Week 19: Lights, camera, action...
Events seem have seem to have snowballed very quickly in the past few weeks, most obviously the fact that we now have a front door!
We had another site visit where we met with the electrician to discuss all things electrical from the number and location of power points to lighting options, home security and solar provisions.
Power points and light switches are essential in any home, but it's not something we usually give much thought to on a daily basis, but when you are building a home, there are a seemingly endless series of combinations and permutations. How many do you want? Where do you want them? How high do you want them? What style? What colour? Backlit? USB? Dimmer? Sensor switch? It's electrical overload - figurately and literally (we needed an extended electrical box to accommodate everything).
And then there were the lights. Stair lights? Pendants? Feature wall lights? How many? Where do you want them? On the left wall or the right wall? At least on the question of lighting, we had done a lot a prior thinking. We selected a trio of spherical bamboo pendants to adorn our towering entry void. They weren't cheap, but we wanted something a little different and these were one of the few options we both could agree on. Then there were these funky "stick" lights we saw in the shop that we felt could serve a dual purpose - provide lighting above our stairs while also being a bit of a feature in their own right. We spotted these at a local lighting shop. It turns out they have to be imported from Denmark and may not arrive in time to be installed. They offered us a display model which presumably has been permanently on since being installed which we weren't thrilled about. One option is wait till new stock arrives later in the year to have it installed. We're still hoping they can order in a new one in time. Having dismissed the traditional 3 pendant-over-the- island-bench arrangement and instead opting for a more contemporary suspended linear LED pendant, we then struggled to find one that met both of our approval. They were either too short, too bulky, too plasticky or too expensive. We didn't feel that we needed to resort to another Danish import for the pendant! In the end we found a shop in Byron Bay that could make a custom length for not much more than the cost of a light from Beacon Lighting. It hasn't arrived yet, so we'll reserve judgement until it does...which is not to say we couldn't find anything at Beacon - we got our step lights there and they are still the only lights we have in our hands at this time.
Another item we were set on having was a security camera system. These seem to be increasingly popular and (sadly) necessary. While the wireless cameras such as the Arlo are all the rage, if you're starting from scratch, it makes sense to install a wired system.
Oh and then there was the aircon installation. Initially we were told we would asked where we wanted the vents to go, but as it turned out they just put them where they thought it would be most effective - which is what we would have just told them to do anyway. It's not like we know anything about airflow dynamics so would have been pointless asking us!
We had another site visit where we met with the electrician to discuss all things electrical from the number and location of power points to lighting options, home security and solar provisions.
Power points and light switches are essential in any home, but it's not something we usually give much thought to on a daily basis, but when you are building a home, there are a seemingly endless series of combinations and permutations. How many do you want? Where do you want them? How high do you want them? What style? What colour? Backlit? USB? Dimmer? Sensor switch? It's electrical overload - figurately and literally (we needed an extended electrical box to accommodate everything).
And then there were the lights. Stair lights? Pendants? Feature wall lights? How many? Where do you want them? On the left wall or the right wall? At least on the question of lighting, we had done a lot a prior thinking. We selected a trio of spherical bamboo pendants to adorn our towering entry void. They weren't cheap, but we wanted something a little different and these were one of the few options we both could agree on. Then there were these funky "stick" lights we saw in the shop that we felt could serve a dual purpose - provide lighting above our stairs while also being a bit of a feature in their own right. We spotted these at a local lighting shop. It turns out they have to be imported from Denmark and may not arrive in time to be installed. They offered us a display model which presumably has been permanently on since being installed which we weren't thrilled about. One option is wait till new stock arrives later in the year to have it installed. We're still hoping they can order in a new one in time. Having dismissed the traditional 3 pendant-over-the- island-bench arrangement and instead opting for a more contemporary suspended linear LED pendant, we then struggled to find one that met both of our approval. They were either too short, too bulky, too plasticky or too expensive. We didn't feel that we needed to resort to another Danish import for the pendant! In the end we found a shop in Byron Bay that could make a custom length for not much more than the cost of a light from Beacon Lighting. It hasn't arrived yet, so we'll reserve judgement until it does...which is not to say we couldn't find anything at Beacon - we got our step lights there and they are still the only lights we have in our hands at this time.
Another item we were set on having was a security camera system. These seem to be increasingly popular and (sadly) necessary. While the wireless cameras such as the Arlo are all the rage, if you're starting from scratch, it makes sense to install a wired system.
Oh and then there was the aircon installation. Initially we were told we would asked where we wanted the vents to go, but as it turned out they just put them where they thought it would be most effective - which is what we would have just told them to do anyway. It's not like we know anything about airflow dynamics so would have been pointless asking us!
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