A little hint from another Californian with that little Title 24 thing. We just added a family room with a back patio, last year. Our inspector told us, on the inspection BEFORE that one was going to be going in, that we needed either a fluorescent or a motion-detector/auto-off light. Okay, the one I bought had an auto-off/auto-on feature. But what is evidently "okay" is when your contractor installs it with a regular on and off switch inside. If you leave the inside switch in the OFF position, it will NOT come on. Our inspector was fine with that. Your mileage may vary. But I do understand "rather intolerant neighbours, who would give me a really hard time if the lights went on at odd hours." Our neighbors across the street leave their front porch lights on ALL NIGHT. One of their lights, outside of their garage, is SO bright and it shines in through my front door all the way through my house to the back family room. I do NOT need a night light in my house - I already have one at THEIR expense. When their light burned out last month, I did NOT tell them. But when they discovered it on their own, I was sad to see that they replaced the bulb. I'm sorry, but I wish they hadn't. If someone needs to sleep on the living room sofa bed, they'll have a bright light to preclude any sleep. DonnaR/CA

LED, 2700K, 200 to 400 lumens (that's 25 W equivalent to 40 W equivalent). With as many lamps as you seem to have, I think 200/lumens per lamp would be adequate. Sydney's suggestion of a dusk-to-dawn sensor is a good one. There are lamps that come with this feature built-in, or you can get adapters that screw into the socket that have the photocell and control. separate from the lamp

Thanks @wdccruise! The lake is 20' in front of the cottage. The lot is 2 acres and we have 260 feet of frontage - so no neighbours closeby. The side door is the main entry door. We replaced the front / lakeside door with a patio sliding door and it will have fixtures on either side of it. There will be a deck on the front and the siding is being replaced. I would prefer silver/nickel/stainless fixtures - something not too $$ and available in Canada (Home Depot / Lowes, etc). What do you recommend? Thanks again.

Except for allergies to wasps, I grew up with severe allergies to certain raw foods, like pecans and walnuts. Watermelon, Cantelope, uncooked peas, Avocados, Bananas, on and on. Very severe allergy to fresh coconut milk, thought I'd die when I was around 14. I outgrew all of it but I refuse to eat fresh coconut, and I fix guacomole every day with one avocado. lol Oh, at 50 I became allergie to penicillin. Go figure. Be careful! We have a lot of big trees so it scares me too.