Planning lighting in a room that currently has one harsh ceiling fixture

Our living room has one harsh ceiling fixture that makes the entire space feel flat. I'd like better reading light by the sofa, softer light near the shelves and enough general illumination to clean the room. Rewiring for several ceiling points would be costly, so I'm looking at floor and table lamps first. How do you plan layered lighting without buying random lamps and discovering they all produce the wrong pools of light?