How Many Downlights?

Soldato
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The next question in my bathroom lighting saga! How many down lights should I fit? The room is 3.4m x 2.2m with a 2.6m high ceiling. There will also be a central ceiling light but this is separately switched and our plan is to use that when someone want a calmer light for a relaxing bath and the down lighters to brighten things up for shaving, showering etc. I can't decide between 8 and 10 and the minute essentially in two strips down either side of the room and I'm also struggling to decide if they should be evenly spaced or targeted at specific areas. I know the targeted areas will work better but I worry the random chrome circles on the ceiling will look annoying if not lined up properly!

Any help as always appreciated!
 
I have 4 in a much smaller shower room and it seems quite dim with 4 5w LED's I'm looking to put 7.5w bulbs in!
 
You cant have too many (within reason) Just put them on a dimmer. I have 4 just in my shower. which is 2mx1m
That's kind of the direction I'm leaning I can always put lower wattage bulbs in or dim as you suggest adding more lights would be a massive pain.
 
0 - for shaving/make up etc you want to have a diffused wall mounted light, direct over head lights are not good for task lighting

there are much better lighting options around than putting in hundreds of gu10's these days

I've never been a fan of wall lights/shaving lights over mirrors I always find myself turning them off, previously this room had a single central fitting with 4 wide angle GU10's in it which we found adequate but with a new bathroom we want more than that! We may still go with a mirror with some built in LED's as these give you both options without adding the clutter of wall lights.

I've previously used these fittings and was reasonably happy with them can anyone recommend anything else that they have used in a similar setting?

https://www.ledhut.co.uk/ip54-rated-bathroom-downlight-with-5-watt-gu10-included.html
 
Our bathroom is 3m by 3m and we have 9 GU10 LED downlighters in a 3x3 array. No idea of the wattage/output i'm afraid.

These pics aren't a great indicator as they are in daylight and from the estate agent who has gone on the offensive with the HDR, but i'd say that the room is nice and bright when they are on - never felt that they were too bright.

Got to love an estate agent with a new toy, some of the photography they use is bloody awful, Think I'm going to go with the less is more approach and put lower output bulbs or a dimmer in if it's too bright!
 


Quick sketch (not to scale lol) the shower cubicle is 900x1400 to give a sense of scale!

These are my current thoughts on lighting, spots in two lines each side with central light fiting

 
If you do that make sure you can switch the bath ones off. Or you'll be lying in the bath thinking your being interrogated

Spots and central light are on separate circuits so central light for relaxing, spots for when we want it nice and bright!
 
Central light fitting is staying as it will be decorative as well as functional, our bathroom is more of a traditional style then many you see on here. We are half wood panelling with tongue and groove (MRMDF boards) and the only tiling is a matt finish in the shower cubicle. The floor will be engineered oak. The bath is the original cast iron Victorian one and so is the sink sadly the toilet suffered a terminal failure. The central light fitting is separately switched and will be used when a more relaxing atmosphere is wanted for a bath.

Really struggling with the spots question I have four in my small loft shower room and I've literally today ordered some 7.5W GU10 LED's to try and brighten the room up, thanks for all the help guys it is appreciated.
 
- Ensure the spots are all IP65 minimum. ECOLED Zep1 spots are fantastic things and although cost more, you'll never have to change them and will have great quality light from them.
Would you go with the 35 or 50 degree model?
 
I've gone with 8 can always reduce the lamp output if they are too bright also upgraded the 4 in our second bathroom from 5-7.5w LED's and the improvement is dramatic there clearly wasn't enough light before lol
 
The one over the sink could cause you an issue. It's exactly where I put ours, now shaving you get a lot of shadows as the light is straight overhead. I'd definitely go with a backlit mirror next time for shaving purposes.
I think I'm going to space them so they are one either side of the sink rather than directly over head, I've been shaving in the existing bathroom for ten years with nothing but 4 GU10 spots in the middle of the room point at vaguely useful areas and I'm short sighted so shaving generally involves being about 5cm from the mirror! I think and LED lit mirror is definitely on the cards though!
 
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