Preparing for the Electrical Walk Through

We enjoyed a wonderful week in the Midwest, seeing many friends and family members. In fact every lunch and dinner was booked with different groups of friends or family from Saturday to Saturday (why do I suddenly want to sing the song Popular from Wicked?). And we lucked out with incredibly mild weather for the Midwest. In the 60’s for Christmas week? Crazy!

Mom and me

But I’m also thinking ahead to when we get back to Texas and will be walking through the house with the electrician to plan out all lights, outlets, and switches. Our current rental house in Texas has a few oddly placed switches – on the hinge side of a door instead of on the latch side – so I know how this can be important. It also seems like I struggle to find outlets for plugging in the vacuum or so we can charge a phone.

We’ve already planned out the lights and fans on the porches because the framers were going to install the porch ceilings while we were away. We also added some outlets into the porch soffits for Christmas lights and those are all wired to a closet so we will be able to turn off the outdoor Christmas with the flick of a switch. They are wired to a closet so they don’t clutter an area that will have several switches already (and have guests flipping it on and off saying, what does this switch do?).

So here’s my list of outlets I think we need. Let me know if you can think of any others.

External Outlets

  • front (long view) porch
  • pool side porch
  • private porch off the master bedroom
  • outdoor kitchen island

Kitchen/pantry Outlets

  • under cabinets (see pic below)
  • on either side of the island
  • inside pantry for small deep freezer
  • inside an appliance garage for blender, toaster, etc.
Photo from Houzz

Living/great Room Outlets

  • on mantles for holiday decor
  • under the windows
  • in the floor for lamps near couches (already planned out)
Fall decor on the lake cottage mantle

Bathroom Outlets

  • inside the medicine cabinets for electric toothbrushes and shavers
  • inside the vanity for hair dryers, etc.
  • in the water closet for a nightlight or a fancy toilet (still debating that)

Bedroom Outlets

  • behind nightstands for lights and chargers – with quad outlets
  • inside master bedroom closet for an iron
  • in office for computer, monitor, and printer

Anything else you think I should add to the outlet list? Any advice regarding switches? Let me know in the comments below! And thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Libby

7 Replies to “Preparing for the Electrical Walk Through”

  1. When we redid our bathroom, Joyce had them put an outlet behind the vanity so that she could keep her hairdryer plugged in while it was stored in the drawer.

    Good things come

  2. I would like to ditto Bill. Never too many outlets–
    Make sure you have at least 3 double outlets on your long porch. Perhaps a triple outlet in your appliance garage.

    The house is coming along so quickly. So exciting!
    It’s definitely going to be a Happy New Year for you!

    1. Lorri – good point about the long porch. I did add more outlets to that space – especially around where we plan to put outdoor furniture.

  3. This is really getting exciting. If I were rewireing my own house, I would put in double the outlets, I don’t enough. I could always use candles. Seriously, everything look wonderful and can’t wait to see your new home, like I say, I’m getting excited, 😎👍
    Oh, by the way, Happy New Year! 🎉🎊🤪🙀💩

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