Workshop Lighting Options ?

[Louis]

I have a mostly finished basement and the biggest room down there is my workshop. The floor joists are exposed and the lighting consists of bulb sockets screwed into the ceiling. Because the joists are way deeper than the bulbs the lighting is pretty poor. I'm thinking of improving things, but other than the $20 industrial 4' fluorescent stuff which I don't think will look very good, I can't really think of anything decent.

Any ideas or pictures of what has worked for you?

[Elmer]

.....would work great imho. You could add as many light fixtures as you wanted and direct them to areas where you need the light the most. It's not just for kitchens anymore.
http://www.econoco.com/images/classimages/img12.jpg

[rePhil]

My shop utilizes mostly ambient light, supplemented with a pair of 4 footers over my work area.There are more options than the industrial ones. I regret not having a few more, but it works ok for me.There are plenty of solutions out there depending on your budget.

[wasfast]

Note the drywall behind the last posters picture. It greatly increases the reflectance no matter what lighting you choose. You can just add a sheet of drywall over the work area. Paint it white and you'll notice a great deal more light.

Fluorscent lighting is cheap but if the area gets cold, the inexpensive ballasts hum and the lights flicker for a while which makes me nuts. The track lighting solution is better and you can tune the lighting with position, number of lights and bulb size/type.

[rePhil]

My flourescents enhance the ambient. I agree that there are much better options. The light colored drywall does reflect quite a bit of light.