Now that the house has been completely enclosed, it is time for the fun stuff.  We did our walk through last week with Chris, which also involved the Electrician, Plumber, and Cabinet maker.  So many decisions, so little time.  I will update you this week on all the decisions we had to make in a short period of time to help you plan ahead when building your new home.

First we will start with the electrician.  The electrician for this project was Mike from Houska Electric Inc.  The walk through included selecting where you would like all of your electrical outlets, telephone/cable jacks, lighting fixtures and light switches. 

I learned you can buy a ceiling fan that comes with a remote.  I could not believe it.  We opted not to go with the remote ceiling fan, because we both knew the kids would hide it after one day, and then there would be no more fan.  We decided to go with a standard fan but two electrical switches on the wall.  One of the switches controlled the light and the other controlled the fan.  I thought this was a genius idea.  Think of how many times you are standing on your bed or pulling up a chair to turn on the fan, or turn on the fan and turn off the light.  What a convenience.

Next we decided to upgrade our fan in the master bathroom.  This fan is supposed to be more quiet and pull more cubic feet of air, taking more humidity out of the bathroom.  This option was great for me as I always get so hot getting ready in the morning.

In the Living Room we decided to place an electric outlet and cable jack above the fireplace to put a TV.  The TV needs to be high enough, so the heat coming out at a 45 degree angle would not hurt the TV.   In addition, we decided to place an extra set on the wall, just incase this idea did not work out.

We chose four recessed lights in the Living Room, one in each corner of the trey ceiling.  Five recessed lights in the kitchen, following the cabinets.  One recessed light in the master bathroom above the shower to add some soft light when using the tub.  And last, one outside the main front door entrance.  Otherwise everything else will have a light fixture.

Last but not least, we added outlets outside in the soffets.  This will be  great this fall when I have David decorate for Christmas.  The convenience of this option rather than stringing one light after another will be great to have.

One thing I would change in this process, is that David and I should have gone into the house in advance and had a discussion on the locations of the light fixtues and switches.  You think it is so logical and sort of a foregone conclusion as to where they should be and yet it’s different for each house’s floor plan.  It was difficult to do when the electrician sort of sprung it on us.  Get ideas as you picture yourself in the house where you want the light switches to be, and what lights will be controlled by those switches.

These were the additional options that we took advantage of to add convenience in our family.  Now it is the time to start looking for the all the lights we have to place in the house.

Check for options you have for electrical contractors in the Fargo Moorhead area.