What sort of lighting (not too expensive, please) should I consider buying that will be most efficient at lighting up a room?

I would go with some floor lamps, not halogen. I use a couple of them and it works fine and they’re reasonable.

@Adirondackwannabe…I have some of these, although I think the sort I have are more of the “torch” type? (tall and thin) Maybe I should go with lamps not quite so tall, and with more of a lamp shade on them?

I have the big tall lamps with shades. I have one behind my right shoulder and I have plenty of light. It’s a 60 watt.

Yeah, the torch lamps I have do not have clear shades, so I am definitely going to look for something that lets light through better. And I’m afraid 60 watts won’t cut it for me, @Adirondackwannabe, as I’m afraid my eyes aren’t what they used to be. I do a lot of computer work, reading, and cross stitch, so that doesn’t help either…

LED lights are a bigger up-front investment, but cost less over the life of the bulb. They also give off a whiter light. The bulbs come in a wide range of sizes to fit into existing fixtures, and also come in lots of new designs.

We have the Ikea Tived lights in the floor, table, and ceiling models, and we have them pointed at the art on our walls, which diffuses the light quite nicely.

Thanks, @hearkat…I’ll check those out too. Either way, I need new fixtures. I bought cheap ones when first moving out many, many years ago, and they are on their last leg.

This may not be exactly what you’re after, but it’s cheap, effective, sustainable and available now.

Interesting… @CWOTUS, but not quite what I’m looking for.

Ikea is great for cheap, fun lighting. If you have one near you, I would suggest checking their stuff out.

Each room should have one main light source from either recessed lights or lamps on say a ceiling fan. From there, I like to have accent lighting from table lamps or pedestal lamps to provide additional light. Most of my lighting extras I found on Craigs list and Freecyle.org.

@gorillapaws…I plan to check out IKEA, thanks. @Cruiser, since I rent, I have limited choices for what I can do for lighting…

I cannot stand overhead lights, so I have lamps all over the place, in the kitchen and the bathroom too. I use incandescent bulbs in most of them because of the softer light. But for areas of the rooms where I want to be able to see extremely well, I use OttLites. I would not be without them. Go to OttLite.com