Your living room is charming and welcoming. If the ceiling fan were in my place, I’d put in all burned-out bulbs, so I could use the fan but not have any light coming from up there. Those torchiere-style floor lamps always seem like a good idea because it makes for varied light quality in the room, but I haven’t gotten one to work for me, either. I think a replacement floor lamp, that shines the regular way, would be great in your space. They are expensive, but it could work for a very long time. I like having more floor lamps and fewer table lamps in my living room because I don’t want to have to have numerous tables.

No lighting woes. I prefer subdued lighting and don't care for a lot of natural lighting. I have black sheers on my windows, and lots of lamps (9 in just the living room and bedroom) so I can light the individual areas as needed.

YOu said you're stuck with the ceiling fan as a renter? Really? Why?

I will soon be a renter and I have my heart sent on a particular contemporary pendant light/chandelier that I hope to install. I figured that even as a renter I could do it because I could hold on to the old light fixture and reinstall it if I moved. Is there any reason why that might not be true? I sure hope not.

After all, light fixtures are relatively inexpensive and make such a huge difference.

Lighting is always challenging and expensive - I never understood why lamps are so expensive - the components are not - maybe the design? Look in consignment shops for lamps - many times they are practically brand new. That said, here's my thoughts and - warning - more than lighting is commented upon.

I would rearrange as follows:

Take black framed picture off wall and consider relocating - also the frame seems to overpower the art - all I can see is the darkness of the frame. Move the floor lamp in between the two windows (why the art got moved).

Move the chairs to face the sofa and put table between them - if too crowded, consider losing the table and letting all seats use the coffee table. I don't hate the table lamp but it can go. I'd wait until I sorted out all the lighting options though.

Why do you have a floor fan when you have a ceiling fan? Maybe it could go elsewhere.

Look into replacing the ceiling fan blades with ones that are more pleasing to you or ask the owner if you can replace the ceiling fan (and get credit on your rent). Who knows, the owner may welcome the change. Won't hurt to ask. I agree with the non-functioning light bulb idea as a stop gap (good one). Also ask if you can put in a dimmer. Good luck and hope my comments don't offend.

The lighting in every room except my kitchen is challenging. The lamps I have in my bedroom are ugly and don't really meet my lighting needs, the overhead fixtures in bed-, living- and bathroom are all too dim for my tastes. Maybe it's time to investigate new fixtures with my landlord ...

@Jackie Garwood: i am a renter who happens to have three ceiling fans in my apartment. i'd like to replace at least two of them since they scream ugly 80s. while i could take them down and put them back up again when i move, where the heck am i supposed to store those behemoths in the meantime? i don't have a basement or anything they can live in for awhile. plus cleaning up and covering up the old hole is a lot of work just to undo again when i move.

personally, in one of my ceiling fans i only have two bulbs screwed in all the way--the two bulbs that don't shine directly into my eyes. otherwise it is just too bright to handle.

Jackie G, God forbid something went wrong and there was a fire or something as a result of you re-wiring and monkeying around with the lighting/electricity -- you'd be totally liable. Leases are there to protect both parties -- if you want to change something that significant, ask your landlord/lady to do it for you so they assume any potential liability and so that it is done to their satisfaction, as they are the owners of the property.

I love bright rooms. I don't like being in many of the spaces that have energy-efficient lighting. They make me feel like I'm getting sick. For me the brighter the better. I have a couple of small lamps from Target on my mantle in my living room along with one of those floor lamps with the big arch from back in the day. They light the room up beautifully.

Dimmers! May not solve all your lighting woes, and may make the fan a little wonky when it's on, but probably worth it! Then I would recommend a nice directable light wherever you like to curl up and read.

My favorite cleaning tip from Hints from Heloise was to dim the lights! Ambience + dust camoflage = win!

How many lamps are too many in a living room? Right now we have three, one floor lamp and two table lamps. There's just not enough light! I can't get higher watt bulbs, as the lamps will only take so many, but is it too much to add another floor lamp?

Maybe a paint job to the floor lamp would help? It's not terrible in my eyes, just the color is a little dark. Your place is cute and I can see you like color!

As for the ceiling fan, I too am a renter and would be afraid of taking it down. I'm living with two horrible ceiling fixtures at the moment...seven years. Ugh. Maybe if my husband or I were more handy and I totally trusted the wiring not to be a wreck underneath. But really it would be just another thing to deal with when you move out unless you could get the landlord to agree to a permanent change?

Faceted bulbs might help. They look liked cut or pressed glass and aren't as harsh as a regular bulb. I have a faceted bulb in a cheap clip on task light and it gives off a nice pinkish glow. There are straight up pink bulbs, too, at the home stores. Or the burned out bulbs like ben44 suggested if you don't want light at all coming from up there.

I like that black Ikea lamp. I would try for a black and white pattern to match your frame job above it. I don't know if they take universal shades? I've always been leery of Ikea lamps for that reason.

Thanks for sharing your space and lighting woes!!

Oh, and have you tried to tighten the base of the floor lamp? Sometimes that's all that's needed when there's a wobble. Or the plastic shims at the home stores I use for furniture on our slanty floors. Paper folded and stuck under works, too. ;)

Pi I have 6 lamps in mine

Target has some reasonably priced floor lamps that are versatile, but not super bright. Not sure if this is a solution for you but I totally get your college student/grandma statement. I have a small apartment and would like more light without going lamp crazy. Good luck!

Hi: your place looks cozy and welcoming. The first thing that comes to mind when I look at your pictures are your curtains: funnily enough they seem -to me- quite distracting. Maybe it's the type of fabric, I am not sure. The two chairs I would move so they are right opposite the sofa. The black framed piece of art: the black frame stands out against the color of the wall, although it works on a really white wall it does not seem to on your wall. Maybe replace it or -dare I say ;-)- paint it white. Last but not least: lamps are expensive, I agree. Have you considered spray painting the base of the lamp to give it an entirely different look? It actually does not look bad at all in your room. Funnily enough, the first thing I would do is replace the curtains and put something up that's white and made out I'd the kind of fabric that falls beaitufully. Curtains don't need to be expensive, your current curtains are actually fairly easy to be made. Good luck and show us what you've changed!

ooh, i agree with tarainsevenvalleys. paint that floor lamp a medium gray and i bet it would update it enough to not be horrible while you wait for the perfect lamp (or save the money for a perfect lamp).

I got a reasonably priced sturdy floor lamp that I'm happy with at Lowe's of all places.

Lighting is where I feel overwhelmed (right up there with storage) in my small space. Most of the lighting options that will add depth seem to also take up space and I don't have any to spare! I have the same ceiling fan/operating room as the post and since it is SO MUCH light, I don't add any others. I'd love to just leave it off, but my husband really likes to see EVERYTHING and always turns it on.

I pretty sure 16 can lights is too many in a living room. Especially when there are three different styles (two are the same style but slightly different colors). They are all on dimmers, but the light bulbs are not dimmable. However, we do have three different switches, so they don't all have to be on at the same time. Our major problem with light is the light switch placement. The living room lights are by the dining room not in the entrance. Argh! I would like to give the person who picked out the switches placement. We have both way to many and not enough.

I think your current problem is that there are so many small lamps here and there so the room looks a little bit cluttered. Replace the torch lamp with a big size lamp and add a focal point in the room. Like this one: http://www.target.com/p/home-arc-floor-lamp-silver/-/A-13158360#prodSlot=medium_1_33&term=floor+lamp
Also replace the Ikea table lamp with a low-key pharmacy lamp to avoid too many patterns there. http://www.target.com/p/floor-lamp-swing-arm-task-silver/-/A-13816222#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton

Just my two cents.

Otherwise, I actually like the color schema in your room now. Warm and inviting.

One of the issues we asked for help with from an interior designer was lighting in our living room. We have no overhead lighting there, so it all had to be lamp based.

She encouraged us to buy four lamps with light, linen shades. The two standing lamps were on the expensive side, approx. $400 each. The have nice, big drum shades and take two bulbs each, each one is a 3-way bulb. On the other side of the room, we have two smaller table lamps that I bought for cheap off Overstock. The lamps are identical pairs, so they provide some symmetry to an otherwise asymmetrical room. The only way I would enhance the lamps we have is to have them on dimmer switches, but the three-way are good enough for now.

Then she encouraged us to get the right bulbs.. As it turns out, I had landed on the very same bulbs she recommended: GE Reveal brand. They're the ONLY ones we buy now.

Helped a great deal. I now enter my living room at night feeling cheerful, rather than dreary.

First off, your landlord owns your place, not you. Rent doesn't give anyone the right to change permanent fixtures to suit yourself, I don't care what some people advise or get away with. If you have a good relationship with your landlord, maybe you can convince them to change things to suit you, especially if you are willing to spend some of your own money for the new fixture/s. (Then they become the property of the landlord, though, unless you clearly work that out ahead of time.)

Meanwhile, if the ceiling fan light is too bright, switch to lower wattage bulbs. Unless you sometimes need the brightness for cleaning or something.

After that, figure out where you need more light. If for reading, you need a lamp where you sit the most. If for crafting or hand work, ditto. If only for general lighting and ambience, maybe some artfully hidden up-lights flooding the walls would help.

My living room space might be about the same size as yours. I have three windows,one solid wall and one side open to the kitchen. We have can lights that are only turned on for cleaning and the like, sort of like your ceiling fan. I have one table lamp next to the section of the sofa where I sit to read. (My partner mostly sits at the other end of the sofa, and is most likely to be onhis laptop, so that's "self-lit".) There is another lamp (a large IKEA "Japanese lantern" sort of lamp) in the corner across from me behind a guest chair. Rarely on. And there is a table lamp on the credenza by the pony wall separating the kitchen. I turn that on when we have company, for ambience. The big-screen TV facing the sofa is also a light source, when in use.

So with a room about your size, we have overhead lights we only use for cleaning, one table lamp for reading, and two other table lamps sometimes on for company, plus the TV. But that's working with our level of comfort with light levels. Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

I just posted on the main task page that I didn't know how to get a third light in my living room. Your bookcase lamp could be the answer.... To Ikea!

Your living room looks really cosy and welcoming. I am also loving the Anchorman reference.

We have a ceiling fan with a light that we almost never use. Don't laugh but for most of winter we use the IKEA fairy lights that we leave up on our living room windows. It really helps with the ambiance of the grey winter nights.

Try moving your tall lamp to where your fan is. That may change the feeling of the light. If you hate it that much, go after some thrift stores and see if you can find one to makeover with a can of spray paint.

I think that with the fun mix of decor items you have that the black table lamp would work well with a larger shade.

I have a real issue with our lighting and I do not know where to begin to fix it. The main issues are that we rent and we rent in Spain. With that being said, I do not want to spend a lot of money on lighting, with 220 voltage, and then have to leave them when we move. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have a couple of small table lamps (IKEA, 7 Euro) on our bedroom nightstands and I like them a lot; however, they do not produce enough light to be placed in our living space. We only have an ottoman and a credenza in the living area, and we do not have a lot of floor space to use a floor lamp. If anyone has suggestions or ideas I would greatly appreciate hearing them! Thank you all so very much. In the past, I have found that a lot of the fellow AT readers have wonderful ideas that I have used and been very happy with, so I am hoping my streak continues!

Thanks for the advice, everyone! My living room will hopefully be undergoing a lot of change this year, and I'll keep your suggestions in mind :)

No actual room lighting woes but have a Moss table lamp that needs rewiring and a couple pieces of the lucite reglued. Another 2' tall lamp needs a better shade instead of the gigantic cone shade (it could double as a med collar for a St. Bernard.

I feel you on the ugly ceiling fan. We have one in our living room that is definitely ugly, which is a shame because there's lovely ceiling detail around it's base. I'm thinking of asking our landlord if we can hire someone to replace it with a newer one -- partly because it's ugly and partly because I'm not confident it's in there well -- it really sways back and forth when you turn it on. Very disconcerting. And having a ceiling fan would be really nice because we can't afford to put a window A/C in the living room (it's open to the kitchen and that would be one enormous electricity bill).

FYI, these are the lamps we purchased, and we LOVE them. Again, GE Reveal bulbs only! Now, the price seems to have gone up substantially, or else we got some sort of designer's discount. They're listed here for over $600. OWCH. But I love them and I have no plans to ever do away with these lamps. They rock my world pretty much in every way. Indeed, Circa has delicious lamps. Ooh la la. (Funny that I have these lamps, because my sofa and chairs are cheeeeeeap-o. High-brow, low-brow, I guess. :))

http://www.circalighting.com/details.aspx?pid=1694

I am a little surprised you were the first to mention lower wattage bulbs...people do know that they come in lower watts, right? You don't have to have 180 watts in your lamp just because it is set for 3 bulbs! You can swap in lower wattage bulbs with no issue--as long as the base of the bulb is the right size, the 'suggested wattage' is a MAXIMUM, not a minimum! Also, 20 or 40 watt regular bulbs are often much less expensive than Reveal or colored bulbs. And...gasp...you could even do a bulb that was low wattage AND colored!!!!

I see the best lamps at consignment shops and they're always cheaper than anything you can get at Ikea.

Kristy from Spain: I don't know how you feel about lugging around a large lamp after you move away from Spain, but if you do buy a lamp, it's a pretty simple fix for a lamp repair store to switch out the plug when you get back to the States.

Ok, I'm just going to put this out there: I discovered a ridiculously easy DIY that's kind of a lighting game-changer for me. I have hideous wall sconces with ridiculous little lampshades that never sit straight. Because I use compact flourescent bulbs that don't put out much heat I simply removed the shades, got a plain white piece of computer paper, wrapped it in a tube and taped it at the back. Then I slid the tube over the bulb so it sits at the base of the lamp, the bulb is in the middle, and the tube extends another 8 or so inches above the bulb. It mutes the bulb and creates an 11-inch column of light in what looks like frosted glass. So if you have your table lamp, get a really long piece of paper (patterned might be cool), and make yourself a glowing column of light. Or several. You could also consider some sort of makeshift paper shade on your cieling fan so long as you're using CFL bulbs.

To Jackie Garwood: I had an electrician replace an ugly old ceiling fixture in my studio apartment with one I liked. In the end, my landlord was so pleased with the look of all the changes I'd made to the apartment that he offered to store the old fixture for me, to my surprise.

Also, could you replace the glass part of the floor lamp with a downward sloping, maybe cone-shaped, shade? It would hide the "grandma-ish" flourishes. Perhaps larger lampshades on the floor and table lamps would be in more pleasing proportion with the room.

In seeing the photo shown, I would ditch the IKEA table lamp, it's too small to really do anything in the room when off, I'd go for something a bit more substantial. In a bedroom it's fine, but in the livingroom, not so much.

Also, it's competing with the round globe, which I would use as an accent lamp as you have it there on the shelves, though I'd move it to another area where it's not competing with 2 other lamps.

The floor lamp in and of itself isn't bad, but its placement is. I'd move it to a corner or wall where it can bounce light off said wall(s) and celiing and be out of the way of traffic areas and not get knocked over.

Then buy some decent table lamps for the seating area, and spread them around so they aren't all bunched up in one end/side of the room.

Off topic, but I love, love, love those black campaign style chairs. Can we get a source for them?

To sj and JEC, I agree with your comments. Changing a fixture is not a big deal and my apartment will have a storage space. I will mention it to the building manager first though and get the okay. I wouldn't do the switch myself, I'm scared of electricity and wouldn't know where to start but I can ask the building maintenance people for a start or my son to do it. I'm actually thinking, because the price of the one I want is just a little over $100 if I stayed there long enough, I'd be willing to leave it for the next person. Updating the fixture on that basis might be an okay switch for the building manager.

your living room is lovely, and your writing is hilarious!

The spindle lamp, the skinny floor lamp and the globe stand are filling the room with too many teetering, insubstantial, top-heavy shapes, which is a source of discomfort as I look around the room. Replace the table lamp with a standard-issue squat ginger-jar lamp. You should be able to find one in an earthy teal or your pale blue, to give a good solid dose of your secondary color. If not, get a wrong-colored one at the local ReStore, Goodwill or yard sale and paint it.

The other thing I'd hope for would be an upgrade of your tab-top curtain panels. Their messiness is the number one thing that prevents the room from looking like "successful, hip, young, professional" and makes it look more like "just out of college, trouble paying the rent, at least these aren't the safety-pinned bedsheets that were hanging there last month." They have crossed the line from "casual" into "disheveled." If you don't need them for privacy, just take them away. Doing that, and adding a dominant blob of focal-point color in a solid ceramic lamp will let the room look tailored yet relaxed, pulled-together yet unfussy.

I'm loving your Dunkin Donuts thermos!

hahah I love that quote! http://instagram.com/p/Te5sR4KXnp/

A very quick, easy, and cheap way to transform your tall lamp, would be to simply add a drum shade over it. These can be found for for as little as 14$ (Wal-Mart), and come in black, white, and patterns. You won't be able to attach it, but it can simply sit flat on the glass shade, like on an antique lamp. If the lamp is loose and wobbly, you can usually tighten it. Check the bottom for a large nut, and tighten it carefully.

i have that floor lamp. suprised to hear yours is wobbly. mine has never worked as a 3-way, but the cast iron was so heavy i didn't feel like returning it. i just use a 100w bulb in it. i don't think it's college at all, either.

http://lotusandfig.blogspot.com/2012/08/single-girl-style-place-for-my-stuff.html