Post #278169 by Swanky on Thu, Jan 11, 2007 8:18 AM

You might leave the flourescents (they are inset in the drop ceiling I assume.) and just cover the whole mess with burlap or some other cheap easy material. Then, at 3AM you can turn on the ugly lights and drive people out, or, just see well to clean. And then put in some regualr can lights around the perimeter, maybe planning to have things on the wall highlighted. Put them on a dimmer for sure. This will help. You want light aimed down, not up. It helps control it better.

Hit the thrift stores for baskets and other woven things like vegetable steamers, that you can use to make your own hanging lamps. With a bit of scrap tapa and burlap, etc, you can easily make these cheap materials into very authentic looking lighting. If you have bamboo around, you can also cut it into strips so that it is bendable and make things from that.

It's always about using cheap things creatively.