Thank you...........very educational..........

I would be inclined to go with an unobtrusive light since it's the living room and anything too dramatic or a hanging pendant may interfere with your peripheral vision (or otherwise be an annoyance) when you're watching TV, etc. Also, being so near the sliding door, the wind may cause a hanging pendant to swing quite a bit which will cause the lighting to be constantly shifting and changing which I would personally find annoying. I'd go with something simple and subtle, but look at getting a tall standing lamp for the corner near the sofa (or possibly at the other end of the floating TV cabinet). In terms of warming up the apartment, I think you need something on the bare walls. A smaller picture above the floating TV cabinet will help to take the focus off your TV. A larger art work behind the sofa will also help to add some colour and personality, especially if it picks up some hues from your sofa. If you don't like the little Buddha statue, I would look at adding one or two other items that you do like (perhaps picking up colours from the wall art) and making a little vignette. A couple of colourful cushions and a storage solution for the wires, games console, etc on the floor would also help to bring everything together. Something as simple as a woven basket under the floating TV cabinet might help to keep the games console, etc in place unless it is in use.

When I started doing reno's, that was one of the first things I wanted to replace but the cheapest quote I could find was a touch under $3000 and that was from some random guy from Gumtree that I could barely understand. Everyone else looked upwards of $4000 and that's just for installing the new gyprock ceiling. I had plenty of other things that I needed to do the place, so I quickly ruled that one out. But now after living there, I don't even see the vermiculite anymore. I'll just try and work around it. My thoughts now are to... 1) Remove the ceiling fan. Get a pendant light (either 2, 3 or 4 from my very first photo). Keep the bar light. 2) Replace the existing fan with something more modern. Replace the oyster light with an understated ceiling mount fixture, or just keep the oyster.

Certainly a unique light!