Are there any solutions that are more like running a bus around every room, as opposed to wiring a ton of circuits? I certainly would love to have all the wiring people are suggesting. But at some point it seems like guessing what you’ll need and installing 2x and then covering it with drywall is backwards.

Removable wainscotting? NNN-conductor bands that run a loop around the floor and ceiling of every room? How can I make my walls into breadboards while also looking acceptable and meeting code?

Run Ethernet to your doorbell

I would run Cat6A not cat 5E. At least 5 runs to each room. I would run the largest reasonable gauge cable and have each rooms receiver in a closet along with the networking gear. I’d future proof running 2 fiber runs to each room.

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Run conduit if you do cat5e so it can be replaced in 20 years easily.

If price was not an option, I would pull network cable to every place I pulled power cable.

Why cat5e? I was under the impression that the cost difference between cat5e and cat6 was negligible nowadays, but maybe someone will comment on that

Put a switch in your garage for the front soffits if you might want holiday or decorative lights.

Put power in the attic for OTA TV antenna and maybe even AM/FM radio antenna. Run cabling for them to each of the rooms you might want those services.

Run power by the shower so you can get one of those fancy showers with the wall panel some day.

Nothing. I would surface mount everything.

Always a pair of Ethernet, never one. Every other wall in most rooms and all walls in some rooms. Can be used for IR and speakers.

Cat6a is reasonably priced. But you can run 10Gb on cat5e if needed in future.

I’d probably run some internal fibre for networking servers etc.

Probably hardwire zigbee into all light switches and see if there is a way to have energy monitoring (normally WiFi) on ALL power sockets!

I’d do 14/2 instead of 18 personally. Don’t skimp on the conduit!