Lighting scheme

Ordered a bunch of lights today. This was after visiting a bunch of lighting showrooms in Albany (besides the box stores). I was surprised we could even visit a showroom these days. Has anyone ever done this, visited a lighting showroom?  They are some of the creepiest buildings you will ever drive up to. The windows are blacked out. Doesn't look like anyone's gonna be alive when you walk in. The showrooms delivered a moderately less creepy actual interior: store clerks who haven't spoken to a real human being in weeks, are startled by visitors, can't find their words, and then when they do they wont let you leave, tell you they had an aunt/uncle/grandchild/friend/mother who also refurbished an RV and drove across country, and did I know you can mount a flat screen TV in there no problem?  I sure do. No matter how dusty and crusty these people and these stores were, though, I had an urge to unite with them. Nothing in them was of any use to me because we need lights that can run off marine or RV-grade 12 volt DC batteries, not normal house AC current.  But, giving in to the jabber jaw of a lonely storeroom salesperson was a type, however minuscule, of emotional investment in the Ma&Pa side of the independent vs. conglomerate sales competition.

We are going with LEDs and I'm glad I got to see some in action.  LED stands for "Light Emitting Diode" and they are a whole different type of light, I tell ya. Hard to gauge with any basic imagination skills just how many and how much of that kind of light you will need. 10 diodes per head with 4 heads?  A reading light with 4 diodes or 16?  Under counter lights? Recessed lights overhead that will be further away and need to be brighter?

Trying to get a bearing on a guestimation method, my folks and I stood on top of stools and pointed flashlights this way and that and sometimes at each other.  That made us howl. It was a sloppy way of figuring it out. We found an LED flashlight rated at "25 lumens" and there weren't any lights I was looking at online rated less than 100 lumens. (Oh, that's the other thing: What is a lumen? How does my human brain use that as a unit of

measurement?) The brainstorming went like: "Ok so if I stand here and shine the light, and you hold that book, now imagine this light 5 times brighter. . .can you read that sentence easily? Now try to imagine a night without the moon, will you need two lights or one to chop a carrot in kitchen?"

Here's what I settled on:
(2) light bars, one 24" for kitchen and and one 12" in the back for ambient
(4) 3.2" 120 Lumen recessed ceiling lights, one over driver's/one over passenger seat and two in the cabin area over the pull-out dining table.  (These were ordered from the self-proclaimed "RV capital of the country": Elkhart, Indiana.)
(2) bendable/flexible snake lights installed on the wall above the bed for reading (rear most light can also be bent towards the back for Gear-age lighting).  Each will have its own switch.  Said and done, only spent $130.  -Delilah

In case you forgot, Shiloh is still cute.