Its amazing what a little light can do. These lovely photos of the clutter on my studio table were taken at night using only one lamp, and are unedited save for reducing their size. The first taken under a compact flourescent reflector flood like you might find in recessed lighting. The other is taken under a 6500 K compact flourescent. Both are around 15 watts, with similar light output (lumens).
But something I didn't know until recently is that bulbs, flourescents in particular, can also be categorized by their color temperature. Household bulbs, even those advertised as "white" or "soft white," range from 2000 - 3000 Kelvin, and have that familiar yellow tinge to them that only gets magnified by a digital camera. But if you want to take pictures that aren't yellow, grab a bulb with a color temperature around 5000 Kelvin (the second photo above is from a bulb that is 6500K). To the human eye this light seems cold and blue, but it looks awesome to a digital camera.
Of course you can always correct for yellow light with a camera's white balance settings, or in Photoshop (excellent photography tutorial over on the Switchboards). But why not correct it beforehand and spend your time elsewhere?
fabulous information!!!! many thanks!