That is the killer for me. With the standard CFLs the colour temperature and/or range of frequencies make them appear much dimmer than their stated equivalent "normal" blub, whatever the number say.

I have some of the CFLs that are supposed to be closer to "normal" bulbs in colour. They certainly look much brighter than the standard CFL ones, for the same power consumption. The downside is that the light is just too harsh for every day usage. I have one in my office, because I'm already staring at a bright white screen it fits in well there. I also have a 28W one on the staircase, because we need the brightness there.

We don't have any CFL in our living room though, in there the normal ones would drive me mad with their perceived dimness and the bright ones would drive me mad with their harshness. Half our lights in the living room are on dimmers as well, which doesn't help...

The buzzing from CFLs isn't good either. We have them in bed side lights in our guest room and for the first 20 minutes that they are on (which being side lights they are rarely on for more than 20 minutes anyway) they have a noticable high frequency buzz. Very annoying when you are sat in bed reading...