I had an electrician in to quote on doing some work on my new flat – I want a new double power point in the kitchen over the bench, a replacement ceiling fan in the bedroom and a new ceiling fan in the lounge. I want both wired in with wall switches as the current bedroom one works on a remote and is a bit crappy. The light fitting on the current fan is a bare incandescent bulb that sticks out of the centre of the fan.

I also want to remove the two ugly recessed halogens in the lounge and dining room (seriously – why a single brown framed halogen downlight in the lounge? The ceiling is ‘white’ so it looks like a big electrical zit). I want a proper light on the balcony – the current one has a fitting that gets hit every time someone opens the window, so I’m getting them to install a new one but put it a little further out so that it won’t touch the window.

I want a pendant light above the dining room table, and I’m getting the recessed lights removed from the west wall – they don’t work any more, and evidently when they did they got so hot that they scorched the dry lining on the wall. The electrician will remove the cabling and make it safe, but I’ll be left with two dirty great holes in the west wall where the idiot who installed them removed bricks from the wall. Mum did a short bricklaying course, so I’ll get her to help me fill the holes with random bricks and then I can put in a gyprock patch.

I was going to leave getting in an electrician until later on, but I kept seeing weird looking electricals throughout the place, and when I saw plastic wires underneath the powerpoint that I plugged the new refrigerator into, I decided to get one in to make sure that it was all safe. I’d mentally allocated the money for electricals already, but I was intending on keeping it in the bank for a while longer. Also if I get it done now then I can take advantage of a sale on ceiling fans at one of the lighting stores here.

Thankfully the electrician said everything was safe, it just might not have been finished properly. The fridge powerpoint hole he said I can plaster over with no problem, so I’ll get the spack filler out on the weekend.

I feel a lot better about the situation now.