Turn a spare TV into a family calendar with a Fire TV Stick

A TV you already own and a Fire TV Stick is the low-cost way to get a family calendar on the kitchen wall. No touchscreen frame to buy, and if the TV dies the calendar moves to the next screen in a minute. Here is the whole setup.

What you need

• A TV with a spare HDMI port. An older TV that has been retired to the garage is perfect.
• An Amazon Fire TV Stick. Any recent model works; the basic one is enough.
• Wi-Fi in the kitchen, and a Kitchenboard household. Start free if you have not yet.

Step 1: plug in the Stick

Plug the Stick into the HDMI port and its power adapter into the wall (the USB port on the TV is often too weak). Follow Amazon's setup on screen to join your Wi-Fi. You can skip the sign-in for services you do not use.

Step 2: open a browser

Every Fire TV Stick has Amazon's Silk browser. Open it, go to the wall, and press the menu button to go full screen so the address bar disappears. If you would rather have a browser that opens straight onto one page and hides its bars every time, search the Fire TV app store for a kiosk browser; several exist, and the free modes are enough for the wall.

Step 3: open the wall and pair it

Go to kitchenboard.app/tv and bookmark it, or set it as the start page in a kiosk browser. The TV shows a six-letter code. On your phone, open Kitchenboard, go to Settings, then Screens, and type the code. The TV switches to your household's wall straight away. The code changes every few minutes on its own and can only ever attach that one TV, so there is nothing to keep secret.

Step 4: keep it awake

Two settings matter. In the Fire TV's Display settings turn the screensaver off or set it to the longest delay. On the TV itself turn off any auto power off or eco timer. If you want the TV dark overnight, a cheap smart plug on a schedule is simpler than fighting the TV's menus.

Where to put it

Eye height, somewhere everyone passes with a coffee: the end of the bench, above the fridge, the wall by the back door. The wall is designed to be read from a couple of metres away, with the day's events large and the week smaller underneath.

Troubleshooting

• The wall looks stale. Fire TV browsers cache hard. In the phone app, Settings has a Reload all TVs now button that forces every screen to refresh.
• The code expired. The TV fetches a new one on its own. Type the one on screen now.
• The TV keeps sleeping. Check both the Stick's screensaver and the TV's own eco settings; they are separate.

Other screens: an old iPad or tablet, or the full screens guide for Samsung, LG, Google TV and Raspberry Pi.