"A lumen is a measure of visible light energy. More lumens equals a brighter light. All lighting manufacturers are starting to tell us how many lumens are produced." You made a good point - would a hanging lamp be brighter for bottom of stairs? I think LED Troffer I posted has 4,500 lumens total [125 Lumens per watt], among most efficient manufactured to date. With flat design, there's no shadows or spotting. Going downstairs, especially if older eyes [sorry], ya need uniform light... BEAM: your lumen needs are calculated on an individual basis.

I think the sprinkler head would only be a problem if the your lighting made it so hot that it made the sprinklers turn on. omg, if that happened and the treasured family photos got wet, I would , well, let's not even put that out there! Let me say this, before you hang your photos, if you change your lighting, please leave the lights on for a few days straight and see if it triggers the sprinklers. The other thing, which is always a good idea, please make copies of all your family photos. You can copy them onto paper, onto thumb drives, or discs, or whatever electronic media you favor. I like the idea of a few copies of electronic media because they are not foolproof and don't last forever, and you may have more than one child who will want the family photos. This saves a lot of fussing in your dotage or after you are gone about who gets which photo because they just divvy up the thumb drives which are all the same and each one has all the photos on it. Also, if you have the thumb drives with the loops on the end, you can loop them onto a binder ring (like a loose leaf ring that opens up) and in the event of God forbid a house disaster, you just grab the ring and run, and you have all your precious photos with you, you are not trying to grab bulky pictures in frames off of the wall. (You can also scan your important documents- birth certificates, health and health insurance info, diplomas, professional licenses, deeds, etc onto a thumb drive and put it on the ring.) Of course, you can store your photos into the internet as well in a number of ways. Easy peezy!

I have zero confidence in my own decisions and I haven't even started in the family room. They put a fan in there....ten foot ceilings with a short squatty fan...what were they thinking! So that's coming out. I see a lot of newer rooms with family room lights and I'm okay with that. The ceilings look so high, I like how a fixture grounds the room a bit. Unfortunately, my taste runs to Visual Comfort but my wallet doesn't. (at least if my spouse is looking but shhhhh....we'll see..) thank you so much for all your help!

'A' and 'B' are light fixtures hanging down approximately eight feet above the finished floor appropriate for the style of architecture; another fixture of the same design could be added between the two. I am afraid to ask the style of the house in fear of being attacked by hyenas. 'C' is a surface mounted non-heat producing fixture in the closet. No need for additional fixtures if the proper fixtures are selected. The location of fixture 'B' would be important if the door leading to the garage was moved to alleviate the door conflict. The locations for the switches for the fixtures (and other fixtures) would have to be worked out in the field; it appears little space was allowed for them in some locations.