A long-drop spiral chandelier in a double-height Australian stairwell void

Staircase and Void Lighting in Australia: The Complete Guide

TL;DR: A double-height void is the one place in an Australian house where a large fitting is the correct answer rather than an indulgence, because the volume runs vertically and a small fitting at that height reads as a dot. Measure floor to ceiling, choose a drop that leaves the fitting reading as one object, and size diameter from the void's own width and length. The lowest point over any path of travel must clear 2.1m. Settle servicing access before you buy. All hardwired work must be done by a licensed electrician under AS/NZS 3000, and the ceiling must be confirmed to carry the loaded weight.

Key Takeaways

  • A void is the one room where a large fitting is a correction, not a flourish. The space is tall rather than wide, so the volume has to be filled vertically or it reads as unfinished.
  • The lowest point of any fitting over a path of travel must clear 2.1m as a minimum. Measure to the lowest glass or arm, never the canopy.
  • Every hardwired fitting must be installed by a licensed electrician under AS/NZS 3000, and the ceiling structure must be confirmed to carry the loaded weight. Both are conditions of the purchase, not steps after it.
  • Servicing access is settled before purchase. Decide how a globe gets changed and the fitting cleaned at that height. A fitting chosen without an access plan becomes a permanent problem.
  • Lighting the volume and lighting the treads are two separate jobs. A statement fitting lights the space, not the stairs, which need their own light for each step edge to read.

The stairwell is the space Australian homeowners think about last and look at most. Every trip between floors passes through it, and in a two-storey home it is the tallest volume in the house. Yet it is usually lit by whatever the builder fixed to the nearest point, which at four or five metres means a small flush fitting swallowed by the space above it.

This guide treats the staircase and the void as one problem with two halves: the void is a volume to be filled, the stairs are a surface to be made safe, and the answers differ. It covers sizing, where the bottom of the fitting sits, access, weight, stair geometry, the landing, switching and colour temperature. For the wider picture, our whole-house lighting guide sets out how each room differs.

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Why a void is the one place a large fitting is correct

In a double-height void the volume runs vertically rather than horizontally, so a fitting has to occupy height to register at all, and anything small enough to feel modest reads as a dot in a large empty space.

The floor area is often tiny, no more than the entry mat and the first few treads, but the air above it is four, five or six metres deep. Nothing else in the house is shaped that way. A void has no layer, only a column of empty air, and the eye travels straight up it.

That is why the instinct to be restrained works against you. A compact fitting flush to a five metre ceiling is not understated, it is invisible, and the space below stays unresolved. A long fitting fills the column, gives the height something to be measured against, and does structural work rather than decoration. For the styles that suit, see our deeper piece on choosing a chandelier for a stairwell void.

How to size a fitting for a double-height void

Measure floor to ceiling at the exact point the fitting will hang, work out a drop that leaves the fitting reading as one object rather than a dot, then size diameter from the void's own width and length rather than from the floor area below it.

Height first: measure from the finished floor directly beneath the mounting point up to the ceiling, not from the landing or a plan. Then the drop: as a starting point the fitting body wants to occupy between a quarter and a third of the floor-to-ceiling height, so a 4.5m void suggests a fitting a little over a metre long. Then check that against clearance, which overrides the aesthetic every time.

Diameter last: add the void's own width and length in metres and read the sum as centimetres, so a void of 2.5m by 3m gives 5.5 and a diameter of roughly 55cm. The common error is sizing from the floor area below, which in a stairwell is a narrow strip of tiles. Note also that the 60-70 percent guideline applies to the total span of an arrangement of separate pendants, never to a single fixture and never to a diameter.

Floor-to-ceiling height Fitting type that suits Indicative drop
2.4-2.7m, single storey Flush or semi-flush only 20-40cm
3.0-3.6m, raked or part double Short-drop pendant or compact chandelier 50-80cm
4.2-5.0m, typical two-storey void Long-drop chandelier or tiered cluster 1.2-1.8m
5.0-6.0m, three-level stairwell Vertical cascade or spiral form 2.0-3.0m

Run your numbers through our lighting size calculator, and read the longer method in our guide to sizing a chandelier for a two-storey entry void.

Where the bottom of the fitting should sit

The lowest point must clear 2.1m above any walkway or path of travel as an absolute minimum, must stay clear of the upper-floor landing sightline and walking route, and should otherwise fall low enough to be read from both levels.

People get this wrong by judging the fitting from the ground floor only. Three tests apply.

Clearance. Over anything anyone walks under, the lowest point needs at least 2.1m of clearance. Measure to the lowest crystal, glass or arm, not the canopy and not the published overall length, which may include unused rod. Above a stair, measure from the tread directly beneath, which is tighter than the room height suggests.

The upper level. From the landing the fitting should be in front of you rather than beside your shoulder. Anywhere between the upper floor level and roughly the eye height of someone standing there tends to work.

The path of travel. The fitting must never hang into the route people walk, which means centring it in the open part of the void, not over the stair run and not within arm's length of the landing edge. Our guide to hanging heights for chandeliers in Australian homes works through the measurement in detail.

Servicing and access, settled before purchase

Decide how a globe gets changed and the fitting gets cleaned at void height before you buy, because at that height access usually means scaffold or a mobile tower, and a fitting chosen without an access plan becomes a permanent problem.

This is the most common regret in void lighting and it is avoidable. The fitting is installed off hired scaffold, the scaffold leaves, and nobody thinks about it until a globe fails. The honest cost of that globe change is the hire and set-up of the same access equipment. Four questions before you commit:

  • What is the light source? Replaceable globes, replaceable modules, or integrated LED that cannot be serviced. Integrated is not wrong, but eventual replacement becomes a whole-fitting job.
  • How many lamps? Many small lamps mean more interventions over the fitting's life than a handful.
  • What equipment fits the floor below? Scaffold needs a footprint and a route in, a tower needs level ground, and some stairwells allow neither. A fitting that lowers on a winch then earns its cost.
  • Who cleans it, and how often? Glass in a stairwell collects dust from the whole house as warm air rises through the void.

None of this is work to attempt yourself: access at void height and anything touching the wiring are jobs for licensed trades. Our guide to cleaning light fittings without damaging them covers which surfaces tolerate what.

Check What to confirm Who confirms it
Lowest-point clearance At least 2.1m above every path of travel You measure, electrician verifies
Tread clearance 2.1m from the tread beneath, not the room floor You measure, electrician verifies
Loaded weight Ceiling rated for the fitting with globes and glass Electrician, builder if required
Fixing point Fixed to structure, never plasterboard alone Licensed electrician
Light source Globe type stated, replacement path documented Supplier and electrician
Access equipment Scaffold or tower fits the floor below Electrician or access hire
Cleaning plan Interval and method agreed before purchase You

Ceiling support and weight

Weight is an electrician question and sometimes a builder question, and the ceiling structure must be confirmed to carry the loaded weight of the fitting before anything is ordered.

Plasterboard carries almost nothing. A fitting of any real mass must be fixed to structure: a joist, a noggin, or blocking added for the purpose. In a void that is harder than in a flat ceiling, because void ceilings are often raked and frequently have the existing point where it was convenient rather than where it is strong. Raise three things at quoting stage: the loaded weight with globes and glass, not the bare frame weight on the box; whether the point sits on structure or needs blocking, which may involve the builder; and movement, because a long cascade hangs in the path of air between floors and can sway.

All hardwired work in Australia must be carried out by a licensed electrician under AS/NZS 3000, and the ceiling structure must be confirmed to carry the weight before the fitting is ordered. For how weight varies by style, see our complete chandelier buying guide.

Straight run, switchback or floating stair

Stair geometry decides where light can go: a straight run wants a rhythm of light along its length, a switchback wants a single fitting in the void the two flights wrap around, and an open-tread stair wants light that passes through the structure rather than sitting above it.

A straight run against a wall rarely has a void worth filling. The useful move is wall lights at even intervals up the flight, or a line of pendant lights at staggered drops, each clear of the treads below. Even spacing matters more than drama, because an uneven run leaves dark patches where feet land.

A switchback with a landing is the clearest case in the house for one long fitting. The two flights enclose a column of air with a landing partway up, which gives a second viewing position and justifies a piece with close-up detail. Centre it in that column, never over the flights.

A floating or open-tread stair changes the problem. Light from above passes between the treads, stripes the floor below and leaves the treads lit from behind. The answer works with the openness: a slim vertical cascade beside the stair, plus light built into the wall or risers so each tread edge reads.

Stair type Where the volume light goes What to watch
Straight run against a wall Wall lights at even intervals, or staggered pendants Keep fittings out of head height and reach
Switchback with a landing One long-drop fitting centred in the enclosed column The landing is a close viewing position
Spiral or curved Vertical cascade following the curve down the centre Drop set by the lowest clear point, not the tallest
Floating or open tread Slim cascade beside the stair plus riser or recessed tread light Overhead light alone stripes the floor

Our dedicated piece on lighting a staircase and stairwell works through each layout in turn.

Lighting the treads for safety

A statement fitting in the void lights the space, not the stairs, so the treads need light of their own that makes the nosing of each step read clearly to someone going up and someone coming down.

The void fitting throws light outward into a large volume, and by the time it reaches the treads it is diffuse and arrives from one direction. That is the worst case for stairs: a single overhead source behind the user puts their own shadow on the step in front of them.

What makes treads read is light that grazes across them, so each nosing casts a small shadow onto the tread below. That comes from the side: low-level lights recessed into the stair wall at intervals, light built into the risers, or a handrail strip. Keep the output modest and consistent: bright pools alternating with dark gaps are worse than even low light, and anything shining into the eyes of someone descending is unsafe. Open-tread stairs need the most thought, which our guide to floating and open-tread staircases covers.

The landing as its own space

A landing is a small room rather than a wide step, and it needs light of its own so it does not read as a dark pause between two lit flights.

Landings are usually designed around a window, which solves them by day and leaves them unlit at night. A well-lit flight, a dark landing, then another well-lit flight is a jarring sequence and a hazard at the point where the direction of travel changes. The fix is modest: a wall light, a small flush fitting, or an extension of the tread lighting across the landing so the level change at each end stays visible.

The landing also serves as the close viewing position for the void fitting. Before buying, stand there and work out what you would be looking at: the side of the fitting, the top of it, or straight into an unshielded lamp. That last case is common and a fair reason to reject an otherwise good piece. More in our guide to lighting a staircase landing.

Switching, including two-way switching

A stair has to be switchable from both ends, which means two-way switching, and that is a wiring decision made before the walls close rather than an accessory added afterwards.

Two-way switching puts a switch at the bottom of the flight and another at the top, both controlling the same circuit. Without it, somebody has to walk a full flight in the dark to reach the only switch, or leave the light burning all night. On a stair that is a safety question rather than a convenience.

Where a landing has its own fitting, the same logic extends to a third switch point. Tread lighting is better on a separate circuit, with a sensor or timer so it comes on at low output at night, and the void fitting benefits from dimming so one piece serves as a low glow or full output. Retrofitting two-way switching into an existing stair depends on the cabling in the wall, and that assessment belongs to your electrician. As with every hardwired change, the work must be done by a licensed electrician under AS/NZS 3000.

Colour temperature for stairs and voids

Stay in warm white, 2700-3000K, for every fitting in a stairwell, and keep the void fitting, the tread lighting and the landing on the same temperature so the vertical space reads as one.

Warm light at 2700K suits glass and crystal and matches the living spaces the void opens onto. Tread lighting can sit at 3000K where a crisper edge helps the step read. Go cooler and a domestic stairwell starts to feel like a fire stair.

Mixed temperatures are more visible in a void than anywhere else, because you see two storeys at once. A warm fitting in the column against cool wall lights on the flight reads as a mistake rather than a layer. Specify one temperature across the stairwell and hold it when fittings get substituted late in a build. Check too that dimmable lamps suit the dimmer being installed, because flicker at low output in a tall space is hard to ignore. Our explainer on warm versus cool colour temperature covers how the numbers behave room by room.

What suits a single-storey stairwell

Without height there is no drop, so a stairwell under a standard 2.4-2.7m ceiling is lit with flush or semi-flush fittings, wall lights and tread lighting, and the budget is better spent on the stairs than on a statement piece.

Most Australian ceilings sit between 2.4m and 2.7m, and a stair cut into a single-storey ceiling is tighter still, because the floor rises beneath the fitting as the treads ascend. A fitting that clears 2.1m above the hallway floor may not clear it above the fourth tread, so always measure from the tread directly below.

What works is a flush or semi-flush fitting over a flat area such as the landing or the head of the stairs, wall lights at even intervals along the flight, and tread or riser lighting doing the real safety work. A drop fitting over the treads does not work, because there is no height to give it and the clearance figure will not allow it. Put the money into even tread lighting and proper two-way switching. Our entry and hallway lighting guide covers the adjoining spaces.

Consideration Single-storey stairwell, 2.4-2.7m Double-height void
Fitting type Flush or semi-flush, plus wall lights Long-drop chandelier or cascade
Drop available Effectively none 1.2m to 3.0m by measured height
Clearance measured from The tread directly beneath The entry floor or landing beneath
Servicing access Routine access for the electrician Scaffold or tower, planned before purchase
Weight question Standard fixing, confirmed by the electrician Structural fixing, electrician and often builder
Where the budget goes Tread lighting and two-way switching The fitting plus its access plan

Working out which fitting suits your void? Measure the floor-to-ceiling height and the void's width and length, then browse our statement chandeliers with those three numbers in hand. Confirm the drop, the clearance, the loaded weight and the servicing access with your electrician before you order.

Frequently Asked Questions

How high should a chandelier hang in a two-storey void?

The lowest point must clear at least 2.1m above any path of travel. Beyond that minimum, aim for it to sit between the upper floor level and the eye height of someone at the landing. Measure to the lowest glass, not the canopy.

What size chandelier suits a staircase void?

Add the void's own width and length in metres and read the sum as centimetres. A void of 2.5m by 3m suggests roughly 55cm. Size from the volume, not the small floor area beneath it.

Is the 2.1m clearance a hard rule?

Treat it as the minimum over any walkway or path of travel, measured at the lowest point of the fitting. Above a stair, measure from the tread directly below. Your licensed electrician confirms clearance alongside the requirements of AS/NZS 3000.

How does a globe get changed in a void chandelier?

Usually from scaffold or a mobile tower arranged with your electrician, or by lowering the fitting if it was installed on a winch. Decide the method before purchase. Work at that height is for licensed trades only.

Can my ceiling take a heavy chandelier?

Only if it has been confirmed. Plasterboard alone carries nothing, so the fitting must be fixed to structure, and the figure that matters is the loaded weight with globes and glass. A builder may be needed to add blocking.

What colour temperature should staircase lighting be?

Warm white, 2700-3000K. Keep the void fitting, the tread lighting and the landing on the same temperature, because a void shows two storeys at once and mixed temperatures read as a mistake. Cooler light makes a home stairwell feel institutional.

Do I need two-way switching on a staircase?

Yes. A switch at the bottom and another at the top controlling the same circuit means nobody walks a flight in the dark or leaves the light on all night. It is a wiring decision, so raise it early with your licensed electrician.

What if my stairwell ceiling is only 2.4-2.7m?

Use flush or semi-flush fittings over flat areas, wall lights along the flight and tread lighting for safety. There is no usable drop at that height, and clearance is measured from the tread directly below.

A stairwell rewards planning more than almost any other space, because its decisions are physical rather than stylistic. Height sets the drop, the void's own dimensions set the diameter, clearance overrides both, and access decides whether the fitting stays good. Treat the volume and the treads as two jobs, and have your electrician confirm the weight and the wiring before anything is ordered.

Written by William Walker.

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