Well, I'm still undecided, but I am excited about my next step... I will be meeting a "lighting engineer" at our new construction tomorrow at lunch. I stumbled into this by way of a antique dealer in town who has some gorgeous fixtures that have been re-wired to todays standards. I told her about my issue of balancing my desire for ambient and french/antique style and fiance's desire for 'task' lighting. She said they have a great guy they work with who comes to your site with a light meter thingamajig and tells you what your light levels are based on natural light, room direction, etc. and gives some recommendations on the type of light needed for the space. So, I am VERY excited because in the end, with this lighting engineers advice, my fiance (an engineer) SHOULD be appeased by the outcome, no matter what the fixture(s) "looks" like.