Johnny,

That's actually pretty good height, IMO - I've got sections that are 73" floor to (drywall) ceiling.  I used either T8 or T5 strip lighting flxtures - single-tube 48" versions - from Home Depot.  About $23 each. In the 73" areas, I actually turned the fixture sideways (so the bulb faces the layout instead of the floor).

For a valence, on these I used nothing.  On areas that are higher (ie, 80" or so) I used floor coving material and just screwed it into the side of the fixture (short screws, and being careful to not interfere w/ the internal wiring).  That provided just enough coverage to shield the bulb glare from across the room.

The ceiling height for our lower floor at the Sudbury Division is about 77 inches, so we are a little lower than yours, and we have no problems installing a valance on the upper level.  I'm not sure why this would be a problem with 80 inches, unless you have some obstructions like pipes and ducts which hang below the joists in the way.

Bottom of joist to floor = 92" approx

Bottom of HVAC to floor = 81" approx

Bottom of valance to floor = 73" approx

With ceiling grid in place and valance painted. HVAC will remain visible in completed installation to gain the headroom a box-in would have consumed. A case of a compromise favoring function over form.

80" is adequate height if you reconsider a valance panel.

Johnny when you get a chance to come down , you can see how i did mine. i have the low ceiling issue too.

That may just work for me.  I plan on leaving the ceilings open so, at least along the southern wall of my layout room, I can utilize the joists as a "natural" valance when mounting lamps.  It's going to get trickier mounting perpendicular to the joists as I'll be ducking and dodging ductwork and a spaghetti bowl of wiring from an 80 year old house.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Dear Peter;

Your concern for  electrical safety is a sound one.  In addition to safety, you may also consider the issue of liability should something unfortunate happen such as a fire that results from electrical work that you may have done in your residence.

The best way of achieving your goal of lighting your space safely is to find an electrical code for your area.  You can pick these up at your local Home Depot.  The electrical code could vary from state to state or from country to country. 

Here in Canada, the Home Depot sells an abbreviated version of the electrical code for residential wiring. This electrical code is written for the lay-person and is easily understood. Examples are given such as the number of devices that can be powered from one circuit as an example. The electrical code will enable you determine how much loading is on your breaker panel should you need to add additional circuits to it.

In addition to your concern about how many fixtures you can connect to one circuit, you may want to consider the following when reading through your electrical code:

Are you the house owner?  In Canada, you can work on your own electrical installation provided you own the house.  It is illegal to make changes to electrical wiring on property that you don't own.

Consider using fluorescent fixtures that have pre-wired plugs.  These will be UL listed and you can install them without further concern.

Wiring permanently installed fluorescent fixtures may involve a subset of these regulations:

*Exposed wiring, that is, wiring that is not protected behind a wall or ceiling must have armor protection.

*wire that passes around the ballast inside the fixture may be required to have a higher temperature rating. This requirement is usually specified on the fixture installation instructions.

*Fixtures in some locations will require a protective lens to prevent foreign material or objects from being ignited by the tube.  Think scenery....dried twigs for trees, shrubs etc.

In general, the electrical code will tell you the proper type of boxes, clamps, wire nuts and wire to use.  Resist getting advice from the "electrical guy" in the store.

LEDS

Some posters above are using LEDS.

From a safety and liability standpoint, the concern is about the LED driver.  LEDS can be powered from small transformers such as Wall Warts designed for driving LEDS or more sophisticated LED drivers. 

In all cases inspect the power supply to make sure that it is a UL Listed device.  There are LED drivers found on Ebay or in lighting stores that are not UL listed.  Resist buying these.  The low cost of these drivers is the result of not obtaining UL certification through testing and inspection and can be a fire hazard. 

If your LED driver does not have an input plug, (flying leads)  it must be permanently installed and thus must comply with the above electrical codes.

Look for the following marks on the LED driver:

"UL Listed led driver."

Hope this helps

Regards;

Steven

..... I had an around the room layout, and wanted to have all the shadows pointing the same way (layout was point-to-point both terminals physically  in same room corner but scenically separated) so I made spot lights out of some cans with barn doors (to send a focused beam) all of them pointing from left to right front to back hidden behind the valance all around the room. On a roughly 11' X 11' room there were 3 lights on each wall, plus several 12V auto bulbs to fill in the darker spots. Very Rube Goldberg.

I made spot lights out of some cans with barn doors (to send a focused beam) all of them pointing from left to right front to back hidden behind the valance all around the room.

So how did it turn out?  Did the lighting work as planned?

-Jack