Central light fixtures in NYC bedrooms

For rental, Torchiere lamp. You can get fairly powerful LED ones.

I was asking more about a purchase (not a rental).

Up light sconce or add recessed. Torchiere is always an option.

I hate not having lighting you can control by a switch by the door (or remote).

I had an overhead light in my hallway that I switched into a light for the coat closet. The same wall switch turns it on. All the bedrooms in the Midwest have the ugly overhead bedroom light. Great for finding something small that falls on the floor I guess but very unflattering.

When we renovated we had the electrician put in a 3 way (4 way?) light switch right near the bedroom door which controls an outlet next to the bed across the room. That outlet controls lamps on both sides of the bed. Turn on lamps at night from wall switch , turn off lamps at night and and on in the morning from lamps at bedside

But I did the lighting plan for the apartment and was very careful to put in 2 way controls (e.g. hallways, service entrance, kitchen areas,) wherever I thought we might be entering/ leaving from different directions

But also have recessed lighting on 2 other switches when we need it for a lot of light

Robert AM Stern gets the importance of overhead light. You do not have to have it full blast and use it as the only source but it is a great source of ambient light.

https://streeteasy.com/building/220-central-park-south-new_york/36b

Every light in our house (and we have a LOT of lighting) is on a dimmer switch

I have dimmers everywhere, but I'm pretty sure the only time I've ever used them is for eating while the projector is on.

Many of my clients put sconces by/above the bed -- it's not "more light" than tableside lamps, but it's up higher, and that has a nice effect. I don't have sconces, but I was fairly happy with just lamps until Covid hit, and then I found myself working from my bedroom a lot.

If it has to be your office too, I don't know what the answer is.

ali r.
{upstairs realty}

My BR has a switch by the door that controls a wall outlet, into which I have plugged a table lamp -- it's mostly decorative ambient light. There's a dimmer that controls the outlets for the picture lights. There's also a halogen torchiere (on a line-cord mounted dimmer) by the bed for when I need reading-in-bed lighting or it can be turned up to investigate the monsters that might be under the bed. Every single hard wired light in the house is on a dimmer. The non-hard wired lamps and such also have line-cord dimmers. A life without dimmers is a life not worth living.

What are some occasions to have lights at less than 100%? Slow dancing?

"What are some occasions to have lights at less than 100%? Slow dancing?"

Every occasion. If it is not natural light provided by a window, a candle would be my preference. If a living space I inhabit comes equipped with overhead lights, they are never used - except for bathrooms and kitchen, where overhead lights are a must.

Ha.
1. Many people would want very dim light when they use the bathroom at night vs when they are getting ready.
2. For cleaning, you want brighter lights.
3. Watching TV you already covered.
4. Also, if it is getting close to bedtime, you want dimmer lights vs when you are reading.
5. Relaxing/conversation lighting level is lower than other activities.
6. Then of course you know mood lighting.

Like the others, every light in our apartment is on a dimmer, most from multiple locations, including the closets. My wife has never turned a light on full blast in her life. The main entertaining space has two Lutron central lighting systems, every other room has banks of multi-location dimmer switches, including (crucially) by the beds. When we moved into a temporary rental during a renovation, I changed most of the rental switches out for dimmers. As with MCR, if there were no dimmers, virtually none of our lights ever would be turned on.

While we did the apartment set-up as part of a gut renovation, technology has simplified this. As one COVID project, I changed out every switch on our weekend house to a Lutron RA lighting system -- as I recall over 75 of them in total. Not cheap -- they are about $100 each -- but it retrofits a whole-house central lighting system. Every light is controllable from anywhere (including an "all off" button by our bed). If there is not a wall switch where you want one, you can put one anywhere with no hard wires. You can control lights and shades remotely, program lighting/shade scenes and schedules, create geofencing so lights go on/off when your cellphone is within/without range (i.e., entering/leaving the driveway), etc.

There are much simpler (and cheaper) solutions if all you want to do is put a switch on a wall where there currently is not one to control a light. A Lutron "Pico" switch can be mounted to a wall anywhere and paired to a "Caseta" remote wall switch or plug-in dimmer. The dimmer and switch is probably $50.

I am exhausted just reading about this! I flip all the lights on when I enter a room, flip them off when I leave, the end.

(Ok, the use case of needing to see a dinner plate in a blacked-out media room happens maybe once a week. But that's pretty niche...most people don't even own front projectors.)

Ironically I have several friends in the lighting design field, both for commercial installations and on stage. They helped me pick appropriate color temps, aim cans at artwork, etc. And they do wax philosophical about dimmers, like you folks do, but thankfully those can be ignored in everyday operation.

@RichardBerg - Some of the setup can be exhausting, and as nyc_sport notes, of non-trivial expense, as well as simple overkill -- I'm capable of getting up from my chair to adjust the wall mounted dimmer, rather than just waving a hand in the air in the general direction of the light (were I mobility impaired, I would rethink that last bit). But, the ability to adjust light (curtains, venetian blinds, lamp choices and locations, dimmers, etc. gives me tremendous flexibility in how I use the various parts of my apartment, provides instant (if limited) 'redecorating', and (to get all Marie Kondo about it), lets me add a bit of fun and joy to what is otherwise a very utilitarian function.
(And yes, part of my background is in lighting design and the arts).