You need both, narrow beam and high output. Since LED is manufactured light. its' much harder to rate the candle feet of light you get. Im also wondering if going with 6 might help overlap the light a bit more.

For the bookcase lighting you just need a gimble ring trim to aim at the bookcase and maybe just use 4'' there.

I didn't mention the room dimensions, but it's only a 20x20 ft square, so four lights 20 ft up should provide plenty of coverage (I'm assuming you meant 6 lights, not 6" cans?). I'm realizing the LED retrofit kits we used elsewhere in the house (rated at 1250 lumens) are actually pretty bright, and I'm not sure the spread is a significant issue, so maybe just using those is a more viable option than I'd originally thought?

Yeah, there are lots of gimbal light options out there, and going with smaller 4" lights is probably plenty for that application.

can= recessed can= pot lights.

beam spread of light is like a triangle the further away the larger the triangle gets thus less light actually reaching the ground.

Revisiting this project, want to select lights so that I've got them ready to go for an electrician. Any suggestions on how to narrow things down? For example, what if I wanted to purchase something at Home Depot? Are there online sources that are particularly recommended?

Changing light bulbs 20 feet up would be a huge pain, so I think the case for LED lights is very strong.

Your electrician should be supplying the product, to be sure it is compatible with the dimmer switches that you need to install to go with it. Only 4 cans 20’ up though? That’s like lighting a candle in the garage because the house is dark. It’s inadequate. You need a much more aggressive lighting plan. I’ve put 8 cans in a kitchen with ceilings half that tall.

The electricians with whom I've interacted to date are more in the mode of installing what I've selected than of researching options and finding just the right product. I'm sure there are higher end home design outfits that I'd trust with all of that, but at a significant cost. But good point on thinking hard about the number/density of cans (and that's an illustration of the kind of advice I presumably would be getting from a higher-end electrician, design shop, etc.).

Like I said before , at least six cans, narrow beam spread.

Thanks! Any suggestions on where to look at options? For example, on the Home Depot website I don't see beam spread specified

Try the Halo Lighting website. All the specs should be there. Can buy from HD, Amazon or others.

Brainstorming about this project, it occurs to me that the two-story space would be a great candidate for hanging multiple pendant lights. I'm picturing four lights like this, probably at staggered heights. I suppose any fixture should be able to handle a screw-in LED bulb, and the issue of dimmer compatibility becomes one of bulb-dimmer compatibility, not fixture-dimmer compatibility. Open to aesthetic and technical feedback!

Can you please post a picture of the space, and or a floor plan..

Happily, here it is lit by evening sunlight. Upstairs where you see one bookshelf will ultimately be four bookshelves, quasi-built-in aesthetic

Budget no object, I'd either hang a mobile sculpture, like a Calder or Calder-inspired piece, or a large, sculptural chandelier, e.g. a larger, lower-hanging version of something like this. But budget is somewhat tight, and hanging a couple pendant lights, maybe at different heights, seems like it could be very attractive

Ok you could do a cluster of three pendants, I would not space them out. To be realistic you really will not get reading quality light from overhead here but you can light up the space with layering.

I would put 4'' cans on the catwalk, they could be directed at the bookcase or straight down.

one can maybe even 2" in each recessed area on either side of the fireplace

A picture light over the fireplace

Wall washers on the perimeter of the room, maybe you have some artwork there, and still, I would put general cans around the space.

could you post a picture from the upper level looking across the room?

Sorry for slow response, I haven't been on here much! Two upper level pictures attached

Second photo didn't upload, here it is

That's odd, I think Houzz is blocking the second photo? Doesn't really matter, just a different perspective on the same space

Substantive follow-ups:

1) Why do you discourage spacing pendants out?

2) Catwalk will get recessed accent lights for built-in bookshelves that are coming, that's separate.

3) I can't put anything in the areas next to the fireplace without opening walls in a major way, that's not on the agenda.

4) Picture light and wall washers not on the agenda either for the same reason.

1. because I think the view is the star of the show, and keeping the hanging light simple and over the seating area is more congruent with the space

4. picture light can be battery operated, with a remote control even. gives the soft simple light with a focal point.

and now that I am seeing the space from a sunset, and upper view, I wonder to myself if simple doing the can lighting around the upper hallway is the best idea and keeping the floor lamps for lighting the living room is an even better solution.

Yeah, I could see that spaced out hanging lights might be awkward. There are already canned lights around the upper area *not* over the lower floor area, and as expected, they cast minimal light onto the lower floor area. I think I want some downward lighting for the lower floor area, so I think the original plan to put recessed can lights into the ceiling, 20 feet up, probably makes sense. I'm aware that they need to be fairly bright, possibly narrower beam since they're so high, and four is a bare minimum, six or even eight might be warranted. Battery operated picture light is worth considering, thanks for mentioning that option.

That light will disappear at about a 9-foot level from the other level, the perimeter level lighting will help

Sorry, are you saying that putting recessed lighting into the ceiling 20 feet up is effectively useless? Right now, the space doesn't have any general lighting at all, and it's annoying. My thinking was that the recessed lighting would provide meaningful light, even if perhaps not quite reading-quality light.

A lighting company provides free assessments by their engineers, helpful to get a reality check there. For pretty bright canned LED lights, six would get me to bare minimum lighting at levels more appropriate to a hallway, eight would get me to the lower end of adequate for a living room, twelve isn't crazy either, and so on. I'll probably end up going with eight and then having some additional floor lighting

Yes exactly what I was saying.

Yep. Appreciate your input in walking me through this!

I realize this has been a while, but I am going through the same issue right now. Did you put in 8 canned, recessed LED lights? And did you find that was adequate lighting? Thank you!

Thank you so much!! This is very helpful, and I'm so thankful that you checked and responded three years later! :D

Happily! I would say, get an assessment to be able to compare different options if possible. And then think hard about the extremes, i.e. do you need really bright reading/task-level light, and conversely, do you want really low-level background light in the evening. And lighting itself is aesthetic, i.e. there's a quasi-starlight ceiling quality to lots of little lights (which means symmetry, including alignment with room features like windows, is really important)