Electrical can be such a process and was definitely one of the more time-consuming things when it came to building. Let me help make it easier.
Before you get to electrical/lighting, here's some things to keep in mind:
We wanted to keep things minimal, which included the lighting.
In rooms that you have a big statement piece (like our living room light), you may want to keep things more simple for other nearby lights so the eye is immediately drawn to the statement light.
We did matching lighting in the dining room and above the island. They are from the same manufacturer and the same line.
In other areas that we didn't want to draw attention to the lights, such as hallways, we used flush mounts that resemble can lights. We didn't want a chandelier, we just wanted the light.
Don't be afraid to shop around. We went to several different places to buy lights and always compared them to each other to make sure the finishes matched well.
Plan ahead when you can. You don't want to be making all of your lighting decisions last minute.
Now let's talk about bulbs
All of our lights are LEDs.
Your lightbulbs don't have to match. We did candelabra in the the living room and island lights but a rounded bulb in the living room chandelier and I love the contrast.
We also did some Edison-style lightbulbs in some rooms, like the bathrooms.
Each bulb gives off a different look so use that to your advantage.
When you do your electrical diagram:
Think about where you want hidden outlets (in the fireplace mantel, in the kitchen, etc.
When you plan for switches, walk through your house and try to see where you naturally reach for a switch.
Plan for outside outlets, such as the ones in an eaves for Christmas lights.
We also put outlets under all of the windows for Christmas candles and we tied the ones in the attic to outlets.
Also, plan for the outlets you aren't going to want to manually turn on and tie those to a switch. We did that with all of our outside lights.
We did buy some of our lights on our own, out of pocket. Some we had already picked out before we met with our builder's lighting person and we also didn't want to include all of them in our mortgage.
If you're doing all of the fixtures in the same finishes, make sure the finishes with all of the lights match. We made sure to compare all of our Oil Rubbed Bronze fixtures since the color can shift so much.
All of my lighting is linked on my Like to Know It. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I'll see you guys next week for another Building 101!
Follow along on our Instagram to see more of our build!
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