Ideas for Inexpensive Basement Lighting

CFL bulbs save you money over time.light bulb 1 image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com

Basements tend to feel dark and dank, partially because of the lack of natural light and partially because they are naturally moist areas in your home due to the concrete absorbing moisture from the soil. Bright lighting helps chase away the darkness, and it doesn't have to break your budget.

Floor Lamps

Basements often have lower ceilings than other levels of the home. If your basement has a finished ceiling between 6 and 8 feet high, it may be ideal for torchiere-style floor lamps. An added bonus of this method is that it doesn't require additional wiring. Select floor lamps that have scooped tops that aim the light upward, and use tube-style halogen lamps. These lamps create bright white light that will reflect off a finished, light-colored ceiling and bounce off the ceiling and walls to illuminate the room. Start with one in each corner and add more as needed. You can create a similar effect with adjustable-head floor lamps if the heads can be aimed at the walls and ceiling. This creates the effect of track lighting, but on a vertical pole instead of a horizontal strip.

If you have ceiling lighting sockets in place or can add them inexpensively, replace your bare pull-chain bulbs with flush-mount ceiling fixtures that take two or more light bulbs and have a frosted dome that will diffuse the light. Use compact fluorescent, or CFL, bulbs in these fixtures. They produce a bright, high-luminosity light that uses less energy than standard tungsten bulbs, so you can increase the light output without overloading your circuits or running up energy bills. Flush-mount fixtures keep the light directed where you need it, and most home improvement stores have inexpensive models. CFL bulbs also last much longer than incandescent bulbs, so you will end up saving in the long run as well as the short term.

You don't have to spend a ton of money to get good-quality lighting fixtures. Check your local business listings to see if there is a reused building materials store in your area. These stores generally have older fixtures that were removed during other people's remodels, but you can find basic fixtures that work for a small fraction of today's retail prices. If you don't have such a store in your area, check thrift shops or call your local builders' association to find out what area contractors do with the light fixtures pulled out of homes that are being remodeled. You can also often find industrial-style lighting fixtures or specialty fixtures in stores that are going out of business. The lighting units that are part of the building will not likely be on sale, but any fixtures used for specialty displays may be available, and may be the kind of high-intensity light your basement needs.