Living Room Lighting - Advice Needed!

Hello all. So here's the situation... as previously mentioned we have scraped the popcorn texture from the living room ceiling. We currently have 2 long fluorescent light fixtures in the ceiling (2 bulbs each). While they are great for evenly lighting the room & conserving electricity, they give off a cold light, and are not especially up-to-date looking. I want to replace them before we retexture the ceiling...Handsome Handyman is hesitant because he doesn't want to give up the aforementioned pros of these lights.

We also have 2 lamps--one table lamp and one floor lamp. They are both great for task lighting, but alone they are not bright enough.

To the 2 lamps I would like to add a plant uplight, some recessed lights, and ...? That's where I'm at a loss.

• HH says that recessed lighting won't light evenly enough--it's just straight down.


• The plant light will add some depth and drama, but not a ton of light, and certainly not evenly.
• We had a cool wall sconce that we left at the condo (grrr) and it helped a lot...but HH might balk at having to do that much wiring stuff to add in a new wall sconce or two--we already have plenty to do, he might not want to have his list grow longer.


• It was suggested having a ceiling fan/light combo, but we plan to take out the wall pictured above and have a half-wall bar/counter there instead, and there will probably be a fan in the kitchen, and some recessed lighting or track lights or pendants where the wall is now. So anyhow, two fans that close to each other doesn't seem so great to me.


• I like the idea of an art spotlight for above the fireplace, but that also goes back to the "lots more work for HH" issue : )
  

So I need to know--what kind of lighting do you like in a living room? Do you have any suggestions for my dilemma?

Here are some pictures of lighting that I like (though only the center pic is the only one that is bright enough & look how many lights they have going!), if it helps you. Thanks!!