Details Details

I can't believe we are heading in to fall and I don't really feel like I accomplished anything this summer.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the details involved in building your own house that are so easily overlooked when the process gets going.

It's very exciting when you decide to build you own home.  Our house plans went through a lot of changes before we got started.  We were lucky as we had a family member drawing our plans up for us so it didn't cost us an arm and a leg every time we decided to add a window or change a wall.  Those are pretty major things though, I am talking about the little stuff cable outlets, location of wall outlets types of lighting etc.

First off lighting.  It's like buying a printer.......make sure to see how much the bulbs are before you get set on lighting. 

I love this track lighting.  I of course bought it on the clearance tables.  I think it was ten bucks at final clearance and I bought two of them and a round one that matches that we put in the kitchen.

Each one takes 4 halogen 50 bulbs at eight bucks each.  Let me to the math for you.....thats $32 every time I have to change out the tracks.  Three 4 bulb units will run me just under a hundred bucks to fill with bulbs.  I have done that twice now since they have been installed.  They now sit empty because I am not gonna do it again.  So I am looking for track that takes a "regular" bulb and preferably one I can put a compact fluorescent in.  Sometimes a bargain is not a bargain if it costs you so much to keep it going.

In floor outlets.  I'm gonna get some grief for this one but when the house building is in full swing there are about a million things going on at once.  I had to pick the location of where those outlets would go in our living room.

Now I am not one of those people that arrange the furniture and it never moves for 20 years.  I rearrange it constantly.  I tried to imagine all the ways in which I would have it and where best to put the outlets.  I remember when I was making this decision I was doing a bunch of other stuff and really I should have spent more time on it.  They are really too far from the fireplace which is where I do tend to center the living room furniture although I have had the dining room table over there.  I really only use them when I put the couch there with a table behind it for lamps.  Otherwise they are covered with a rug.

We put up our own electrical boxes.  When you are doing that try to imagine what it will look like with drywall over it.  I have one light switch in my living room smack in the middle of a wall and that switch is for the stairwell lighting to the garage.  It was near the edge of the wall until we decided to extend the wall.  We forgot to move it before the drywall went up.  It's a three way switch and we usually leave it on all the time so now there is a picture hanging over it.

These are for speakers.  Not only are they not level, they are not centered on the wall.

If I had thought about it I would have also moved that light switch for the closet light inside the closet door.

You can't assume your dry waller will know everything.  We have these big lovely beams in our great room.  They should have finished off the raw edges with a special piece made just for that.

Then it would have had a rounded edge just like our windows.  Once someone told us this was how it was done, it was too late.  It will eventually get trim but it would have been nice to just have it finished off.

So, what I am saying is if you are planning your own home and building it yourself don't get caught up totally in the building 24/7 and take time to sit in each room and really imagine how you will use it and how it's gonna look finished.  These are all pretty minor things but they can bug you when you know it would have taking a minute or two do change it.

Comments

[Monique]

I think a place called Richelieu sells a flourescent replacement bulb for the M15 and other type Halogen units. They don't sell to the general public, but if you call or e-mail them they can get you info on someone that can sell them to you. www.richelieu.com
Hope it helps. It might be a little expensive or maybe the same as you are paying now.

[Jane]

Thanks Monique-I'll check that out.

[Allison]

How true on the lighting. We added track lighting on our third floor and the bulbs were pretty pricey...but not as much as removing the fixture and starting over!

[Jennifer]

Ouch on the lightbulbs! I know there are flourescent halogen "lookalikes"... Ithink I've seen them at Lowes?

[daisypicker5]

I was painting my walls a couple of months ago and this video helped me out a lot because I wanted to save money and the only way I could do that was by painting my own walls http://www.howcast.com/videos/716-How-To-Paint-a-Wall it's so hard to redecorate because all of the little things add up and then it costs you so much just to change one room.