Pendant lights won’t do much to help your situation. They will be more like task lighting and you will end up with a lot of shadows. You want something to wash light on the walls and maybe the ceiling with some up lighting on top of the beams. Overhead lighting can be harsh if not planned out well - can lights add a lot of light, but not sure you want that in a living room at night, unless they can be directed to wash the walls and not shine straight down. You can also add cove lighting that is shielded with moulding that adds nice ambiance without seeming harsh. It works well on a vaulted ceiling.

I think your lamps could be upgraded for function and aesthetics. Robert Abbey makes a tall floor lamp called Buster that’s 80” high and the glowing reviews are from people with similarly high ceilings. Two of them in your room could make a big difference.

I realize that "pendant" isn't strictly what I mean. I feel certain that there is a dangling light fixture that shines a diffuse light upward rather than down. I have no idea how I would even search that. I'm open to suggestions.

I found the Buster floor lamp, but there are no pictures of it in an actual room on the Robert Abbey web site. Will have to continue searching.

Cove lighting is a great idea, but I don't think we're inclined to that big a "project." I will definitely see what options there are along that line. Thanks!

Installing cove lighting doesn't have to be too difficult. You can hire an electrician to install an outlet near the point where your wall meets the angle of the ceiling. They may be able to run it from the switch plate area (also want a switch to control it). You can install crown moulding along that line that hides LED lighting (can even use rope lighting that plugs in). Make sure it's a warm white - it will just give you a lovely glow up over the ceiling. My crude attempt to show where I would put it is below. You can also buy moulding that is meant to hide lighting (Amazon carries it), or you could get regular crown moulding (I'd just paint it the color of the walls).

Below are some examples with vaulted ceilings.

I would also see if it's possible to hang some art on your fireplace. That stone just sucks up the light in the room.

The issue with cove lighting is the angle I've circled at each end of the room. Hubby is an electrical engineer, so we've got wiring covered. It's the actual fixture size that may be the issue. Wondering if there's a low profile LED option. More things to think about.

Please keep the ideas coming!

In a previous home we had a vaulted ceiling like yours and installed cove moulding at the top of the walls. It gave the nicest glow to the room. You have a pretty steep angle, so I think it would work. Here's an example of some standard crown (you'd probably want a different style for your room). If you add a piece of 3/4" square moulding at the wall end of the crown it gives a perfect width for 1/2" rope lighting to sit on. It also pushes the crown away from the wall enough to wash the ceiling with light. The blue lines I drew in are approximations of your wall/ceiling lines. You would want to play with the height a little bit to make sure you're getting the right effect. There are also LED strips you can use that may be easier to work with and smaller than rope lighting.

Forgot to add that a piece of decorative moulding under the 3/4" piece to camouflage it would look better. Cove moulding works well.

I would do a very large chandelier, some picture lights, sconces, and more lamps. Layered lighting (and lots of it )is key.

Fans aren't popular on Houzz but they can be pretty important for maintaining a pleasant interior, especially with high ceilings. Do you use yours? If not, lose it and get a big bright chandelier. But it sounds like you want to keep it. Do you think it would function as desired if it were a little bit lower? And larger? It looks undersized.

I'd start by upgrading the fan to a larger, lighted one that can be mounted lower. There are a lot of ugly fans out there. Don't get one of those.

I'd also avoid the strip lighting. It can look tacky. Any molding at the ceiling would be inconsistent with your room's architecture.

I don't want recessed lights. Just not inclined to deal with making holes in that ceiling and potentially causing other issues. Plus, I'm just not a fan of the look.

We'll definitely replace/upgrade the track lighting on the one beam. Maybe add another strip on the second beam. The fan will be replaced/upgraded as well.

I did find a nice art piece for over the fireplace. It arrived yesterday. It needs to be mounted, but I set it on the mantel and took a picture. We've used Art.com for decor pieces. I love that you can search by style, subject, size, etc and find just the right look.

View straight up at the ceiling fan and cross beams. There's one "can light" that is a spot rather than flood.

Hi Pan, we could help you design the perfect hand-blown glass chandelier for your space. Just pick the glass design you like from our collections. Here is a picture. You can add 2 Chandeliers.