House #7: Electrical Walkthrough

January 15, 2019
IN: building a house, house #7, light fixture, lighting

Call me crazy, but so far the most exciting part of the home building process has been drafting the electrical plan. Is it weird that I was giddy about having the opportunity to choose outlet and light switch placement?! 😉 Because giddy is the best way to describe my feelings. We did the electrical walkthrough yesterday, and I may have scared the electrician with my note sheet. Ha! The scribblings of a crazy design lady. 😉

As soon as we received our final plans I started thinking and researching…….and pinning like a mad fool. Because this feels like one of the most important steps of the whole process. Once the drywall is up adding outlets and/or lights is really tough. So I wanted to be thoughtful about each space in the house and thoroughly think through every last electrical detail.

Ideas We’re Incorporating

Horizontal Kitchen Outlets

(Young House Love)

It’s such a simple thing to do when you’re starting from scratch. And if you’re going to have a tile backsplash, it’s a much cleaner look as the outlets are less visible and easier to disguise.

Middle of the Wall Outlet for Built-in Ironing Board

(Better Homes & Gardens)

This is one of those house ideas that I’d probably never bother adding after the fact. But being able to say exactly where to place the outlet from the beginning makes this kind of a no-brainer.

Adding an Outlet up High for Patio Lights

(my fall styled screen porch)

And we’re putting that outlet on a switch. It’s going to be so nice to not have to run an extension cord!

Floor Outlets

Both the living room and den will have a floor outlet to make lamp lighting possible in the middle of the room. I’m pretty excited about this one!

Stairwell Outlets

For easy vacuuming. And I’m planning to have them covered with these LED night light wall plates because I still worry about my teenage kids slipping on the stairs at night.

Motion Sensor for Garage and Exterior Side Lights

Speaking of teenagers…..I feel like a lighted garage and driveway is a good idea for teenage drivers. 😉 But I also think this will come in handy a lot when our hands are just too full to flip a switch.

Things We’ve Decided We’re Not Doing

Swiss Cheese Ceilings

My builder is basically shocked that I don’t want a lot of recessed lighting (and by the way this is saving us a great deal of money!), but I’m just personally not a fan. He feels like it’s good for resale. But I’m going with my gut on this. And I’ve pretty much kept the can lighting to the kitchen, a couple of closets, the master bathroom and the hallways.

(House Beautiful)

In Cabinet Outlets

I know a lot of people swear by having these for doing things like charging devices or for housing hair styling tools in a bathroom, but I’ve never had an in-cabinet outlet and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. I don’t also like the idea of having to keep a drawer or cabinet door open while blow drying or curling my hair. It’s just not an upgrade that has any appeal for me.

USB Outlets

We don’t have them now and it’s another one of those things I just don’t think we really need. That being said, it’s an easy enough change to make down the road if we do want to change a couple of outlets like say in an office area or something. Do you have any USB outlets?

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Now that the walkthrough is complete, it’s time to finalize the the light fixture selections! Can’t wait to share the pretty stuff with you all! But please tell me I’m not the only one who nerds out over things like outlet placement and dimmer switches?!

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I love the electrical walk through also. I made one mistake on my second build and didn’t specify where I wanted the light switches in the foyer. Of course, the electrician but it in the middle of the foyer wall, making hanging art a huge problem.

Definitely love the USB outlets in our kitchen for charging. Not sure why the negative of having these is other than a very slight increase in cost. We have a charging cable always ready on our island where we and guest sit and it is in almost constant use. Big unexpected plus is that I find that having the USB outlet and consequently only a cable in the kitchen means that my kids don’t steal it to charge elsewhere (before the kitchen reno this was a huge issue for me!) , because it does not have the plug with it, it is not useful elsewhere in the house, where we do not have USB outlets!

Did you consider the wall outlets that are recessed into the wall? Furniture can fit snug against the wall with these.

I wish I had added more electrical outlets! I thought I already went over board on how many we had but I still should have done a few more!

We have an outlet over each set of cupboards in our kitchen, and it’s a place I would never have thought of. However, The person who lived here before us put them there, along with a strip of lights that can plug in it (and they are attached to a switch) and run on top of our cupboards. It’s a great way to have just a little bit of light up there at night, for example.

There’s no negative at all. I just don’t feel like we need them. And I’d rather use the budget to put a dimmer switch on everything. 😉

They do the craziest things sometimes!

I hadn’t, but those sound cool!

Such a great idea for the holidays too!

I’m with you on the recessed lighting. I know that people love it but it’s really not attractive and, in many spaces, not necessary. And, YES to putting everything on dimmers. We did a whole house renovation a few years back and asked them to switch every light switch to a dimmer. Our contractor didn’t think it was necessary in some places (such as bathrooms) but we insisted.

Keep the house updates coming. It’s so fun following along with you!

We are about to close on our eighth house, and I will say that the electrical makes a huge difference. Our last house was one we renovated and got to pick everything. It was great to be able to put everything where we wanted. This eighth house was mostly complete and is right in the middle of the city, but I think they made a lot of smart electrical outlet choices thankfully. However, we are in a rental house in the meantime with almost no can lights. They are only in the kitchen and bathrooms and let me tell you, this is the darkest and most depressing place. I have tons of lamps, but it is just dark and awful. Another issue is that there is a large covered back porch and lots of beautiful oak trees that block a lot of light. I know you’ve had a lot of houses too, but I’d really look at the natural light in there before you nix the can lights. The reason this house is a rental is because it sat on the market because it is so dark. Also, I agree about no outlets in the drawers. We had that in our fifth house, and one of the cleaning ladies wrapped my curling iron up and put it in the drawer while plugged in. In the process she flipped it on and we were lucky nothing caught on fire in there. I am a firm believer in unplugging hair tools before storing them after that! Things are moving along for you guys! Looking good!

I think you’re right to skip the USB outlets, personally. That is a technology that changes pretty quickly (we’re now on something like USB 3.0 right? So if you have a USB 1.0 it takes more than 3x as long to charge a device?) Like you said, you can always add it and probably much cheaper than the builder markup!

I wish I had horizontal outlets in my subway backsplash! I also wish I had outlets inside our pantry so I didn’t have to keep my coffee maker or toaster on the countertop.

I am a total luddite, however, the older I get the more attention I have to pay to my gums and I would kill for an outlet in the medicine chest. I hate having a water pik and a Braun electric toothbrush on my counter.

It’s so important to make your home work for the way you live. I honestly hadn’t even thought about my toothbrush because it hold a charge for so long that I rarely have to plug it in. But now, I’m kind of wishing I had done at least one in-cabinet outlet. 😉

We switched out some of our outlets to usb outlets, and I wish I had several more! I love them, and so does the rest of my family. Just wanted to cast my vote for you changing your mind on that one! haha

Haha! Thanks Nicki! 🙂