I'd suggest going to a lighting store. If they know you are doing a whole house, they may send a lighting designer to your home to help you pick them out...at least our store did for us when we were building. She was very helpful.

I recently bought and am remodeling a house from the 70s. Some fixtures I cleaned, painted and reused. Others I can't do anything about b/c of drywall issues that I don't want to fool with. But, for normal lights I have had excellent luck with Overstock.com. I have purchased pottery barn knockoffs (the camellia 6 light and cone shape), bathroom nuvo sconces, and crystorama flush mounts and chandeliers. Often I would catch a sale and once I even got a price adjustment when the price went down. It has helped me achieve the look I wanted without blowing the budget.

It isn't very difficult to change lighting fixtures. Somewhere above the fluorescent fixtures is an electrical junction box; you can pull down the existing fixtures and attach any surface-mounted lamp, including those that drop from the ceiling some, or chandeliers. Hopefully, the electrical boxes in a room will be lined up with each other. Some lamps use a short chain so you can hang them from a hook near the electrical box rather than directly below it. A large fluorescent fixture will also have a few mounting screws on the sides, so you'll need to rip out the anchors then fill the holes and repaint.

If you don't want obvious lighting fixtures hanging from where the junction boxes happen to be, you can use these LED disk lamps which look like recessed lights, but they're not really recessed and don't need the usual "cans" - they take advantage of the small size of LEDs to fit flush and attach directly to the electrical junction box. If you don't want a lamp there at all, you can cover the electric box with a round plate, or remove the box and drywall it up.

If you have access from above (in an attic), it's fairly easy to relocate the electric boxes (or install new ones, or new recessed lighting). This can also be done even if you don't have access from above although it's a bit more work.

Thanks for your responses!

I hadn't thought of a lighting store with a designer, but that's a good idea.

I will check out Overstock. I stumbled onto Young House Love's line at Shades of Light, too. Some are attractive and all are affordable.

Lee, the LED lamp looks like a great option for some of the spaces we're working with. I wish I was comfortable doing this stuff, but I think we'll need to hire an electrician. Afraid of burning the house down or electrocuting myself :)