Electrical new build decisions

It’s been a while since I last blogged. I ended up taking a much-needed break from weekly writing and promoting the blog. The ‘technology rest’ was ver much needed. Has anyone else needed a technology break lately?

While I was taking a break from blogging, we were not taking a work break. Our renovation schedule continues to be full and we are currently working on 3 new build projects.

We have built all of our homes we have lived in and it’s been over 20 years since we last built. I just mentioned to the Mister that working on these new builds has me with a builder’s itch. Oh how I would love to build again. I already have planned out our next home. I wrote about how I would like our kitchen design to look, the closet/laundry room, the and the master bedroom. While I planned this house during Covid, I see a few tweaks and changes I would make already.

new build in colorado

I just got back from a site visit at our Denver, CO new build project. I do not think I convey how much I love being on a working site. The smell of lumber, the changes that you see every day, and meeting the trades is so darn exciting!

The entrance to the community wearing my sexy steel-toed shoes!

electrical decisions in a new build

There were a couple of focus areas that we were addressing while I was onsite last week. The main focus was electrical. Up to this point, all of the planning has been done virtually! Yes - this was my first site visit with my own feet on the ground.

CONCEPTUAL PLANS

This home was designed by a wonderful architect firm and is a spectacular design. Part of their plan was a conceptual design for lighting. With the help of Dave Weicker, a Lighting Design expert that I utilize here in Calgary, we came up with a lighting design plan for both the exterior and the interior.

Directional Electrical Plan provided

Interior Lighting Plan

When we went through an extensive process with our clients on how they envision utilizing their new space. When you put on lights in your home, it is typically when it is dark outside or you need them for a specific task. In conjunction with task lighting of the home, we also went through the amazing architectural features that have been designed in this home. As such, we came up with a revised electrical plan. Our plan includes task lighting, architectural lighting, and electrical to allow for accent lighting (floor lamps and table lamps).

Electrical plan for the Great Room after our electrical walkthrough.

During our electrical walkthrough, it was decided on the placement for the Axel lighting.

For the Great Room, the entire ceiling slopes up toward the back of the house and the entire ceiling is tongue and groove. Instead of riddling the ceiling with pot lights, we are choosing to feature the ceiling’s greatness with some up lighting (Axel Lighting), some pot lights strategically placed around the great fireplace, some art lighting around a sitting area (not shown in the image below), a chandelier for the Grand Piano area, along with some strategically placed floor outlets.

3D Conceptual Design Plan | Sheri Bruneau Interiors

For the most part, we have re-designed every space with the electrical plan to suite how my clients envision they will live in their home.

Exterior Lighting

As with the interior lighting, we are really going to focus on lighting up the architectural features while meeting Dark Sky compliance. As such, we will be utilizing a lot of down lighting, with some up|down lighting where we have an exaggerated roof line (to protect the light from being shot up into the sky), along with their landscape lighting that will feature some lower level stone work.

A quick rear elevation view.

The back covered deck areas.

PLANNING

To put things into perspective, our electrical walkthrough was 7 hours long at the site. In addition, there have been roughly 10 hours spent ahead of our site visit, and then an additional 6 hours creating the documents for the trades to be onsite. So for just the electrical portion of this home, we are sitting at roughly 23 hours in total. Yes - 23 hours spent on electrical. Is it time well spent? You better believe it!

Godden | Sudik Architects 3D Rendering