I would suggest not using recessed lighting. In my opinion it should be baned. It wastes electricity. Six 40 watt flourescent tubes will light an area better than a dozen recesssed fixtures will, and will cost less initially to buy and have installed, and will use less than half the electricity. With recessed fixtures the area will always be dim and dismal.

40-watters, Californian? You dinosaur, you! What about T8s and electronic ballasts?

I'm out of my depth in low-ceiling areas with little natural light, but I am skeptical that recessed is the best choice here, especially incandescent. If the ceiling is already on the low side and will be lowered further, the light from recessed incandescents may be uncomfortably uneven.

What are you indicating with the fixtures mounted on the walls?

Thanks for the info everyone.

Those are not fixtures on the walls, but rather electrical outlets.

The question i have then is.... Can you have fluorescent lights on dimmers? This is something that i will be incorporating. I was under the impression you could not?

Thanks again

There are dimmable fluroescent fixtures but you will need to go to an electrical supply or lighting showroom to obtain these. I don't believe the big box stores have anything like this.

I would like to suggest that you may want to think about incorporating different types of lighting in your basement. The play area can have a fluorescent fixture. You may want to have incandescent lighting (lamps) for the TV and reading area.

The future bar area should be worried about later as with a drop ceiling you can add lighting. Since I am not sure the depth that you have in your drop, you can check and see if you can get recessed fluorescent lights for the play area.

Any reliable electrical or lighting showroom should be able to assist you with this. If not, you can always check the fluorescent lighting manufacturers on line to get the specifications of what is available. Try Lightolier, American Fluorescent or any of the like. The recessed fluorescent lighting that they are doing now is really quite nice. You can even get lenses that will cut the glare. For the different lenses you can check Malcolite.

The only reason I suggest different types of lighting is that you are doing different tasks. Most people like to read by incandescent lighting and lamps really are the softest for this purpose. Also, in the TV area, you would want to be able to regulate the lighting so that there is no glare on the TV.

If you want you can place a few recessed cans around the perimeter.

Also, you can check out the fluorescent websites because they are doing extremely shallow fixtures that are surface mounted.