Different lighting ambience for different rooms lah!

Living room - cozy diffused lighting when watching movies, then you are able to switch it on brighter with additional lighting ( ceiling ) when you are to host visitors to the house.
All i can say is that there isn't a specific guide for lighting. It all boils down to functionality of the space that you are trying to fit-out. If you use the space more for reading then why the heck you want to light up your entire house to support this? pick a spot in your house where you would like to read often, and increase the LUX in that space when you need it.

Personally, i would go for diffused ambient lighting if the space is inactive.