Using Fluorescent Lights For Indoor Gardening

The first step is basically to set up a grow room or grow location in your house. This can be an entire room, or just a small enclosed area within a room, it's up to you. No matter where you decide to set up your gardening area though, it should be cut off from all light sources besides your fluorescent lighting. If you are using a whole room, make sure to cover up the windows so little to no light can get through. Actually, every plant likes a different amount of light, so this may not be necessary if you're growing plants that don't need any dark time.
After your grow spot is set up, the next step is to get all of your materials ready. This means buying pots or growing trays for your plants, depending on what kind you are growing. What I usually do is start a bunch of plants in a large growing tray, and then only pick the ones that are growing the best after a few weeks or so. I discard the slowest growing ones, and then transplant the best ones into large pots. I sometimes do this multiple times also, so I can make sure I get the absolute best growing plants out of the bunch.
Setting up your lights is the next thing you need to do, and this is a very important step. The way I do it is to get some cords to string over the growing area. I make sure they are attached to the walls securely, and then I hang my fluorescent lights from the cords. This works well since you can easily adjust the height of your lights while your plants get bigger. The proximity of the lights to your plants depends on what kind of plants you are growing, but I generally try to keep the lights as close to my plants as possible, without touching them. You need to make sure the lights don't touch the plants or they could get burned, and this certainly doesn't help them grow.
After your lights are set up the way you like, then you are probably ready to let your plants grow nice and big. If you are planning a big grow room however, you may want to look into some ventilation options, but I don't have any experience with ventilation personally. Fluorescent lights are great light sources to use for growing plants, and you will probably find after your first successful grow that you love indoor gardening.