KSWL, I agree with a lot of your observations. I think we both see it as a more traditional, classy room and some of the changes lean too trendy, or as you call it not appropriate. I was going to suggest using the lamps as the art on that wall and choosing carefully, either something traditional or transitional. But she is trying to "update" the bedroom by removing the large mirror. I have a dresser and large mirror in a guest BR and have thought of doing the same. I suggested moving the lamps to the dresser because they DID look buffet-ish to me. I wondered if it would look wrong in the bedroom, but now I think "Why not put them on a dresser?" Someone came up with the idea of putting tall lamps on a buffet and that style was adopted, but it doesn't really make a lot of functional sense. To me the engineering prints aren't bedroomy. Who are those people and what are they doing in my bedroom?? J/K, I know it's just an example. The question for me is how do you update traditional without getting trendy, especially when you're purchasing expensive items like lighting and art that you'd like to keep for at least 10 years.

I don't think it would be strange at all and actually would add interest and cohesiveness. The worst that could happen is that you'd have to repaint one wall if the idea didn't work after all. Ingrid

Follow-up in case anyone ever comes back to this thread via a search. I know that I sometimes find an old discussion thread and wonder about the conclusion. The lights are used when we are outside in the evening, such as when the dogs are taking care of business in the courtyard or when we are grilling or sitting around on the deck and want some light. So I would say the use is about half & half for aesthetics and useful light. We want light but not too much light. These are not security lights that are left on overnight. I posted the same question to a neighborhood online group ("Nextdoor"), and once I made it clear that these were not security lights left on overnight (to those concerned about light pollution), 25 degrees was the overwhelming recommendation of the ~12 people that replied. In the end I chose Satco S9410 bulbs: 25 degrees, 2700K, 13 W (50 W eq.) PAR30 LED. I think that they look better, especially since we have dimming capability on all loads and will probably run them ~50-75% capacity, where I think they look best. I attach 1 more photo with Satco 25 degree (S9410) on left and Satco 40 degree (S9415) on right. Dimmer is off (ie, 100%). Both of these bulbs have 1000 lumens. I tried to set exposure on my phone camera to remove most of the hot spots - the remaining hot spots are not there in real life. The full beam spread is now mainly a function of the recessed fixture. However, you can see the narrower main beam area (intensity) on the 25 degree light. Due to circuitry in the lights they run a bit hot at full voltage. Not so hot that I couldn't unscrew them, but hot enough that I had to use fingertips only. Someone else with more sensitive skin would have had to wait a few minutes for the lights to cool before removing them. The temperature does decrease with dimming - which is good for discouraging bugs, and another reason to run them at 50-75% capacity.

I have a few thoughts I'm wondering if you and your team have discussed... Did you consider adding a wall between the present formal living room and the present dining room? It seems particularly odd to me to have this whole first floor totally open with two seating areas open to each other. If you added that wall perhaps you could turn the front room into a music and sitting room. The locations of the windows and doors across the back wall don't seem to related to the different spaces. I was thinking you could put a swing door between the dining room and the living room and another between the kitchen and the dining with windows centered on each of the three spaces aross the back; living room, dining room, kitchen windows. Did you discuss putting your clean up sink on the exterior wall and a prep sink in the island? I thought maybe instead of reach in pantries you could frame in a walk in pantry behind the fridge. The areas in teal are a reach in pantry on the left and a walk in on the right. Just food for thought...