Lighting is the cheapest way to make a room feel expensive. Seriously. Swap one sad overhead bulb for three well-placed lamps and your living room stops looking like a dentist's waiting area. Most rooms don't need a remodel. They need light that arrives from more than one direction. 
The three layers Designers talk in layers. Ambient light fills the room, task light helps you my ever lights do a job, accent light adds drama. Think of a cake. Ambient is the sponge, task is the filling, accent is the cherry on top. Leave one out and the whole thing tastes off. Ambient comes first. A ceiling fixture, a pair of wall sconces, maybe a floor lamp bouncing its beam off the ceiling. The goal is soft, even coverage, with no harsh puddles and no cave corners. Task light, where it counts Reading chair? Park a lamp beside it, slightly behind your shoulder, so the beam lands on the page and not in your eyes. Kitchen counters want strips tucked under the cabinets. Otherwise your own head throws a shadow over the onions you're chopping. A desk needs its lamp on the side opposite your writing hand. Small fix. Big difference. Accent, the fun part Here you get to play. Point a small spot at a painting, hide a strip behind the TV, or rake a textured wall with light from below. For an object to pop, its light should run about three times brighter than the glow around it. Go easy, though. A room where everything is highlighted ends up with nothing highlighted, like a speech where every word is shouted. Play with height Most people stack all their light up at the ceiling. Mix it up. Put some at eye level with table lamps, some low with a floor uplight, some high. Your eyes pick up depth from that variety, so the room feels taller and calmer. The humble dimmer A dimmer switch costs roughly the price of lunch. It turns one fixture into five moods. Bright for Saturday scrubbing, low for dinner, barely there for a midnight snack. Make sure the bulbs you buy are dimmable, or you'll get a buzz and flicker that sounds like a mosquito trapped in a tin can. Here's a quick test. Stand in the doorway at dusk with only the overhead on. See a dark corner or a glare spot? That's where your next lamp goes. Add it, step back, and notice how the room exhales.
The three layers Designers talk in layers. Ambient light fills the room, task light helps you my ever lights do a job, accent light adds drama. Think of a cake. Ambient is the sponge, task is the filling, accent is the cherry on top. Leave one out and the whole thing tastes off. Ambient comes first. A ceiling fixture, a pair of wall sconces, maybe a floor lamp bouncing its beam off the ceiling. The goal is soft, even coverage, with no harsh puddles and no cave corners. Task light, where it counts Reading chair? Park a lamp beside it, slightly behind your shoulder, so the beam lands on the page and not in your eyes. Kitchen counters want strips tucked under the cabinets. Otherwise your own head throws a shadow over the onions you're chopping. A desk needs its lamp on the side opposite your writing hand. Small fix. Big difference. Accent, the fun part Here you get to play. Point a small spot at a painting, hide a strip behind the TV, or rake a textured wall with light from below. For an object to pop, its light should run about three times brighter than the glow around it. Go easy, though. A room where everything is highlighted ends up with nothing highlighted, like a speech where every word is shouted. Play with height Most people stack all their light up at the ceiling. Mix it up. Put some at eye level with table lamps, some low with a floor uplight, some high. Your eyes pick up depth from that variety, so the room feels taller and calmer. The humble dimmer A dimmer switch costs roughly the price of lunch. It turns one fixture into five moods. Bright for Saturday scrubbing, low for dinner, barely there for a midnight snack. Make sure the bulbs you buy are dimmable, or you'll get a buzz and flicker that sounds like a mosquito trapped in a tin can. Here's a quick test. Stand in the doorway at dusk with only the overhead on. See a dark corner or a glare spot? That's where your next lamp goes. Add it, step back, and notice how the room exhales.