I switched to CFL bulbs a few years ago. Not in all of my lights, but in ones that are used a lot and/or hard to reach. I have them in hallway overhead fixtures, the light over the range and the overhead light in my home office. They last much longer and use less electricity and so in the long run they are cheaper and less of a hassle and that's why I decided to give them a try.
For the most part, I am happy with them, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One, you can't use any type of fluorescent bulb with a dimmer. Also, I'm not sure how they'd respond to the vibration from your ceiling fan.
Beyond that, you are focusing on the wrong thing in talking about watts. Yes, I know, we were all raised with the idea that a 100 watt bulb is brighter than a 60 watt, a 60 watt is brighter than a 40, etc. But the light output of modern bulbs isn't measured in watts, it's measured in lumens.
If you go to a store such as Lowes of Home Depot and have a look through the myriad selection of bulbs, you will see bulbs of the same wattage that are coated in different ways so that some of them are actually going to produce more light than another bulb of the same wattage.
Also, in the case of a CFL, you're not going to be looking at a higher wattage bulb, you will be looking at a lower wattage bulb that will produce the same if not more light than conventional incandescent bulbs.
To put it in perspective, a typical 4 foot fluorescent tube, such as you might have in your garage or laundry room, only uses 40 watts, but look at how much light it produces in comparison to a 40 watt incandescent bulb.
The CFLs I'm using are only 13 watts, but they actually put out more light than the 60 watt incandescents I was using before.
I wanted to offer my two cents on CLFs, since I've used them for a couple of years, but it sounds to me like what you really need is additional task lighting. You could take a 500 halogen work light and hang it from your ceiling and it still wouldn't really accomplish what you're wanting to accomplish.
My suggestion would be the same as Sandra's. Look for some floor lamps that you can move around to focus the light exactly where you want it.
lighting question
