Also had to buy fixtures for an entire house, used online home depot & lowes, amazon, wayfair, and overstock. Many great, reasonably priced choices. Also used:

http://m.lampsplusopenbox.com/

I've also had good luck at Lowes. They have sales often, and at least in Canada, if I put things in the shopping cart and wait a bit, they give a code for $10-$50 etc. off.

I have found things that seemed reasonable to me at shades of light and at lampsplus.

Lampsplusopenbox, ikea, cb2, urban outfitter, west elm sales, and definitely do Google image when you see a fixture you like to compare prices.

For the new lights-I checked many sources while making decisions..-I second Shades of Light, LampsPlus, and-sometimes-you can find good deals on Gilt.com and OneKingsLane.com. Gilt.com has some nice, reasonably priced pendants sale right now, for example.

april, how can you tease us like that and not show us any pictures?!

I would love to have chosen an approach like that, but with building an entire new house, which we are actually building ourselves, I had to minimize the crazy wherever I could.

The crazy part I haven't told you yet-my DH insisted to fit all the "wrong" lights himself, so they could be installed, instead of just giving them to the store...))) Partially he wanted to save even more, partially he got a kick out of it I guess..the GC was hovering over us like a very mad and dangerous eagle ..and my husband was obstinately taking his time(he's an engineer..)) and redoing these lights..:) So my crazy was nothing compared to his crazy.

becky we moved into the place, I unpacked within 4 days, because we were expecting my family for the holidays..then we got a slab leak in kids bath(the only place we didn't redo completely)..they fixed it several hours before those planes landed. Then the guests clashed for about all their time staying..and I was like the UN..with the same coefficient of useful action lol.

So I did take some pics..they're mostly awful..hard to see, half of the colors don't come through, etc. When a light is on-you can't see it since it's too bright..when it's off-it's too dark..:) I know there are rules for taking good pics, but my camera is always on "auto". Such I great photographer I am. In short, I've nothing to impress everybody..it doesn't look impressive too-it does look cozy though. I will post something when I'll shake off this.. December. Hopefully soon.

Lamps Plus, both B&M and online, is a a frequent source fpr ,e. ATGStores is owned by Lowes and runs coupons during every holiday.

Like April, we got much of the lighting for our new build (now 12 years old) off of eBay and other second hand sources, and splurged on some from Rejuvenation. We purchased a few lights through our builder (who used Hudson Valley Lighting), and those were the only ones I ended up regretting. They just looked cheap compared to the antique and reproduction antiques. We replaced some of the lights from the builder pretty quickly, and there are a few more I plan to replace when I get around to it. You do have to be patient to go the second hand route, but if you're the kind of person who values uniqueness over instant gratification, it's a nice option.

Rosiewells7b, if you have not already you might consider a local lighting and electrical showroom if there is one near you. The one we used would match most internet pricing but I don't think they had to in our case because they were cheaper for each fixture (there was a builder discount so that contributed to it). The other reason we used the brick-and-mortar store was that I liked seeing and touching fixtures in person to get a sense of manufacturing quality, plus they spent time helping me.

Good luck and have fun shopping wherever you look!

I have shopped successfully at many of the same places mentioned above. Just a note -- when you find a fixture you like at one online store, google it (manufacturer/model name and number) so you can see photos of it from other sources (some will show other/better views) as well as other prices.

I recently bought new table lamps and the best price I found was at Amazon.

Finally, if you're shopping online, get out your tape measure and really look at the sizes of the fixtures. I find it particularly hard sometimes to visualize the actual size of a fixture without actually looking at the numbers IRL.

Our local electric supply also does lighting- but you are buying from cataloges (no fixtures in store). Their prices rival and beat most anything I can find online, excepting steep clearances. I'd dig around town a bit more.

Visual Comforts has lovely fixtures. Take your time and get what you really want.

Thank you all SO much for your words of encouragement and recommendations. I feel so much better after reading all of y'all's helpful tips and I feel a sense of rejuvenation! I took a lot of pictures of the current light fixtures so I have them for reference if we do go to a brick and mortar store. I agree, it's so hard to visualize how a specific light will look sometimes.

Also, my mom has offered to buy me one of the lights for my birthday which I love since I'll think of her every time I look at the light. :)

I plan on taking my time trying to find just the right light for each room and am not unrealistic in thinking that I can find them all in a relatively short time. My problem is that I like unique lights and ones that have a lot of character. I'm also a huge sucker for ones that cast those wonderful shadows on ceilings and walls.

Joss and Main also has nicely currarated lighting. I would suggest going to a lighting store to speak with those that are knowledgeable, identifying what you like and making sure it's what you want than looking for the same fixtures to buy online at Overstock or Wayfair or Joss & Main. Check return policies online first too. If your fixtures come in and the finishes aren't the same color you expect or its represented differently on your computer monitor, you are often responsible for return shipping and in some cases as steep as a 30% restocking fee, so buyer beware and do your research on the return policies first. With a large order, that could add up to big losses if you don't like what shows up on your doorstep. Maybe if you see a partcular brand or line you like that you plan to order multiple fixtures from, just order one first to make sure you love it then order the rest.

Good luck. Take it one room at a time!

Thank you for the heads up about making sure the return policy is a good one, Rebecca. That would be a shock to have to pay a high restocking fee.

All the above recommendations are good. If you have Amazon Prime, that's another incentive to check there. I've also found that if I put an item in my cart at Wayfair, Overstock, Shade of Light etc and then wait a day or so, they often email me with incentives to purchase. If you call them directly and ask if there are better incentives for purchasing more than one fixture, they often throw discounts at you. Before pulling the trigger, check back at Amazon - you'll often find they've lowered the price to meet or beat what you just got, and then you also get the free shipping. Yes, big brother knows everything you consider purchasing and for how much. We just outfitted and entire house we are building and bought almost everything online that way with significant savings.

DLM, that is an awesome tip! I'll have to try putting some in my cart and seeing if they email me :)

If you buy European light fixtures, don't you have to rewire them and get different bulb fixtures?

No, you usually don't have to rewire them. (unless it's specified by the seller). They work perfectly well here(while fixtures from here wouldn't work there..as far as a dumb electrician in me understands))

Of all the fixtures, only one required a different light bulb. It was European all right, but sold by an antique shop here in States. The lady there has some amazing things, but very, very short descriptions..)) Still, it's well known and popular shop as far as I understand, due to uniqueness of many of her finds.

Couple others, we had to change a lampholder, to fit our bulbs.

It's not only that they were European but they were vintage too..great quality. Different sizes. Lol.

Visual Comfort is great and Circa Lighting is great and Currey and Co is great and.....the list is long but then it's a totally different price range. You can buy things slowly as you go..which I do with furnishings...but you can't afford that with remodel and inspection, they want to see all the lights installed at once.

BTW the light I talked about does cast wonderful shadows on walls))

Wouldn't use it for dining because I prefer softer light..and I think most people would look thus feel better during dinner in softer light

But great for mood in other areas

Great advice from DLM-I always try it too. I once bought a bed like this. From West Elm. I was really obstinate though..it took months rather then days. I mean it took months until I was satisfied with their price. They made a special for me-450 I think..the initial price was 1200. Since it was sitting in my shopping cart for so long..The price on the site stayed the same(not 1200 of course, it was on sale by then.). Well now this bed is in my son's room and I can assure you that it's made like it costs what I payed in the end, and not what they initially wanted..)) It is a nice looking bed just not for 1200.

ah, and rebecca's tip about restocking fee and shipping and all is very very important..i for example am stuck with a pretty big mirror that i'm not shipping back..:)

What I know is it pays to shop around. Google search any fixture you find you love. We found the "had to have" fixture for our bedroom update and I found a $50 difference in price from one store to another.

That must have been a wonderful feeling arcy!

Btw, I have carts going on multiple websites. Now to see if any of them send me emails for discounts :)