It sounds like you have good plans in mind and don't mind "experimenting" with different plants/lighting.
One nice thing about bromeliads, or at least the majority of them, is that they don't require much light (but may need more for good flowering), have very limited root systems, and only need watering when their "urn" dries out. If you mount them just before flowering, lack of bright light becomes a non-problem. Just keeping water in the urn-like leaves is all they really need and twice a year, add a general purpose, water-soluble fertilizer, at 1/4 tsp/gal. Some are compact plants and some can get pretty large, with 2' leaves.
