Media Hub

Before the drywall was installed back in September, we decided to wire every room for phone, cable and internet.  Since all the walls were open, it was a fairly easy thing to do.  What we were left with, however, was a big mess of wires in our utility room.

To try and organize things, we decided to create a media hub below our electrical panel.  We purchased a small structured media box that we could feed (and hide) the phone and cable wires into.

 

With the new label maker that Dave got for Christmas, we labeled the ends of all the wires before connecting them. 

  

We built a little shelf above the box to hold the modem and mounted a power bar on the wall.  Now we have a nice, neat area where all our phone, cable and internet wires are connected.

New Light Fixtures

Our final electrical work is finished!  The last of the work included the installation of our new pendant lights (from Royal Lighting) over the kitchen peninsula.

We also installed under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen and puck lights inside the glass cabinet.

In terms of other light fixtures, we decided to start with the rooms we will be using the most.  We bought new fixtures for the master bedroom, upstairs bathroom and front hall.  We’ll update the rest of the rooms down the road.

Master Bedroom
Pendant with drum shade from Royal Lighting

Upstairs Bathroom
Wall sconce from Royal Lighting

Front Hall
Crystal pendant from Home Depot

We also passed our final electrical inspection by the Electrical Safety Authority.  Thanks to Dennis, Simon and the rest of the crew from DSK Electric!

All Powered Up!

After more than five months, we finally have power. 

When we bought our house, the majority of the wiring was knob and tube.  Removing the old wiring was one of our first priorities.

We hired electricians to completely rewire the house. During the rough-in phase, we were left with only two electrical outlets (and no lights!)  We got by with extension cords, floodlights and flashlights. But, this got more and more difficult to handle as the days started to get shorter.

So, as you can imagine, it was pretty exciting when we reached the point where we were ready for the electrical work to be completed. 

Now we have electrical outlets and lights in every room, including:

• pot lights in the living room, dining room, main floor hallway, kitchen and basement
• an exterior pot light above the front door
• a sensor light in near the rear of the house
• bare bulbs everywhere else (until we get a chance to select the rest of our light fixtures).

We used DSK Electric Inc. dskelectric@rogers.com.  They did a great job and we are really happy with the work.

The Four Month Mark

Yesterday marked four months since we took possession of our house.  In some ways it feels like yesterday and in other ways it feels like we’ve been working on it for years!  We were so excited on closing day.  Not sure we realized how exhausting the whole renovation process would be!

Although there are times that it feels like things are moving really slowly, we’ve definitely had some major accomplishments in the past couple of weeks. The furnace and ductwork were installed…

   

…and the electricians have been busy rewiring our house and installing the new electrical panel.  We’ve wired for an alarm system and Dave has started running wires for cable, phone and internet.

  

What’s next?  We have some small things to finish up before the building inspections.  Then on to the insulation and drywall stage.