The electrician is putting several different switches in the LR, so I'll make sure he does the same in the kitchen. Here's another question. I hate the light my current overhead fixture gives off. It's worthless. So I doubt I would even use an overhead light. However, should I still install an overhead fixture just to make the room look better, whether I get the green fixture or not? Will the ceiling (8 feet) look strange without a fixture?

"What's not to like?". Lots. I hate them. Perhaps I haven't seen the "warm white", but I hate the white that I have seen that has a blue tint (same as some headlights!!!), I don't like the brightness, and I don't like the neon-y look. Hey - lights on trees/bushes are supposed to mimic glistening branches. IMO, They're not supposed to look high-tech (and also IMO, they're not supposed to be strung in rings around a tree, either, as some people seem to do; they should be placed as dew would glisten!). They're meant to be moisture/snow/whatever glistening in the moonlight. To me, those LED lights just don't cut it.

The reason I don't LARGE face-on photos of family over the fireplace is it just seems like I am being stared at, lol! On the flip side, I covered my mantle at my old house with SMALL photos in ornate frames of friends and family members. Then a large picture/wood block print I loved in the center. I had wall mounted lights that looked like candle sconces on either side of my art, something you might consider., (either the lights or the sconce, well out of the way of little kid hands). That corner curio cabinet is GORGEOUS and I would put something on the mantel with a brown wood tone to tie in with the cabinet. Maybe a picture with a brown frame or some art with some color in it including brown. Or consider adding some colorful art or something on the wall kitty corner from the fireplace, so the room look a little more balanced. I don't see anything wrong with the sailboat photo, but then we are sailing people and love boats and the water and have spent considerable time thus engaged. If you're land-locked and have no association with boats, then it is a little contrived but will do until you find something that speaks to you. If it were me, and I had traveled the world, I would want pictures of that somehow. I have a large travel advertisement picture of a famous place I visited (Valley of the Ten Peaks in Canada, which is often used in Canadian tourism advertisements) which hung over my couch in the living room of my last house, and was surrounded by some other art pieces evoking the northern Rockies. Which made the space feel welcoming to me. Not saying you should copy me, but just sort of showing how you can develop a theme of stuff that reflects your live and loves in your "living" room.

Great news today! I consulted with a lighting designer in the store that we will be purchasing lighting. They carry the ElectricMirror.com product line. Those mirrors (as undoubtedly Robern does as well, such as chispa mentioned) put out an *incredible amount* of lumen that would dwarf what we would get if we put up a typical vanity wall light. The lighting designer said that she has never (even once) had a complaint by any customer that the lighted mirror she sold was too dim to stand on its own in a bathroom. Their lighted mirrors are designed to replace the need for the supplemental lighting from above, if desired, and obviously can be dimmer-controlled. Also, when I searched the internet for product reviews of lighted mirrors, I read a fair number of complaints by people who felt that their lighted mirrors were way-way too dim but none of them pointed at Electric Mirrors. I couldn't find any "light-output related" complaints about Electric Mirrors on the internet. So I think it all boils down to "you get what you pay for" (Electric Mirrors are not cheap)! I'm going to take a chance that Electric Mirrors is as good as they say. We will be designing our bathroom just like Julie K is doing. Thank you to everyone who replied to this inquiry!