For your lighting control system, it would be expensive but possible to make every fixture independant. Group the light fixtures as it makes sense. Each independant fixture or group will be wired to a remotely mounted dimmer or switch. Some systems have multiple dimmers and switches in a single device called a module. The systems can be programmed to operate as you suggest with group A, B etc., controlled by individual buttons or by current use of the room which is actually easier to deal with in large rooms with lots of zones of light to manage. Button 1 is for reading, 2 is for TV, 3 for movie, etc. A combination of these two button designs can be most effective. Wall washing (what you had) is a bit different than more intensly focused accent lighting which is what normally one thinks of when displaying paintings in a home. Narrow hallways full of small family photos could be a good use of wall washing. Gallerys that tend to change paintings often might flood an entire wall but some galleries move their more precise accent lighting at every show. Halogen is a popular lamp choice. For smaller fixtures and precise beam conrol use MR16 lamps. Par 30 lamps are lower cost per fixture. The size and placement of paintings would be helpful to know for whomever is laying out the lights. Step lights add more visual drama. I'm not convinced that they add any safety unless if in the riser they are in each one. Anything else is just for effect. If in the side wall then you have to know what fixture you are working with. It sounds like you are tackling the job of lighting designer with little experience and need to be good at it by morning. Good luck. No pressure there at all.

camlan, good point about the huge MB and the tiny others. I know that we remodeled to add walk in closets, and now I keep all my clothes in there. I have an elfa drawer stack for undies and socks, and shelves for folded clothes that would have gone into drawers in another scenario. Yet I have an empty dresser and mirror in the room, since I need the surface for my jewelry box. And the room would look too empty without it. I do think that larger closets have changed what furniture is used for clothes storage. But I think bedrooms for adults have become more like student bedrooms with office/computer areas in them.

chicagoans...thank you so much! And those pictures are great! I just realized the first picture I uploaded doesn't show the tape marks for the lights on the prow...oi :) The whole reason I posted....but, we have planned two up/down sconce type lights, about half way up, on the narrow vertical logs just to the left/right of the 3 vertical prow logs...so they'll shine up to the prow soffit (that we labored over staining/sealing for days..ha. We also plan for one above the garage door. Labor of love.) And LED sounds like the way to go cause they'll be up so high. Sure hope they last as long as they say they do :) The question I've been pondering is should we do the 'up/down', or just the 'up' lights? Im overly sensitive about not wanting to light it up too much out there..we'll have coach lights on the outsides of the middle two sliding doors on either end of the prow..matching the height of the garage door coach lights (on both sides of the garage door), at least that's the plan for now....wish I could put the sconces on a dimmer, but they're going to be on a timer, so the electrician said a dimmer wouldn't work unless we do a smart switch type thing-and we're all about not going the smart route--lol. Dumb lights, dumb switches...we embrace the dumb & thats how we roll...after my husbands flip phone finally died, not too long ago, he walked into the store and asked for the dumbest smart phone they had, lol. The poor young man who was trying to upsell him on the highest of high tech phones, didn't know what to say.

When I checked into the tax situation, I found combining pins to lead to a small discount for total tax but not necessarily enough to be worth losing the flexibility to sell separately. Plus, combining parcels is only an option if you own them outright, otherwise you have to work with the lender and that might be much more cost than benefit. Combining and separating parcels can be troublesome and I wouldn't advise doing so if there was any possible expectation that the change would not be permanent. In fact, that is how I got into the situation originally. Previous owners had 3 adjacent properties, total just less than an acre. They had the bright idea to have the property resurveyed and to take parts of each lot and get a fourth buildable lot. The loans weren't modified but the county assigned new PINs. After the foreclosures, the property ended up with two PINs, one for house and garage, one for the back portion. I got tired of two tax bills and I had them recombined and saved a couple hundred bucks per year. Keeping the tax bills straight and making sure that each one gets paid is essential.