My wife and I are buying a foreclosure and renovating it before we move in. It is a modern house with rather strong architecture: it has a flat roof, floor-to-ceiling windows, and 8' ceilings. The modest ceiling height and sleek look of the home means that nothing hangs down from the ceiling. Every light is a recessed can.

The home was built in 1967 by some people with sophisticated taste, but then it suffered under second owners who made some bad design choices in their remodeling. The existing lighting is a mixture of original 6" canned lights with incandescent bulbs and new low-voltage pinhole cans. I counted over 50 recessed lights in the common areas alone. They are all controlled by a Lutron control system on dim-able switches with push buttons.

It is clear to me that the intent with the lighting pattern was a mixture of lighting "pathways" and lighting specific task areas. But the result is a whole lot of rather ugly ceiling acne. I just don't know what to do with it. I am overwhelmed with how to move them around so that: 1) things are properly lit and 2) so that the lights are in a "tidier" grid pattern. I am also working with a limited budget and want to move the fewest number of them as possible.

If anyone has any general advice or specific thoughts as to what I should do, I would be really grateful.