Lights in Ceilings
 

We are looking at homes and most of the new and pre-owned homes don't have lights in the living room, dining room or bedroom ceilings. Do you as a homeowner find that it is difficult to see at night. I notice some people put in solar tubes but what do you do at night when there is no sun? If any one has added lights in the ceiling after their purchase could you provide an idea of what can lighting added to the ceilings runs. Or if you added can lights during the building prices what does that upgrade typically cost? My vision in low light is poor and I can't see not having ceiling lights.

LR and BR have switched outlets. It is fairly easy to switch this to overhead switched light in the ceiling fan. Since most people hire this out I will skip the details.

If you do want them let me know.

Unsure what you mean about no dinning room light. What style home are you considering? The ones that I am familiar with do have this light.

I have several plug in night lights that provide some light in almost every room when it is dark. I also have several lamps connected to remote control plug in outlets that you can purchase on Amazon.com. Very convenient.

Each room has some outlets connected to a switch. It's the switch marked with a red dot. You plug lamps into these outlets. That provides good light for most situations.

It is also possible to have an electrician add a light kit to any ceiling fan.

I had an electrician install ceiling lights in the living room, dining room and den. Additionally I had 3 solar tubes installed. I like a bright house and it is bright.

We added the light kits to all of the ceiling fans. If you are lucky, the house will have an extra (red) wire to the fan that can be used for the light kit, and the wall switch replaced with either a double switch option (this is what we used), or a fan/light speed /dimmer controller.
If you decide to do this, some words of caution. with the power OFF, remove the round plate at the bottom of the fan (typically 3 screws) and take a look at the connector for the light kit, a photo is a good idea, and use this to get a mating light kit. Take a close look at the light kit, I accidentally bought one that used a very unusual 2 pin twist (G22?) base, and I had a lot of trouble getting replacement bulbs, so I had to convert to standard Edison or candelabra bases. There are also remote control options for fans and lights, but these can be tricky getting the receiver mounted inside the base of the fan.

Recessed LED lighting in the Living Room ceiling is No. 1 on my want list. Has anyone done this and if so, what diameter lights did you use?

Recessed lights are all different, some are spots, regressed eyeballs , while others are floods--in general they are task lights--not area lighting--that is why most of them are in kitchens over counters- I'm a retired electrical contractor--a good light kit with a remote control added to a ceiling fan should suffice

I like the ceiling lights best. But you can put a light on each fan and I would do that. We use the ceiling fan lights infrequently but still worth doing it.

We did just that. The lights are the standard light strips used on golf carts, 12 volt d.c.. The electrician used a 110 volt a.c. step down converter. They are extremely bright and are hooked up to a slider dimmer switch. They put out no heat and we leave them on all night as a night light. Perfect solution.

ps: PM me if you want to see the installation, Carla.

Thanks, BobnBev. I was thinking of the little LED round ceiling lights I saw at Lowe's, 3" or 4" in diameter. Since you have the strip lighting where did you place it? In the ceiling around the perimeter of the room? On the outside of the sheetrock?

Over the top of the cabinets and under the lip of the lower cabinets. Totally out of sight when turned off, awesome when turned on.

I just contracted for installation of 4 recessed LED fixtures in the living room ceiling of my new home for just under $800 total, including a dimmer switch. The electrician said each fixture will be about the equivalent of about 100 watts of light (I still think in incandescent wattage, not LED wattage). Hope that helps.

Ceiling Lights
 

One option to consider is having the solar tubes installed with lighting. Solar tubes work great during the day. And, at night time the lighting is just enough to provide gentle lighting without being obtrusive. I have enjoyed this option.