it to make,
02:13because it just shows such limited information.
02:16And it's only when we got fed up and changed it out for a DeLonghi machine
02:19that it properly clicked just how many generations behind Miele is in some ways.
02:23This thing was the same price, just miles more intuitive to operate,
02:28especially if it's a guest using it.
02:29And then if you make tea in a pot like I do, the loka will fix your problems.
02:35It's this incredibly simple but cool piece of engineering
02:38where as your tea boils, instead of the foam bubbling over the edge,
02:42this makes it fall back on itself.
02:44So you can leave it fairly unattended on high heat and not flood your kitchen with chai.
02:49And then for any type of powder drink, this is the magic whisk.
02:55It means any kind of hot chocolate or matcha, you just throw the milk in,
02:58throw the powder in, and this will get it to the perfect 80 degree C and really frothy.
03:02It's actually all froth.
03:07So freaking good.
03:09Oh my god.
03:11Oh.
03:12Nice.
03:13And then the way we formatted this all is the appliances for coffee, teas, and powders are on that section.
03:18Then above that is all the regular actual coffees, teas, and powders themselves.
03:22And then if you want anything extra, this drawer opens up and that's coffees, teas, and powders.
03:27This cabinet is just pure joy to me.
03:30Now there's a bunch of things in this kitchen that I do think we nailed first time.
03:34Like the toaster.
03:36Of course, it's the one and only.
03:38Like seriously, look at this slice of bread.
03:42Oh yeah.
03:44You sure got it.
03:45And the beast blender is something we got later on, but it's been instantly amazing.
03:50It's just seriously fast.
03:54And then when you're done, you have this instantly ready-to-go smoothie bottle type thing.
03:59And there's no drippage anywhere.
04:02Then in here, the Ninja Creamy ice cream machine has earned its place for eternity.
04:07This machine was responsible for about 50% of my weight loss transformation.
04:11And then every single simple human product we got too.
04:14The kitchen roll holder that's also secretly a spray bottle with surface cleaner inside.
04:18The touchless soap dispensers, one for dish soap, one for hand wash, and the bin too.
04:22All of this stuff, in the entire two years, haven't given us a single problem.
04:26I like this stuff enough that I've actually bought a bunch of it as gifts for friends.
04:32Because nothing says I care about you more than a trash can.
04:35But not everything was perfect on first try.
04:38Like the plants.
04:39We originally bought these very nice, hard-to-kill indoor plants.
04:43Realised that we're not particularly green-thumbed when they still died.
04:47But then found a brand called Easy Plant.
04:49We've basically made this self-watering pot.
04:52Which means that instead of needing to water the soil, like, once a week,
04:55you actually instead just take that off and water the reservoir roughly once a month.
05:00And this makes sure that the plant has what it needs when it needs it.
05:04So pretty much every plant in this house is now an Easy Plant.
05:07We've added an air purifier.
05:08Just because cooking can kick off a bunch of things that you don't necessarily want to be marinating in all
05:13day.
05:14We've got some acoustic panels.
05:15They just help to take some of that empty room echo out.
05:19But that's also nothing compared to what we've done to some rooms.
05:21We originally had some dotty-looking LED strips under our island.
05:25Those have now been axed in favour of the Philips Hue Omniglow,
05:28which are pretty perfectly diffused.
05:31But, do you know, the most noticeable upgrade for me day-to-day
05:34is the organisation inside of each drawer.
05:38Actually, I want to have a serious talk about organisers.
05:41There was a point in my life when I thought the idea of something like this was completely pointless.
05:47How on earth is buying this whole new thing that actually eats further into your drawer space going to help
05:53you stay tidy?
05:54I was wrong.
05:56Draw dividers like this.
05:58Draw organisers like this.
06:00Draw trays like this.
06:01This stuff is absolutely essential if you want your rooms to stay clean.
06:05Because they allow you to create just the right amount of space for each type of product within your drawers.
06:10So that any time you use something from them,
06:12you've created a situation where the easiest thing to do is to just put it right back when you're done.
06:18I swear, when you move into a new place, it's like this black hole opens up,
06:22where your tape, your scissors, your Blu-Tack, it all just disappears into.
06:27You'll keep buying them, you'll keep losing them, unless you have good systems.
06:30I literally bought a magnetic pair of scissors for this exact reason.
06:34There's only one place that you can put this thing back.
06:36Plus, with the right organisers, you'll also always know when you're low on things,
06:39so you can get the top-ups ready.
06:40And even though, yes, organisers can take up space,
06:43use them well, and they'll actually free you space by just helping you use what you have better.
06:48Like, a month ago, we realised we were running out of room for shoes.
06:51But, of course, then we found shoe organisers that let you stack each shoe on top of its other half.
06:57Now we could host a millipede if we wanted to.
07:00But now we've had my proper dad chat about drawers,
07:03it's time to swallow my pride and talk about our worst fails.
07:06Like how we originally spent $4,000 buying an indoor fireplace for our garden.
07:14And it's not entirely our fault.
07:17There are many companies who will try to sell you bioethanol fireplaces like this for the outdoors.
07:22They'll try and convince you that they're just like a normal fireplace,
07:24but with less harmful emissions and less plumbing required,
07:28which are both technically true.
07:29It just means that you're effectively dropping 4K on a tub,
07:33which, as promised, was almost no hassle to first set up.
07:37Instead, it was a massive hassle every time we wanted to use it.
07:40You'd have to manually pour in the bioethanol.
07:42It was such a pain to light.
07:44And most importantly, the resulting flame...
07:46I mean, it was basically just a big candle.
07:49Cavemen would be ashamed.
07:50Point being, if you're going to get a fire pit outdoors,
07:52don't go for a bioethanol one.
07:54Get a gas fireplace, like the loom pit that we swapped it out for.
07:58It now takes about 30 seconds to get a fire going.
08:01That fire is like four times the size.
08:02And then the reason that we went for this one specifically is the extra tricks.
08:06It's got an LED strip hidden underneath, a speaker system inside,
08:09and even two unexpectedly clutch wireless chargers.
08:14My friends actually use these ones.
08:20But even the $4,000 fire pit blunder is small fry compared to the office.
08:25Our original vision was this Japanese Zen garden-themed room,
08:29incorporating as many earthy elements as possible,
08:31like moss, wood, and even this giant water feature in the corner.
08:35But we've ended up changing literally 50% of this room.
08:40Partly just because we found ways to make it even better.
08:42Partly because we just screwed up.
08:46I mean, our entire attitude at the start of this was,
08:48we're only going to build our dream house once.
08:50So for each thing we're going to get,
08:51let's just get the best version of that thing.
08:53And while that mindset did pay off for many things in this house,
08:56it was not the best approach for the whiteboard.
09:00In the pursuit of whiteboard maxing,
09:02we ended up with this Samsung Flip Pro.
09:04And for a few months came to the humbling realization that
09:07there's nothing we needed from it that a normal whiteboard didn't offer.
09:11And then because of all the tech,
09:12the thing's just so heavy and unmanoeuvrable that
09:15we didn't end up using it at all.
09:19This incredible piece of hardware though,
09:22we use all the time.
09:24There's a whole bunch of small refinements here.
09:26Like the Delta Hub Carpio has ended up feeling like the
09:29final missing ingredient for the perfect mouse setup.
09:33It lifts and cups your wrist to eliminate a strain
09:36that I didn't even realize was there until I started using it.
09:39I've upgraded the keyboard to the fairly new 2026 Mode Sonnet.
09:43This is a very extreme purchase,
09:45but the benefit comes because they can customize the look,
09:48the sound and the feel of the keyboard to
09:51exactly what you have in your mind.
09:53Plus, if we ever have a break-in, then this can be my weapon.
09:57We changed our underdesk elliptical to one from Decathlon,
10:01which to my surprise has ended up more affordable,
10:03smoother and with higher resistance than any other high-end one I've tried.
10:07And then here, I'm currently in the process of testing
10:11what's either going to end up as one giant gimmick
10:13or literally the god of all office chairs,
10:16because this thing is motorized.
10:18So you grab this remote and you press to control
10:21exactly where you want the lumbar support to be.
10:23This has seat heating, seat ventilation,
10:26which is unbelievably clutch on a day like today
10:29where somehow the UK has hit 38 degrees Celsius.
10:35And then even three different levels of massage.
10:38Oh yeah, and a footrest.
10:41But as comfortable as this is,
10:45well, it is really, really comfortable.
10:47I'm still slightly TBC on whether I want to have
10:50yet another gadget that I need to charge,
10:52but there are three overarching permanent changes to this room.
10:56Like, for example, there's no water feature anymore.
10:59The thing was beautiful.
11:01I love the vision.
11:02But living with a large water feature inside your house,
11:05even if you're down for the upfront cost,
11:07it's not worth it.
11:09For starters, we spent $15,000 getting the thing fully fitted.
11:14It needed a lot more parts than we originally expected,
11:17like a generator that once set up,
11:19needed to run once per day for three hours.
11:23And it sounded like this.
11:25Then we were told that we needed to maintain the water
11:28with three different treatment plans.
11:30So one set of things that you have to do once a week,
11:33one set of things that you have to do once a month,
11:35and then a whole different set of things
11:36that you have to do once every three months.
11:38Failed to do any of that, even a few times,
11:40which of course we did, the water goes moldy.
11:44It started to smell so bad
11:45that ultimately we decided the best course of action
11:48was to fork out another $1,000
11:50to get the thing taken out
11:52and use the space for a fourth desk,
11:54which is such a generational L
11:56that it has kept me up at least a few nights.
11:59And not just because of the generator.
12:01The second major change is that every single desk
12:04has been upgraded to the Secret Lab Magnus Pro,
12:06our sponsor, but not because they're our sponsor.
12:09These are still height adjustable like our previous ones,
12:11but the magic is an integrated power supply
12:14inside of this leg.
12:15This means that with just one cable
12:17into the very bottom here,
12:18which you can barely see,
12:20it gives you power to not just your desk,
12:22but every single thing on your desk.
12:24There isn't a desk that does this better.
12:26It essentially gives you mains power, but up here.
12:28So all your messy desktop cables,
12:31instead of trailing off the end of the desk,
12:33can instead just fall down into this tray,
12:35stay plugged in and become like 97% invisible,
12:38even as you're moving the desk up and down.
12:40And the other thing is, it's just insanely clean,
12:44both literally, I mean, the thing's like
12:46one giant wipeable coaster,
12:48but also aesthetically, because it's magnetic too,
12:51you can manage the 3% of remaining cables
12:53by just snapping these organizers down on top of them.
12:55But sadly, the cost of all four of those,
12:58plus the entire water feature fiasco,
13:00is still less than the cost of our third modification.
13:05This.
13:06We realized after a few months using the original office
13:08that it just wasn't quiet enough.
13:12We have concrete floors all over the house,
13:14which are really bad for echo.
13:16And then these are really thin walls,
13:18which doesn't really work with the fact that
13:20there's a kitchen on the other side,
13:21and potentially in a few months, a crying baby too.
13:24So we started to play around with acoustic paneling.
13:27We tested some of the more plug and play options like this.
13:30These things, they don't cut enough noise out.
13:33Plus they stick out a lot visually.
13:35So eventually we decided that the only way
13:37we were going to get the result was to fully commit.
13:39We got a company called Resonix
13:41to measure out and fit two layers of absorption
13:43across every spare wall here.
13:45It's gone to the point now where even if there's tons of action
13:48and background noise happening in the kitchen,
13:50as you can hear because we're shooting this clip on the phone,
13:52then all you need to do is to take like,
13:55I want to say 12 steps into the office over here.
13:58And as soon as you've done that
13:59and shut the door behind you,
14:01it is literally like stepping into a library.
14:05Ow.
14:07It's so quiet.
14:08And I think the panels actually look incredible too.
14:10If anything, they're adding to the earthy elements vibe.
14:14And we did pretty much the same thing to our entryway.
14:17This room was atrocious to film in before.
14:20It was just so echoey.
14:21Plus also, any conversation you'd have down here,
14:24you'd hear at the top of the house.
14:26And so this acoustic treatment has been an extremely expensive,
14:29but at the very least conclusive way to fix that.
14:32The gym has been mostly perfect.
14:35Zero regret splurging on the Technogym machines.
14:37They do just feel like a cut above any other gym I've gone to since making our own.
14:42But it was this boxing wall thing that we had originally.
14:45It was one of those classic products that look great on TikTok
14:48that, let's be honest,
14:49you're just not going to use as part of any realistic workout.
14:53So we replaced it with its bigger brother.
14:56This is the Bout Smart Punching Bag.
14:59And after learning the hard way from that smart whiteboard,
15:01we made sure that before any kind of tech,
15:03this was just a great punching bag.
15:07Thankfully, it has the tech too.
15:09That was weak.
15:11It has all sorts of tech.
15:13Like it can track your punch speed and your punch power.
15:15It can show you how much you've damaged different parts of the bag,
15:18like a boss in a video game.
15:20There's even these entire workout routines where
15:23this dude shows you what to do,
15:25and the closer you get to him,
15:27the higher you're going to score.
15:28Now, if you haven't already realized at this point,
15:30I'm a total freak when it comes to optimization.
15:33I will literally spend entire weekends looking at tiny little pain points
15:36and then figuring out how to iron them out.
15:39Like, for example, we realized that when guests come over,
15:42while they can get fine control over things like the AC,
15:45blinds and lights using these Control 4 tablets that we have in the hallways,
15:49the ideal is to give them that full control from within the rooms.
15:53And that while you can buy Control 4 home remotes specifically for this,
15:56they'd actually end up more expensive than just using some of the iPhones
16:00that we already had around.
16:01So because we're in the Japan room, it's a nice pink iPhone.
16:04And on it, you can see we've gone to the extent of actually writing out instructions
16:10for the three different apps they should be using
16:12to set exactly where they want the blinds to be
16:14or the temperature of the room.
16:16And this is also a full working remote for the Samsung Frame TV on the wall.
16:21So far, our guests love it.
16:24Can I sleep now?
16:28Nothing was a mistake in the cinema room, though.
16:30We are literally in here every evening.
16:33The second and third screens that drop down from the ceiling for gaming
16:36felt like they might be a gimmick, but I'm happy to say they are not.
16:40The only thing we've really had to improve is the food cabinet
16:42because it turns out when you're winding down after a long day,
16:46it's pretty easy to eat a bag of whatever you've kept right next to you.
16:50Or five.
16:51So the snacks and the drinks have gotten quite a lot healthier over time.
16:55But also, we realized, since this has become our default place for relaxation,
17:00that it's the perfect place to have access to some wellness gear.
17:04Like, we've absolutely fallen in love with these TheraFace masks.
17:07They make your skin clearer using red and blue light.
17:10These scalp massages from Breo give you tingles all across your body
17:14in, like, the best way possible.
17:15And then I've also found it really useful to keep a Hypervolt massage gun in this section.
17:19Because it turns out when I play football, I keep injuring myself.
17:23Because I'm too good, just to be clear.
17:25And then when we're done rehabilitating,
17:27everything just goes back into its charging place or base.
17:32I just love systems.
17:36But the single greatest L of our entire house project has to be Studio B.
17:42Like the sofas.
17:43I spent $22,000 buying what I thought was the perfect furniture for this room.
17:48It was angular and futuristic and even had LEDs baked inside.
17:51So I had this idea that we could theme even the color of our sofas to the video we were
17:55filming.
17:56Turns out, they were the worst things we could have gotten.
17:59That furniture was designed for the outdoors.
18:01So it was about as comfy as a plank.
18:03The LEDs were so dim compared to the room that you couldn't see them.
18:06And then because the things were powered,
18:08we had like eight extra cables trailing all over the place.
18:11So we couldn't move anything around.
18:13Which is kind of like the whiteboard all over again.
18:16We realized that the entire point of this room is that everything is movable.
18:19That's the only way we can actually make different types of sets for different kinds of videos.
18:23Which is why now we've gotten everything we can mounted onto wheels.
18:28Yeah, even this giant TV.
18:30I originally surrounded the room with these seven foot mirrors.
18:33Because I thought high gloss would make the studio look more futuristic.
18:37And it did.
18:38It's just, we didn't factor in that it would make it almost impossible then
18:42to film any kind of shot without getting someone's reflection in them.
18:45So now we've gone and frosted everything over.
18:47And then also, we had blinds like this across this entire window area to stop the light coming in.
18:53That was actually a poor solution too.
18:56Because every time the blinds were down, which they'd have to be for filming,
18:59you couldn't actually get in or out of the building without pulling them all the way back up again.
19:04So I'm pretty chuffed with my idea to sub those all out for giant acoustic panels
19:09that just stick onto the windows themselves.
19:11They do the same thing as blinds, but they block even more light, even more outside noise.
19:15And then because they're completely stuck on, when the door opens, they get out your way.
19:20So you can leave.
19:22As you can see, going straight from getting our first home
19:24to trying to make every single buying decision in a matter of weeks,
19:28we made a lot of mistakes.
19:30And if you're going to take anything from them, I would say,
19:32one, take as much time as you can when you're making the big purchases.
19:36Two, don't confuse the best version of something with the right version.
19:39And then three, get lots of drawer organizers.
19:42You can't have too many of them.
19:44Buy more drawers if you have to.
Comments