Patio Furniture Placement

With the pavilion up, I was anxious to get the new patio furniture up there (it was being stored in the barn all this time).

The electric is run to it, we just need to have it connected in the basement.

We also have to install the ceiling fan & light.

The landscaper will be back to finish the slate around the posts (they had to be left open so that the building inspector could check the footings).

I think we'll put the little fire pit on the one side, and eventually the grill will go on the other side (closest to the house).

We are finally getting to enjoy it a bit back here!

More Electrical Work

The latest status on the electrical is that the electrical panels are installed, the new smoke detector wiring has been run, all switches and outlets have been roughed in, the outlet in our bedroom has been completed.

I just took photos of the new electrical panels.
Here's the basement...














A smaller one was placed in the attic space...

As mentioned here, we took care of the cable wire that was running across the opening to this room.  No more playing jumprope! The ethernet cable is also hooked up, and working great in the media room!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

As far as the project goes, there is still a bit more electrical work for them to do... we added on running the electric to the garage.  That required Mike digging a trench from the house to the fence (where the pipe then runs under the driveway).  Good thing I had the post about digging that trench- it helped us locate where exactly the pipe ends!

We are also having the electric re-run to the well house.  That pipe already exists, they just need to run new wires through.

Exterior in the Evening

I ran out and took some evening shots of the exterior...

The lights coming through the window are from the basement stairwell and the dining room.

This is the dining room light coming through the butler's pantry window.

They had the electric on in the new part of the house the other day, but disconnected it when they left since they are still working on it.  I'm excited to take a shot of the exterior once the electric is up and running!

Electrical Work

The electricians were here all last week and got the electric work roughed in.  They were great and had lots of questions for us that got us thinking about using the space functionally... things like adding an extra switch to turn off a light when exiting the room on the other side, or moving an outlet down a little further, etc.

Here are some photos of the work...

High Hats in the kitchen ceiling

Light switches next to the opening from the living room.
Now that they've removed the plywood, the opening seems HUGE!

These are the switches that will control a bunch of lights in the kitchen & butler's pantry area.

This is the unfinished work of the wires running down to the basement.

Work in progress in the laundry room.

In addition to the overhead light in the attic space, we asked them to add extra electric lines, so that we can finish that off as an extra little room some day.  They also put an outlet on the landing.  I'm thinking that I'll put a little buffet table at this spot, and it would be nice to have a little lamp...

We just moved that black cable wire, so we don't have to step over it each time we go up there!
Mike is also in the process of running a Gig-E cable so that we don't have to worry about spotty wireless service in the media room. We had been considering getting a wireless booster, but this seems like a better idea for the TV & kids'  gaming systems... we didn't need them sucking up the wireless bandwidth every time they were watching/playing.

Behind the Scenes... er... Eaves

We're wrapping up the media room project, and I hope to have a Before/After post ready soon, but in the meantime, here's a peek behind the knee walls.

We had the electrician install lights back there, so we could easily see the labels on the storage tubs.

The light switches for these are right inside the doors on each side.  

I've also typed up a quick reference list to which tubs are on each side.  This will hang under the light switch.

The lights were ones we picked up at Home Depot.  We didn't need anything fancy.

You can also see the outlet that we installed back here- that's for the TV & it's components/accessories.

Here's the front where the cables enter the wall...

Don't mind the debris on the floor- this was right after
Mike cut the opening.

We picked up the little cover/access port at Home Depot or Lowes (after so many trips to each, I forget where we ended up finding this!)

Here it is again from the back, this time with the surge protector all hooked up:

We also re-routed the cable from the DirecTV dish through the eaves- the guy was so happy it was already run when he came to install the new receiver.  

Certainly made for a faster install!

I like that everything is hidden back behind the wall- no more bunches of wires collecting dust under the TV console!

Raising the Roof...

Well, not really... but I thought it sounded better than "Raising the Ceiling"!

So, now that you know the plan for exposed beams in the future media room... that got Mike thinking.  And that got him ripping...

He was off from work one day, and I came home to find the ceiling of the third floor hallway ripped down!  I was a little upset with him- but only because he didn't take before or during photos.  So, I'll do my best with "before" photos being from the light fixture getting installed (yep- that newly installed fixture had to come back down!)

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I thought the idea itself is fantastic!  This will make that low ceiling hallway feel much more open!  But it's definitely in the "looking worse before it can look better" stage.

From hallway, looking toward unfinished
 storage area

Mike has built support beams/framing so that we can sheetrock up to the roof peak & enclose the new media room.

He had to do the same thing on the other side, to extend the wall seperating the unfinished storage area from the hallway.
Here he also needed to put up plywood so that the spray foam insulation has something to stick to.

Mike also has been doing this under the eaves, where the unfinished section will meet the finished section's storage area (for insulation purposes).


Of course, we're running into little unexpected issues... like the fact that the molding medallions were cut in half where they met the old ceiling (we were hoping they'd be whole underneath the plaster!)

We'll need to come up with a better solution there!


Also, there's the electric wire that runs down the stairs for the light switch...  It was fine when the ceiling was much lower, but now we need to run it up higher, and it's about 3 inches too short!  Grrr... just 3 inches!!!

Electrical Update- Master Bedroom

And finally, here's where we are with the electrical work in the Master Bedroom...

We wanted to add an outlet in here.  We only have one outlet on the other side of the room (very common to have an outlet shortage in houses built before the advent of electricity!)

BEFORE

Unfortunately, they tried to snake the wire down from the attic and they can't get through.  There's some sort of cross beam or solid structure in that wall (not totally suprising, since it's an exterior wall).

So, now we have two holes that need to be patched & painted (ugh!)  Our new plan is to have the outlet added when we do the extension, since we'll be adding new construction to the other side of this wall.

AFTER- FAIL!

But it wasn't all bad news for this room... we did get a light switch installed!

BEFORE

AFTER- but needing a new switch plate!

I was amazed when we moved into this house and there were NO overhead lights in any of the bedrooms- just ceiling fans (with pullchains).

Step one of remedying this is complete.  We now have a light switch to turn the fan on & off.

Of course, there's always a little unexpected excitement... apparently there was very little holding the fan to the ceiling above our bed!  It required some framing work (which was easily accessed from the open attic floor).  I'm now worried about the support structure holding the fans in the kids' rooms- we'll be checking that out!

Anyways, I wish I had thought to buy a new light fixture for here before this stage of the electrical work (like we did for the attic hallway) but I didn't even think of it.  I hope to have them install a new fixture for us when they come back to finish up the attic!


Related posts:
The Electric Plan
The Attic Electric
The Upstairs & Attic Hallway Electric 

Electrical Update- Attic Hallway

Here's where we are with the electrical work in the Attic Hallway/Stairwell...

The light switch at the bottom of the attic stairs has been installed.

BEFORE

Installed... but needing new switch plate!

I'm loving this improvement, since I always get to the bottom of the stairs, usually with my arms full, and realize I forgot to turn off the light switch that's located on the third floor!

The existing flush mounted light fixture was removed, and the box moved to be centered over the stairwell.  They also installed the new fixture.  (Which if you remember, I got a great deal on here!)

BEFORE: Ugly old light fixture,
centered on ceiling, rather than over the stairs.

Reversal for the Before/After shot:

BEFORE

AFTER

The existing switches were tightened up, & one tied to that new switch located at the bottom of the stairs...

BEFORE

AFTER- but needing new switch plate!

So, a lot has been accomplished up here, but still a lot more to do!  First on that list is purchasing new switch plates. 

There's also items like patching the hole from the old light box...

...and the peeling paper that's on the ceiling & walls needs to be removed.  The plaster underneath is a rough texture, so we may need to do a skim coat.  Or I may try the Benjamin Moore Advance Paint and see if that smooths it out...

We also need to refinish the hallway floors, but no sense in doing that until we're done tracking all the building materials up & down!

And, of course, painting all of those rails on the banister (which I'm dreading!)

But for the time being, it's much more functional than it was :)

I'm especially tickled with the new light fixture... here's a look at it from the bottom of the stairs.

Related posts:
The Electric Plan
The Attic Electric
The Master Bedroom Electric