Rob:
A porcelain lampholder is a pretty neutral and out-of-the-way type fixture for a room in my humble opinion. It blends in with a white ceiling.
If the room is high enough (most rooms I've seen are about 8-feet if not higher) there should be no danger of banging your head into the bulb. I wouldn't put one in a 6-foot room...are there any 6 foot rooms? That seems a little ... low even for a runt like me at 5'8".
These porcelain lampholders used to be standard-issue in a lot of city-government built apartments (like my mom's). We moved into one in 1988 and all the ceiling fixtures were, and still are, pull-chain porcelain lampholders (a better quality than what is available now -- this was a 1950s vintage building).
There used to be also these little clip-on shades you could put on the fixture so you could dress up the bulb a bit if you wanted. I dunno if they're still sold.
Also, compared to the quality of many of these "made-in-China" fixtures, I'd take the standard Leviton or Eagle Electric porcelain socket any day.
At least the screwshell won't rotate out of the fixture when I go to change the bulb like the lampholders do in a lot of fancy schmanzy fixtures and ceiling-fan light kits....and it is significantly cheaper (at two dollars compared to 20).!!
Just...don't _mount_ it_in_a_closet!!!!
Why not have an electrician mount recessed hi-hats in the celing ?
That would seem to be the neatest solution....or recessed strip-fluorecent lighting? Is that still made by the way? There's a recessed fluorecent fixture in the concrete ceiling in my building's lobby (circa 1940s).
[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 05-26-2003).]