Lighting is the cheapest way to make a room feel expensive. I mean it. Swap one sad overhead bulb for three well-placed lamps and your living room stops looking like a dentist's waiting area. Most rooms never needed a remodel. They need light that arrives from more than one direction. 
Meet the three layers Designers talk in layers. Ambient light fills the room, task light helps you 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, two wall sconces, perhaps a floor lamp throwing its beam up at 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. Accents: where you get to play Here my ever lights 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. When everything in a room is highlighted, nothing is, much like a speech where each word is shouted. Mind the heights 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. Dimmers, the cheap magic A dimmer switch costs roughly the price of lunch. It turns one fixture into five moods. Bright for Saturday cleaning, 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. Try 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.
Meet the three layers Designers talk in layers. Ambient light fills the room, task light helps you 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, two wall sconces, perhaps a floor lamp throwing its beam up at 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. Accents: where you get to play Here my ever lights 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. When everything in a room is highlighted, nothing is, much like a speech where each word is shouted. Mind the heights 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. Dimmers, the cheap magic A dimmer switch costs roughly the price of lunch. It turns one fixture into five moods. Bright for Saturday cleaning, 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. Try 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.