26X26 garage, 2 two tube 8 footers on the lid and 2 two tube 4 footers on the walls. All on seperate switches. Works well

 

Hrmm, never thought about putting lights on the sides.

 

White concrete paint on the floor makes a big difference too. A lot of the 8 footers are "noisey" in the radio frequency and mess up listening to the ballgame. Tough lighting a garage well because the door alway seems to affect the placement of fixtures. I keep a 500 watt halogen around to get light in those odd places, usually bounce its light off the wall or ceiling sincedirect shinecan get hot.

 

Thanks for the tips fellas,i just cleaned up my manspace and traded bays with the wife,now the hog is in the dim spot of the garage!

 

Right now I use two 500 watt halogens on a tree. I call them sunburn and sun stroke. After about an hour in a closed garage I'm starting to strip down. They are handy cause I can position them where I need them and then I have a couple drop lights that I can put on the floor to get rid of the shadows. I still want to put up something other than two 100 watt bare bulbs though.

 

...I use 8' fixtures that take four 4' T-8 bulbs, bulbs travel and dispose easier. T-8's are the skinny bulbs that use electronic ballast instead of the magnetic ballasts that are only good down to about 50 degrees. I like a lot of light, use 8 fixtures and 3 canlights over bench in my 24 square garage.
Later

 

I use the double 4' fixtures and move them where ever I am working.2 permantly mounted over the bike lift is the only way to go.It is so much easier to see things.

 

Try 300 watt clear service light bulbs..they just screw in to a regular socket and give off a huge amount of light...I use them at work for temporary lighting and they are much better than quartz or halogen...about 3$ each at lowes or menards

 

As an electrician I have found that most people are happiest with those high ouput (HO) 8'-2 tube flourescent fixtures. The light output is excellent, they will fire up down to about -20 f and are quite economical as well. Using 4 150 watt bulbs is about the same as using 2 of those fixtures (amperage wise) and puts out much less useable light. In my 28 x 32 shop I have 4 mounted on the ceiling, with a 5th over my camaro storage area. One pair I have end to end over my work bench area, the other 2 I have over my engine bay. These are on 2 independent switches. The 5th one is on a switch by itself. I have 2 4'ers on chains over my work bench hanging down on chains about 2' below my 10' ceiling. I have 2 HO 4'ers, on chains, each independently switched, one each hanging on chains just above the garage door (sides) so that the door, when open, will not hit them, but when the door is down I can use them. These work perfect for doing work on the sides of my camaro and shines into the interior with the car doors open.

As you can see I love being able to see what I'm doing when doing detail type of work. Can't get enough light

 

I have an old cabinI converted to a garage. It was a log cabin with rotten log walls and a 6'8" ceiling. Basically, I jacked up the roof (which was good) and replaced the logs with framed in walls. 16 x 30
I originally installed 6 incandesent 100 watt bulbs. Nowhere near enough light.
Then I installed three dual four foot flourecent fixtures over the bench. You need to mount the lighting over the bench close enough to the wall so it doesn't shine on the back of your head and create shadow while you stand at and work at the bench.
Still not enough light, so I added 4 dual 8 foot flourescent units.
They're all on seperate switches so I can always get the amount of light I'm needing.
As you get older and spend more time fiddling with the bike or whatever in the garage you'll need lots of light.