In many areas the building code will require plugs in the floor. In our town we were required to place plugs every 8 ft. or less along the walls of windows. There are no walls through much of great room (just glass doors) so plugs were needed, see image.

Secondly, you may want a couple of plugs in the middle of the room. This is difficult with a new build and what we did is to imagine where furniture would be placed and then have a couple of plugs in the floor, in specific spots in the room (see image). Most new builds have something called an electrical walkthrough and at that time the homeowners discuss with builder/architect/designer where special plugs should be placed (the electrician will likely mention code based locations too at that point).

We got silver, round plates and I know they make brass plates. There's also at least one type of floor plug that is hinged and lays flat or pops up, as needed. Good luck!

Thanks. Your response is along the same lines as what I was thinking. I was also thinking about laying down some papers where I think that I might place furniture and that would give an idea of where to locate plugs. Thanks so much for the pictures...that helps also. Judy

I would do my best to get an idea of how your furniture will be arranged in the room and place the outlets UNDER where the furniture will be (so outlets will be out of sight). There is really no need to have them out in the open as you will normally be plugging a lamp in and not need to access the outlet again. Under the furniture (centering under a sofa or chair) keeps the ugly wires out of sight for a much cleaner/neater look (you wont see the plug sticking up out of the outlet when hidden under furniture). You can also hide extension cords under a sofa and plug a lamp into that, which actually makes plugging in multiple items easy to access.

We have an open concept kitchen/living room space and LOVE it. Floor outlets are in place and work great. Agree with the above poster to figure out where the furniture will sit and put in outlets accordingly. Our builder actually told us to move in, set up furniture and THEN he would put in floor outlets. That was good advice.

Agree with krlii….that’s what we did as well…..waited until after move-in and then had the outlets installed.

We don’t have outlets. We don’t have lamps either. Ours is open concept. I sort of wish we had an outlet but not really. I like not having lamps but we also have tons of natural light and only have the overhead pot lights on in the evening and dimmed. Personal preferences

We added one floor outlet. Planned our living room with a designer and probably won't end up using it. You probably will only need one, if any.

We have tons of natural light (floor to ceiling windows on both outside walls), but all that light does nothing in the evening when the sun goes down. I have two floor outlets and use BOTH of them. Layered lighting at varying heights make for the most pleasing, warm and inviting lighting (ceiling lights, wall lights-sconces, lamps, and lighting in built-ins etc.).

And just to add one point, waiting until after move-in will obviously not work if you’re building on a slab….only applicable with a crawl or basement foundation.

Fair of course. That said I standby my statement that we don’t need them nor miss them. So not everyone wants layered lighting despite how design perfect it may be.

Our electrical walk is next week for our open concept home too -- good thoughts.

Our current home has a large great room too. In addition to lights, think about other electronics. I sit on the sofa in the middle of the room all day long (WFH) and have an outlet right next to the coffee table to keep my laptop plugged in.