It's no secret that lighting matters. Illumination has the power to transform a room, creating brightness and warmth while adding a sculptural element. Thus, if there is a place to make a statement, it's with the lighting ideas in your home. Serena Williams' dining room delivers.
The tennis pro purchased her Spanish Mediterranean-style home North of Miami in 2015 and conducted a gut renovation, transforming the interiors into their current modern, minimalist state. She worked with her sister, Venus Williams's, award-winning design firm V Starr to bring her lofty vision to life over a period of five years. We're especially enthralled by her dining room lighting technique, which involves over 20 carefully chosen pendants.
Through a combination of black, gold, and pink glass lights (this mid-century modern pendant from Wayfair is a stylish alternative), the team creates a look that is both sculptural and grounded for a visually striking but liveable finish. Let's take a look.
According to experts, the combination of a variety of lights, as seen in Serena's home, is one of the best methods for bringing warmth into your home as the weather chills this season. It's the perfect formula for lighting a cozy dining room.
Lena Gierasinska, Head of Product and Displays at Barker and Stonehouse explains: 'My top tip for the winter is to layer your lighting to create the perfect, cozy atmosphere in your home. This impacts not only the look and feel of our homes but also our well-being. Consider the function and purpose of the lighting, as well as the mood you'd like to create.'
Recreate Serena's Look at Home
With it's vintage-inspired umbrella-shaped shade and elegant brass details, this pendant light is the perfect addition to a cozy eat-in area. It blend timeless elegance with a subtle industrial flair – and it's the perfect size to illuminate a small seating area.
Available in black, dark gray, and matte white, this pendant is a slightly larger alternative to the vintage-style I've spotlighted. It still features the scalloped edges and is compatible with dimmer switches for the perfect ambiance.
Greenwich is synonymous with polished perfection, and this pendant follows suit. Slightly smaller than the above at 10.25 inches across, it’s the ideal size for small living room lighting or spotlighting those ‘tiny tables’ likely sitting in your cart.
If you love a pendant light with texture, this pleated stoneware design is a chic choice for your kitchen. The beautiful combination of cream and brass feels elegant and timeless – it would look so charming in a cottage kitchen.
For the retro-lovers, this '70s-inspired, glass globe pendant is the perfect addition to any kitchen, and would look fantastic over a marble island.
Bringing in a hint of that black and brass color combination, this pendant light features a larger shade made from ribbed glass. It's a stylish choice if you want to bring in that cozy, textured look in an easy-to-clean way.
If you want to use lighting to transform your home as Serena has done, multiple pendants is a great place to start. However, you can also layer lighting effectively using a variety of different sources to create a storied, warm feel. This look feels at once in line with lighting trends, and completely timeless.
Lena advises: 'General mood lighting, such as a ceiling pendant, helps illuminate a space during the darker nights, whilst task lighting, such as table lamps, usually serves a specific purpose and can be used for reading corners in a bedroom or living room. A room must have more than one type of lighting as this will allow for flexibility and for the look and feel of a room to be instantly transformed at the flip of a switch.'
Lights are more than simple illumination for a room; they add shape, texture, dimension, and color to a room. The more you have, the more chance there is to create an impact.
