Electrical

 We got the go-ahead from the permit people to start wiring on Friday, so we started drilling some holes in the 2x4s that afternoon and continued the next day. The difficulty for this project lies in the arrangement of the 2x4s: normally, the 2x4s are set in so that the skinny side is facing in and electric code dictates running wires through the walls is best practice. Unfortunately, the two interior walls in the parlour have 2x4s laying flat, with the wider side facing in - I can't drill holes in the 2" side, so I had to find a way around that...by going into the basement.

Connected below at a junction box then to main power

2x4s laid regularly, can run electrical through the walls!

I will say that my life flashed before my eyes when it came time to cut the old (knob and tube) wiring that powers this room. Even though I'd shut the power off...it's still a little scary so I had to call Dan to witness the snip, just in case.
The other major hiccup happened when we tried to run the wiring in the ceiling. There's a hole in the tin ceiling where a light fixture used to go but it turns out the wires for that fixture goes through the joists: it would be impossible for us to run new wiring in the ceiling without taking our beautiful ceilings down or taking out the hardwood floors in the bedroom above. So I settled with an outlet controlled by a switch (picture 2); not ideal but still to code.
Inspection for the "rough-in" phase of electrical (just running the wires, no outlets or switches hooked up yet) takes place tomorrow!