Last weekend, we made the 3 hour drive from DC to Wintergreen, VA to meet with our contractors and do our own low voltage electrical wiring. It was a really full weekend with more work than leisure but my daughter and I managed a girls-only dinner where we talked about boys and school and a movie on the lawn where we cuddled in a blanket on what ended up being a really chilly summer night in the mountains. It was one of the highlights of our trip and one of the reasons why I wanted to do this in the first place. I can hold my family captive and make them do fun stuff with me! Yes!
The Big Meeting
Justin and I planned to wire all day long, but our contractors had other plans for our morning. We arrived to a full house - an electrician, 3 of the builder's team members and the kitchen designer. Uh, yes, good morning to ya'll too! LOL! They had a very long list of items to discuss so we walked the house from top to bottom locating every single light, every single outlet, every single light switch (still can't keep two/three/four way straight), every single bath fan...you get the point. I must admit that I faded out a few times on this hours-long walkthrough.
As a part of our walkthrough, we did redesign the fireplace a bit and make plans for the downstairs media center. I also met with the kitchen designer who gave me her Benjamin Moore color fan. I desperately needed one and was OVERJOYED when she just gave me the entire thing. I lost my previous one and there really is nothing like holding color in your HANDS. I spent a few hours with the color fan and ended up making my exterior color selection! I'll share the details of that in another post.
The Big Wiring
When Justin said he wanted to personally do all the low voltage wiring in the house, I was excited because I knew that we would have state-of-the-art technology. He wired for it all surround sound, doorbell, alarm, tv, and security cameras (for the future not while we are renting)! I felt like an able nurse passing wires through the floor and the ceiling, taping wires, color coding wires, cutting wires, you name it, I did it! If this sounds fun, let me clear that up right now. It was not. But, it's mostly done and we saved a bunch of money doing it ourselves.
What's Next?!
The house is now fully framed with windows and doors. It is mostly wired. It has interior stairs. The plumbing is also finished. The siding is partially up on one side. So, good progress!
This week the focus is finishing the exterior siding and painting. I still need to decide on what needs a trim color. The builder prefers no trim color but I'm afraid that the house will wash out becasue it's so tall and there is nothing to break up the sea of color. And, we discussed some interesting exterior details on the front of the house, but those will come later. Inside, I have been asked to focus on the bathroom tile and select the exterior door (which I did as a part of my RusticRoundUp #3 linked below.)
So, all in all a great visit. We are headed back this weekend to finish up that wiring and check on the painting. New update soon! And, start planning for winter vacations as we will soon be able to take some reservations for November and December!
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