Back in 2011 the first star ceiling I ever painted was my own. I learnt the first rule in star ceilings was that you can actually have too many stars! I painted over the whole ceiling and started again. It was my first rookie mistake! 

Too many glow in the dark stars can look cluttered, poorly designed and unrealistic. It can completely ruin the aesthetic of a natural looking night sky.  

If you are wanting a dynamic starry space explosion for fun though, many stars can work! 

These rough estimations are for star stickers and not painted stars. 

Your bedroom ceiling is only a fraction of the area of the night sky that you would see if you were lying on a bed looking upwards. 

There are only a few thousand visible stars in the night sky, maybe 6000 are visible in a very dark location. 

I’ve found that over an 8ft x 8ft area, which is about the area over a bed, 200 stars stickers look natural and give a realistic effect. It is not an exact art though and different density is to some extent personal preference. 

For a small bedroom, I suggest using 400 stars, 600 for an average bedroom and for a large master or lounge room 1000 star stickers are usually enough. 

Further, make sure the stars are spaced according to my star sticker instructions to get the realistic night sky effect. Placement is important. Also apply at night so you can see your progress as you go.

The stickers are removable and reusable so it’s very unlikely you can go wrong, unlike my very first star ceiling mistake with permanent glow paint!