Do you have a piece of art or specific pieces of furniture you will bring to the cottage? If so, that, along with the age of the cottage, the wood ceiling and stone fp, plus a few inspiration pictures can serve as a starting point for the rest of the cottage. Here are some random ideas/thoughts that may (or may not!) help: The age of the cottage lends itself a bit to MCM, which you seem to like. I think MCM plays pretty well with a bit of Art Deco, and with Japanese style too. Are you drawn to minimalist type interior? Japanese design often seems quite minimalist. You list 'rustic' as a neutral, just the location and the use of wood in the cottage make it rather rustic, so you certainly don't need to add any further rustic elements if you don't love them. Do you like live edge wood at all? You see that a fair bit with Japanese design too, and with some MCM. I'm thinking George Nakashima. He is an architect and designer (I think) who according to Wikipedia " His style is considered an extension of the Arts and Crafts movement and ... Mix"es> Japanese, American and International Modern style he designed furniture lines for Knoll and Widdicomb-Mueller "using timber organically and deliberately chose boards with knots, burrs and figured grain."[3] Too arts and crafts perhaps? I often see rocks/pebbles used in Japanese interior (and exterior) design. You could continue that theme, starting with the fp of course. I have a Japanese inspired master bath that includes live edge counter, pebbles and wood flooring, it all works together well I think. How you given any thought to the kitchen? Fitted or unfitted? Do you like any of the images below? Once you have your basic elements (i.e. inspiration pictures you love, some art or furniture you will have at the cottage) you could start a separate post for ideas. I'm sure you'll get lots of input. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Nakashima

msjee- your "art" reminds me of something similar from my teen years. I had not planned on remarking on it, but I read a post just above and it made me think I should say something. I was angry with my parents and they took a picture of me as I glared at the camera. They put it in the family album and were/are (?) quite amused by it. I always thought it was cruel and mean spirited that they took that picture and it was always a reminder of how upset I was with them. Your son may find it funny, but he also may not and you may not realize that. The reason I put the "?" next to the word "are" is I have not spoken to them for over 5 years. The picture was obviously not the slightest the cause of the rift, but even thinking about it annoys me, 30 years later. They often found humor at my expense and if I expressed that it hurt my feelings, then I was being too sensitive. To this day, I have anxiety about singing publicly because they and my older brother would razz me about it. I remember being quite proud that I was a runner up for the lead in a school production in 6th grade, but when I said I did not get the part, they all said it was because it sounded like someone was getting hurt when I practiced in the bsmt. Very funny. I used to love to sing and wanted to become a singer, but after the 3 of them used it as a punchline, it was hard for me to ever sing in front of anyone again. What may seem funny to the adults may cut deep to a kid, even one who is older. Your son may act like it is funny but it could also get under his skin. Is it really something you want as a family story to pass down? Is that how you want to remember your son? If something were to happen to him, I think you may look at the wall differently and wonder if you should have continued the gag quite so long. Hopefully, your family is nothing like mine was and this is something humorous to all, but if there is a chance it bothers him, even a little, do you really want to do that?

Linelle - I don't eat fish (I have, but I prefer not to). I don't like to even wade in waters where they swim for fear of touching them. I have, at times, been so startled by an unexpected photo of a fish when turning the page in a magazine that I have actually thrown the magazine across the room - just an automatic response. I can't pinpoint the exact moment when this fear came on, but I was pretty small. I do remember being in a pet store when I was maybe four or five years old, and running my hand along a table full of sale items. My hand stopped on something that felt odd, and when I looked to see what it was, it was a dried-out, dead fish. Horrifying! I believe I started having fish dreams not too long after that. I'd wake up screaming in the night, certain that a fish was in the bed with me. My poor mom, being awakened at dark-thirty and having to quell the unreasonable fears of a very insistent little girl! When I was a tween, I used to like to go fishing with my grandfather when I visited my grandparents' lake house in the summer. He would bait the hook for me and take any fish I caught off the hook, and I thought it was great fun. I guess I wasn't horribly phobic at that time. One day he and I went fishing out in his boat. I caught 17 fish, and we took them home with us. My grandmother deemed them too small to fix for our dinner, so she decided to make a sort of stew out of them for the dog. She put them in a pressure cooker (I have no idea why), thinking they were all dead. Something happened and once the thing heated up, we heard hideous thrashing inside the pot. After awhile it stopped, but when she lifted the lid, there was a nasty film on top and a few eyeballs floating around. Again - horrifying stuff. The dog ate it up though. Once I told a boy in high school about my phobia, and shortly thereafter I opened my locker to find a huge dead fish inside. The boy thought that was just the funniest practical joke ever, and chased me up and down the halls holding it by the tail. I remember trying desperately to keep my cool and not show how agitated I was, but I fought not to burst into tears - or pass out. (I know this is getting to be way too long ...) A few years ago I decided that I wanted to overcome my phobia once and for all and actually sought counseling for it. I also tried to do a bit of immersion work on my own, and DH and I went to a local aquarium one afternoon. It's long been difficult for me to even get close to a fish, in any manner - even those behind glass. The salt water aquariums didn't bother me terribly; after all, those fish are often beautifully colored or comical looking. The freshwater tanks, however, caused me to panic. I forced myself to remain seated next to one that was built low to the ground with glass walls, with the various lake-living fish swimming right up to me on all sides and behind me. I couldn't do it. I sat there and just bawled and hyperventilated, and DH got me the hell out of there. Around that time we were traveling regularly to Mexico, and scuba diving was very popular where we stayed. In spite of my fish phobia, it sounded like a lot of fun, and I went so far as to take a few scuba lessons here, but did not go on to be certified. I didn't like the feeling of breathing underwater and couldn't get past a feeling of simmering panic. I know I wouldn't have made certification anyway - at least not with the instructor I had - as his group went to a local man-made lake to receive their certification, and the waters were often murky and always filled with curious fish. Pretty sure that seeing something like this would have induced dangerous panic in me! Gosh, I am sorry to have told you more than you ever wanted to know. I've not been asked about this in a long time, and I guess my memories just came flooding back!

It's hard to say looking on a monitor how a color of paint is working on a wall. Natural lighting and lamps can make it look totally different, too. From my side, these 2 samples look yellow on your wall. I'd get the 2nd primer on, as that original color could also be throwing off the samples since it still can be seen or paint some poster board and you can get a better feel for the real color.