It's All in the Details...

So. About three weeks ago, the electrician finally came down for an initial walk-through of our addition, and we told him absolutely everything we wanted. He said he would be back on Monday, which was perfect because it was Spring Break, we'd be around, home from school, etc. Monday came and went. Spring Break came and went. Emails went unanswered. Weeks started rolling by, with no word. Materials started stacking up, the contractor stopped coming down because there was nothing more he could do. Finally, the guy emailed and said he had gotten swamped and just wasn't able to do it.

The contractor found another electrician to use. The only problem: I had given our only copy of the electrical plans to the first electrician. I had three days to get those plans before meeting with the new electricians. I tracked down the guy on our way to the Big City, found where he was working and got our plans back.

The new electricians? They actually SHOWED UP when they said they would! Yesterday! We went through everything before I took H-Bomb to school, I took the plans with me to make copies for everyone, and when I came back, they had most of the outlets roughed-in, wires were strung, the old electrical service box had been moved to the outside! It was amazing. There were three guys, and they got a ton of work done in just one day.


Number One and I walked through last night, made a couple final decisions, then this morning answered the few questions the electricians had.

One of the little details that occurred to me is in the kitchen. Instead of having the outlets sticking up vertically above the back splash, especially since there will be no upper cabinets, I decided to have the outlets installed horizontally. They will be more in line with the counter tops, instead of sticking up into that precious wall space. And you know what? I love how it is going to look. I honestly don't know why everyone doesn't install them that way. The electricians installed the outlets over the vanity the same way. I really like that.


There are a lot of details in electrical work, that I'd really never thought of. Location of switches, which lights will come on together, which will be on dimmers. Where the outlets should be, how many is enough, etc.

I think it's coming together now. The electrical work will be complete in another day or two, except for installing the light fixtures, which naturally will go up after the ceiling and after we've painted everything.

Here's hoping for more frequent updates and real progress once again!