I think it's personal preference. IMHO cans are fantastic in modern style homes, but they wouldn't have worked for us. Our house has very traditional styling and I think it would have ended up looking like "swiss cheese" ceiling if we would have used a bunch of cans. We have a total of 6 in the entire house...and 5 of those are in the kitchen. LOL I love lots of light though, so we took advantage of large windows & the positioning of the house to flood the interior with light during the day. Lamps & uplights lend themselves well to our style of decorating, so we'll use lots of them for lighting at night. We did wire so that the lamps can be turned off & on with a wall switch. :o)

We live in The South and ceiling fans are a neccessity. We have them in all the bedrooms, great room, sunroom, 2 in the game room and 2 in the bonus room. There are a total of 11 in the house.

We're using chandeliers in the breakfast room, dining room, foyer, staircase, and master bath. There are 2 hanging fixtures over the island which is 8 feet long. We'll have flush and semi-flush in the laundy/mudroom, baths, and hallways. There are cabinet lights in the kitchen and bookcases in the great room. The rest of the interior lighting is sconces.

I think it is personal preference and really just depends on how much light and what type of light you like. We like the additional light provided by recessed units. Our house is also very traditional, and I do not think that our ceilings look like swiss cheese at all. We have over 40 cans in our house, for different uses. We also have over 25 ceiling fixtures/chandeliers and sconces in the house. All bedrooms have either chandeliers or ceiling mount fixtures. In fact, every room in the house has ceiling lights or sconces.

We're in the South too, but we are only using 2 ceiling fans...one in the great room (2 story) and one in the master bedroom (16+ ft cathedral ceiling). I had to be coerced into even these two...

I don't see much of a reason to use a recessed light in a bedroom especially if the ceiling is expected to stop the transfer of sound from above. Sometimes a homeowner wants a wall lighted for artwork and sometimes it is a simple and easy way to meet the building code requirement for a light that is switched from at the door. Otherwise most people want lights at the bedside tables that can be individually controlled whether they are table lamps or wall mounted adjustable lamps. Recessed, fan lights, or directly surface mounted lights should not be placed near the bed since you tend to look up into them when lying down and it is almost impossible to read in bed. Therefore I would avoid center ceiling light fixtures in bedrooms.

In living spaces and kitchens I try to light work surfaces first, then cabinets fronts and walls (especially for art work), then consider the general level of illumination and add a light or two to fill in and usually switched separately. I always allow for table lamps because they do a good job of lighting upward and downward with little glare and can be a nice decorative feature in certain kinds of rooms.

I usually use the smaller diameter (3 3/4") recessed lights spaced closer together rather than the larger ones spaced farther apart. I believe this reduces awareness of the light source and glare. For two clients who wanted the maximum light in their living rooms I placed 3 3/4" white step baffle 50w. PAR 20 halogen recessed lights on a 4 ft grid across the entire ceiling on multiple circuits and dimmer switches. Others clients don't want anything on their ceilings and I have to persuade them to allow a few narrow slotted pin spots to light artwork.

It's difficult to get two designers to completely agree on these issues and apparently impossible to find an electrician who doesn't disagree about everything. Never assume an electrician will put a lighting device where you want it unless you supervise the work, even when the fixtures and other devices are shown and dimensioned on the contract drawings and even if the electrician is your oldest and best friend.

Wow, this is exactly the topic that has my head spinning right now. I'm soon reaching the point in my build where I need to walk through with the electrician and also pick my fixtures and I'm having a hard time.

One the one hand, I love lots of light and have a good start on that with lots of windows, but it's a log home and the wood sucks up the light. On the other hand, I've rarely met a can light that I like.

I don't like glare and do like the subtle beauty that light fixtures add.

But I don't want to spend a fortune.

Where I grew up (NC) overhead light fixtures were the norm; I'm learning that they aren't in this region and I'm beginning to understand why.

Overheads, sconces, cans...aaagh!

Oh, well, kangell. Let's toss another potential into the spinning conglomeration.

Check out solar tubes for another source of natural light. And before anyone comments that natural sunlight is too harsh for indoors, please try using a red photographer's filter on the bottom lens; it changes the "harsh" blue light to a softer pinkish which many folks find more comfortable.-- and you can get to deal with the carpenter instead of the electrician; unless you go for the kind that has addditional lighting inside the tube -- then you just let the carpenter and the electrician have at it.

How would you install a sconce on a log wall and would it look good?

Friend installed wrought iron sconces on his log walls, either side of front door. Ran the wiring sort of in the crack between logs until it got to the door frame. (The wire was in a pipe which was puttied [gumboed?] over.) It looked pretty good, but those were really big logs. I would expect one would have to be careful to have a base which fit the curve, or else have to carve out a flat spot to fit the base. Also, I've seen lights attached with the wiring running through a drill hole to inside -- sorry I don't remember the details as having a log home is real low on my list of priorities.

I talked to my builder about sconces on log walls and he said if it's next to a door it's doable. He would drill a hole sideways from the door. However, not doable next to windows which are already installed.

But the interior walls of my home are conventionial framing so I can sconce away on those.