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please advise how to light up living room without ceiling lights

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Aug 6, 2005
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please advise how to light up living room without ceiling lights

I have a living room/dining room area (say about 15x25 feet) that's not bright enough. Right now there are three floor standing lights that aren't cutting it.

Any ideas for plug in lighting options? I would like to stay away from any electrical work and there is no ceiling fixture.

Thanks!
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Dec 13, 2011
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bunga wrote: I have a living room/dining room area (say about 15x25 feet) that's not bright enough. Right now there are three floor standing lights that aren't cutting it.

Any ideas for plug in lighting options? I would like to stay away from any electrical work and there is no ceiling fixture.

Thanks!
I would put track lights from the closest ceiling fixture...but you don't want electrical work...SOL
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Apr 4, 2009
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There is no ceiling light fixture (box/outlet) in the dining room?
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Oct 22, 2007
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bunga wrote: there is no ceiling fixture.
Since there are no ceiling fixture and you don't want to install any, your only other choice is to add more floor lights, or increase the wattage of each bulbs or add three way bulbs. I don't really recomend extension cords or cables going along the vertical walls since that really isn't very visually attractive.
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Busybuyer888 wrote: There is no ceiling light fixture (box/outlet) in the dining room?

Some places are like that...so basically he has to buy a long track light from the dining room and extend it over...I think it is one of those dining room to living room extension thingy..
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Aug 20, 2005
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Busybuyer888 wrote: There is no ceiling light fixture (box/outlet) in the dining room?

When I was buying, I looked at a really nice townhouse that had no ceiling lights that I could see. They must have had them in the kitchen and bathrooms but there definitely weren't any in the living room, dining room or bedrooms. For that reason, I passed on it. My agent said this was common in homes of a certain age.
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Aug 6, 2005
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stt55pot wrote: I would put track lights from the closest ceiling fixture...but you don't want electrical work...SOL

If there was a ceiling fixture, I'd have no problem doing that. As it is there aren't any fixtures in the living room/dining room. Since it's a rental, it's not worth it to install one.

Guess my only solution is lights, and more lights.
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Apr 16, 2001
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I really miss the old halogen torchiere lights. I just want to smack the idiots that got them banned because a few morons burned their houses down. :mad:
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Oct 25, 2003
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bunga wrote: If there was a ceiling fixture, I'd have no problem doing that. As it is there aren't any fixtures in the living room/dining room. Since it's a rental, it's not worth it to install one.

Guess my only solution is lights, and more lights.
They make 40 watt cfls that get pretty bright (equal to 150watt incandescent)
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Apr 4, 2006
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Burlington
bunga wrote: I have a living room/dining room area (say about 15x25 feet) that's not bright enough. Right now there are three floor standing lights that aren't cutting it.

Any ideas for plug in lighting options? I would like to stay away from any electrical work and there is no ceiling fixture.

Thanks!
Your livingroom/dining room is probably lacking in what they call "down lighting". I don't know if this will help but West Elm sells Pendants with pendant cords that are 15 feet. You plug them in and run them up the wall to the ceiling. You can take these with you when you move and they also have a conversion kit if you want to hardwire it at a home you own. If you click on the link on the bottom right you will see the cords that match the pendant shades.

http://www.westelm.com/products/industr ... t-lighting
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Dec 12, 2009
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That is a pretty big room to light up without having a fixture at ceiling level. Personally I would look at a solution to add a fixture. It may not be cheap, but will work better than any other compromise option. This no light fixture crap was a builder special of the 1980s and 1990s.
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Oct 15, 2007
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bunga wrote: I have a living room/dining room area (say about 15x25 feet) that's not bright enough. Right now there are three floor standing lights that aren't cutting it.

Any ideas for plug in lighting options? I would like to stay away from any electrical work and there is no ceiling fixture.

Thanks!
stt55pot wrote: I would put track lights from the closest ceiling fixture...but you don't want electrical work...SOL

One of his criteria is to stay away from electrical work. How do you put on ceiling track lights without electrical work? As far as I understand, a track light is just another ceiling light.

15 x 20 feet is a big area. Other than using higher watt bulbs in the floor lamps, I don't think there's any other way to light up the room other than to add ceiling lights which will require electrical work. Since you're renting, probably not a a good idea as you won't get you $ back. Your best bet is to go to a retailer that specializes in floor or table lamps and use higher lumens bulbs.
Gidget wrote: Your livingroom/dining room is probably lacking in what they call "down lighting". I don't know if this will help but West Elm sells Pendants with pendant cords that are 15 feet. You plug them in and run them up the wall to the ceiling. You can take these with you when you move and they also have a conversion kit if you want to hardwire it at a home you own. If you click on the link on the bottom right you will see the cords that match the pendant shades.

http://www.westelm.com/products/industr ... t-lighting

Agree he needs down lights but running wires up the wall and across the ceiling will work but it's not going to look good with the exposed wires. And if you're going to do that, may as well not use pendants and just attach ceiling lights against the ceiling. Pendant lights usually only go well on top of tables, otherwise it's going to hit your head if you walk under it.
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Jul 24, 2003
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how about adding some well placed mirrors to bounce light into less lit areas?
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Jan 28, 2008
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Our livingroom is about the same size. Get those torchiere type floor lamps L69Norm posted a picture of above.. with a glass or plastic shade, that accept two 27 watt or so LCD.. I have two of them and they help alot.
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Aug 27, 2003
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Try painting the walls white or some lighter colour. Adding well-placed mirrors is also a good suggestion.

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