It does look like they are placed in the centre of the living and meal areas. I understand your concern. My only advice is to say that this may be a personal choice unless your electrician, architect, interior designer suggests otherwise. I would leave as is personally. This will achieve best air flow results for each area.

It will depend on how you plan to arrange the floor space. Eg if the table ends up not centred with the fanlight then that will look odd.

Lighting should be functional.

My parents have this issue and the line of lights do not line up. Bothers me (and them a little bit) I get why it's done but when you sit and look up I find it weird to have them not all be in a straight line. The dining is a line then the longest is off to th right and not by that much so I think lining them up could have worked. . I'd have a chat with electrician and ask if possible to have in a straight line. I'd be forever looking at it and getting annoyed lol

we are currently building and we have 4 lights in each area in open plan lounge and dining. Maybe your electrician can come up with another layout.

@Relle Belle,

I too am OCD about things being straight, even and balanced.

We are building our home entirely ourselves and so when we were ready for the electrician, I had already drawn up a lighting plan. I made the sole decision ultimately where every light, fan,
powerpoint, light switch and pendant was to go, as
it's my home and I have to be forever happy with it but more importantly, when you are personally responsible for the position of every light etc... you start to make better decisions about where they should be and why!!

I decided on evenly spacing my down lights with four in each bedroom and a fan in the centre but without a light, as I'm not fond of fans with lights, they tend to take away from the beauty and elegance of downlights.

My lounge kitchen dining is one open plan, so I still have the downlights evenly spaced but simply have some lights set on seperate switches, so they have more of a purpose, as I have an open passageway running the full length of this open plan area, so I didn't need those lights on when I only want the lounge lights on for example.

Again I have a fan in the centre of the lounge only and in the kitchen, the down lights weren't going to sit squarely over the island, something I couldn't live with, so I chose not to place them in that way at all and have decided on a central task light over the island and I have feature pendants over the dining table.

All my lights line up in this large open area and look real good that way and I'm very happy with the changes but I can't stress enough that a simple lighting diagram can be all you need to get the look and feel you want long term.

In the bedrooms I'm having pendants, so you have to either already know the size of the bed for each room or physically have the bed for each room as your pendant switch needs to be just past the edge of the bed but not too far away to be over reaching when already in bed to turn the light on or off.

I also don't like the largish 100mm+ downlights and have chosen the smaller neater 90mm lights, makes the ceiling look less busy and with a ducted cooling system in the future I wanted to allow space for the ducting vent without having the ceiling overcrowded.

If the fans bother you now, chances are they always will, so move them now!!

There is really far more to consider than simply leaving the lighting plan to an electrician who often doesn't care a hoot if the lighting is adequate or ill positioned, unless you are lucky like me and have an electrician that does care, so if you want to make any changes whilst the
wiring is going in, it's a piece of cake and don't let any electrician
tell you otherwise!!!

Hi,

I'm so excited that so many of you like myself are OCD!

What you need to do is feel the space...What I mean is...pretend to walk into each room and envision where you would like your lights, switches, fans...

When a electrical plan is drawn up...this will only ever be a basic diagram of your needs. You want lights...you will get lights. You want fans...you will get fans. They can't read your mind...nor will they really try.

Now...getting back to your fans, I really don't think you need the fan above the dining area...do you really want a fan above your head whilst trying to enjoy your meal? Wouldn't you rather a beautiful piece of lighting?

Just a thought...Good luck!

@5un5hin3,

You are so right about "feeling" each space. I not only drew up a lighting plan but also a plan with exact sizes of bed, lounge chairs etc... then I could see if the room was big enough for what was planned in it but it also allowed me to see where the power points should go for example, like for me it's behind the bedside table.

Ther's so much you can learn from a hand drawing of your home minus all the builders measurements and stuff that makes everything look too cluttered to be able just see each individual space.

I've attached my simple drawing showing just the furniture both fixed and moveable in each room.

I don't have any draftsman abilities but it's truly not hard to redraw a house plan with a simple scale ruler.

I can be OCD but I can also be practical and economical.

The first thing I would be doing is to plan your furniture layout, how you intend using the areas and just how much lighting you really need. There is nothing more annoying than sitting under a fan and having everything blowing around you and I would find that particularly annoying when I was eating. Also look at cross ventilation in your home and, if you have good cross ventilation, fans can be unnecessary. Perhaps in this area of your home one larger fan moved more to the centre of the area could be enough to stir the air on really hot days. Lights in fans are useful as a first point of light to enter an area, especially a utility area but they don't add any character to a room.

What sort of atmosphere do you want to create in these two rooms? How much lighting do you really need? A pendant light or two over the dining room table will give out enough light for a meal, especially if you have lights on in the kitchen. I don't know what you plan over your kitchen sink, but two LED downlights would be more than enough, making sure they are placed a little off-centre to the area so you are not standing in your own light when you are working. How much lighting do you need in your sitting area? Lamps or pendants could provide enough light and create a more intimate atmosphere in this area.

If you want to keep the two fans, keep the fans simple and white, with a white ceiling you just won't notice them after a while. Similarly with any downlights, keeping them white blends them into the ceiling till you just become unaware of them and when the lights are on the practical placement of them is far more important to how they look when they are off.

Good luck with it all, that is a very nice house plan you have chosen.

Hi Relle Belle, I would actually add alight to the Living room. I know it will cost more but you could line up the existing Living room light with the Meals, then add a secondary light in the Living room on the same line as the first, equal distance from the apposing walls. I know, even I can't follow what I just said so I have drawn it, very very badly. Just an idea I though I'd throw out there.

The lights have been placed correctly as per the building plans. Although the two lights in the main, open plan room don't line up with each other, the light directly in front of the kitchen bench has been put in the middle of the window and the island bench. I really do think it will bother you more having a light that isn't in the middle of the room compared to no having the two lights in line. Speak to your builder and electrician about your concerns. I also agree with the ceiling fans being on separate switches. The ceiling fan in the dining room is a good idea because, even though you probably wont have it on during meal times, it will be good to have at other times to keep the air moving in your home.