Hi All,

Yes, I've read the sticky on shop lighting (whew, nearly went cross-eyed!).

I'm trying to figure out the best way to light my basement shop. I'm at the beginning phases of getting my unfinished basement ready in our new (old) house. The ceiling height is about 7'. I really don't want to sacrifice head room, but I don't want to deal with shadows all over the place. So I'm trying to figure out a decent compromise between those two things.

I'm thinking that I need to put partially recessed T-8 fixtures between the joists. By "partially recessed," I mean that only the bulbs protrude below the joists, to take advantage of the ~180 degrees of light that come off of the tubes, while minimizing how much head room they take up. I'd need to think about a way to protect the bulbs though.

I'm also considering mounting some lights at the tops of the walls, kind of like crown molding. Like the fixture in the picture below. Any other ideas? I'm planning to paint the concrete floor and ceilings a light glossy color to reflect as much light as possible.