Rooms with high ceilings and no overhead light - who has the best solution?

install light fixtures?

ceiling fan on a downrod with light kit

I wouldn't know. Wife keeps the house looking like a dungeon. I have a huge flashlight that I use to look for stuff.

Other than getting higher wattage bulbs for the lamps, adding can lights is the only option.

Google "low profile canned lights". There are a lot of LED products on the market now that are low profile and they are much easier to install than the old type of cans and also don't need nearly the room (depth). They come in different sizes (diameter wise) and also have some that are "eye-ball" that can be pointed/adjusted in different directions.

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ceiling fan on a downrod with light kit

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I don't disagree, this just isn't a quick fix for now. This room is a logistical clusterfrick.

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350 new can lights

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How about 350 tap lights?

Attic above it or is there a floor above it?

If there is an attic it should be farily easy to catch a circuit and add some LED can lights. If its a lot of trouble to fish the wall use a remote switch.

If there is no attic opening up the walls and ceiling enough to hide wires is the preferred method.

Neither is cheap.

If it is tray ceilings do you mean there is a soffit around the perimeter with a lower ceiling and then a step up to a higher ceiling? If that is the case doing some LED strips along the step should be pretty easy. Its also really easy to hide wire along most tray ceilings....keep it close to the moulding and run it neat and its possible to make it look like part of the moulding...or, if not, add a strip of moulding and hide it behind it and fish the wire from the tray to the higher ceiling and do can lights. or put them in the lower ceiling. Or do both. Its not going to be cheap for an electrician to do it but it is easy enough for them to do it....since your aasking I am assuming it is not something you wanted to do yourself but if it is it is not overly difficult....cut small holes, get a fiberglass fishing rod from HD (not an actual fishing rod) and get after it. Its a pretty simple if tedious process.

put a hook in ceiling and drop a 10 ft or so string of sorts.

hang a rechargable light bulb at the end. Just would have to deal with charging and rehanging it.

eta: can maybe even do two hanging. buy 4 bulbs so you have new sets always charging. bulbs works with remotes.

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No attic above this. It's actually a loft area in a bedroom.

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That means there is still at least a cavity above the area to be lit. Since it is a tray using the inside of the vertical transition between the two ceiling heights is pretty simple. There is a pretty good chance that the area between the 2 ceilings is a soffit with a void behind it...there may be some duct work ran in it but it should be big enough to fish a wire through. Find a spot on that vertical transition that is close to the outlets that are controlled by a switch and cut in a 2 gang cut in box....if you can't do anything at that spot just put a blank cover over it. There is a good chance that it is nothing but a void. If that is the case its very simple...find an outlet you can get to, preferably on an interior wall to avoid insulation and the possibility of purlins. Take the outlet out and remove the box (it may be possible to fish a wire down to the outlet without removing the box but it is harder to do). First try to push a piece of wire up the wall and have some one at the box you cut in shine a light and see if they see it coming up the wall. If there is drywall ran above the soffit on the wall with the outlet in it try to knock a hole in it big enough to see if the wire is there. If you see the wire, take another piece, bend a hook in it and try to fish it over the soffit....it might surprise you how simple that is. if you can get over to the box youve cut in your set....you got it by the short hairs. Find out where you want the lights, find out how the upper ceiling joists are ran and fish the wire around the soffit and up into the uppe ceiling. It is actually pretty easy to do.....an electrician will know how but it wont be cheap. Youo may have to cut in boxes and use blanks to fish wires. Even if you have to do it in the ceiling it will be almost unoticeable.

its possible to do it with battery powere lights and a remote switch but changing the batteries would be a pain in the arse. Its also possible to run LED stripes on the vertical transition or put can lights in the lower ceiling. There are hundreds of ways to do it, none of them easy but none overly complicated mechanically.