I live in Minnesota and have a number of large tropical plant trees (banana, clementine, coconut, macadamia nut, etc...) that I grow in containers. During the summer months they do very well out on the deck but then of course they get moved indoors during the winter months and put in front of a large southern facing window. They do okay indoors but I'm hoping I can help them do a little better by adding some indoor lighting.

I know that there are a number of good quality VHO lighting fixtures or even metal halide ones out there that would work well, however, the location of my large southern facing window and pretty much the only large space that I have is in my living room and the "industrial look" of most of the fixtures I've seen is less than ideal from a home decor perspective.

Has anyone seen and/or implemented any high output lighting fixtures that are somewhat decorative and might be suitable for use in a living room? I've thought about purchasing a flush mount fluorescent unit from Home Depot or somewhere similar and trying to retrofit the ballast, connectors & bulbs from a VHO unit but I'm a little concerned about things like heat exhaust which it may not be designed for.

Any ideas or suggestions from anyone? Note that I really need higher intensity lighting since these are essentially small tropical trees. Thanks!

*** Sorry for the cross post---I originally posted this in the home lighting forum but I think this may be more appropriate.