It is a real struggle to find just the right rug for a room. I really like the one you chose. I kept cream colored walls and a solid sofa to go with our colorful Persian rug, but I used accent colors taken from the rug on the chairs. My rug is 10x13 and I found it on Ebay. I wanted a hand knotted, wool rug and ended up with this one for only $125.00. It pays to keep looking! Sorry about the picture quality. I took the picture at night, which makes the walls appear yellow. Have a great time decorating your new place. Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks for the explanation. I cannot get to my fixture easily. My ceilings are 12 feet and we do not have a sufficient ladder to reach. If work has to be done higher than 7-8 feet, we hire someone to come do it. I bought an LED flood light at HD this afternoon. It is 1600 lumens. I have BRIGHTNESS!!! As in, don't look at the light, it will blind you!!! The only problem is it is 5000k, which means it is very very blue. The guy who helped me said HD has a 90 return policy for any reason. I'm going to see if I can live with it. I only use that light for a few minutes from time to time. It is on a separate switch and doesn't come on with the other kitchen lights. If the blueness drives me nuts, I'll take it back. If I had thought ahead while we were building, LED bars or tape under the overhang would have been perfect. They may still work, but I'll have to think about where to drill a hole to get the wires to the driver. I don't want to drill a hole in my granite. I had the bathroom wired to put LED lights in the toe-kick area to use as a night light. Another deferred project!

katieleabrown86 - thank you for the photo - the blue island looks lovely - and I really like your chevron backsplash. alley2007 - i wish i had just one main prep area and could isolate the marble. unfortunately - the island gets heavy use all day (lunches/breakfast/baking/laundry folding (don't judge!), etc.) and the perimeters is where I do all the chopping / slicing/ dinner prep. I had a wakeup call this morning when I came down and my husband so graciously made coffee for the day. Unfortunately he didn't see (or care) that the coffee pot also overflowed/spilled all over the countertop - under the coffee pot, and about 8 inches to the side of it and a few inches before. I wish I could say that was a one time thing --- but I have had to clean that up many times before since he never "sees" the disaster. I think that was a not so subtle message that I might be asking for trouble with the marble. :( My tailspin continues…..

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.