How many downlights do I need? A room-by-room answer

The honest answer is "fewer than the last quote you got, switched better". But here are the numbers that hold up in real Australian homes with 2.4–2.7 m ceilings, using modern 9–10 W LED downlights.

Quick room-by-room guide

• Bedrooms (3×3.5 m): 4 downlights, dimmed. Six makes it an operating theatre.
• Master bedroom (4×4 m+): 4–6, plus bedside pendants or wall lights if you want the hotel look.
• Kitchen: 6–8 for an average kitchen — a row centred over the bench run, a row over the island, and LED strip under the overheads doing the real task lighting.
• Living room (5×5 m): 6–8 on a dimmer, positioned around the seating, not in a blind grid.
• Hallways: one every 2–2.5 m of run.
• Bathrooms: 3–4, plus a dedicated light at the mirror — the downlight behind your head is why hotel mirrors flatter and home mirrors don't.
• Alfresco: 4–6 warm-white, dimmed, or skip some and run LED strip in the ceiling perimeter for the resort effect.

The spacing rules behind those numbers

Keep downlights 900–1200 mm off walls so the light washes down the wall instead of scalloping it. Space them at roughly half the ceiling height for even coverage. Centre on furniture and benches, not on the room outline — the room changes when the island goes in.

Stop counting — lay them out instead

Numbers get you close; a layout gets it right. Upload your floor plan to the free lighting plan designer and place the downlights room by room on your actual house — it counts them for you, spaces them to scale, and if an electrician is involved, the plan becomes the quote.

Try it on your own plan, free — most people have their whole house laid out in under half an hour.