A Constellation of Pink, Black, and Gold Pendant Lights Transforms Serena Williams' Dining Room Ceiling – Her Technique is Elevated Yet Replicable

The tennis player's dining room is a feast for the senses designed by her sister Venus, It's the perfect place for lighting Inspiration

Serena Williams
(Image credit: Mike Coppola/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

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.

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

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.


Sophie Edwards
News Editor

Sophie is a writer and News Editor on the Celebrity Style team at Homes & Gardens. She is fascinated by the intersection of design and popular culture and is particularly passionate about researching trends and interior history. She is an avid pop culture fan and has interviewed Martha Stewart and Hillary Duff.

In her free time, Sophie freelances on design news for Westport Magazine and Livingetc. She also has a newsletter, My Friend's Art, in which she covers music, culture, and fine art through a personal lens. Her fiction has appeared in Love & Squalor and The Isis Magazine.

Before joining Future, Sophie worked in editorial at Fig Linens and Home, a boutique luxury linens brand. She has an MSc from Oxford University and a BA in Creative Writing and Sociology from Sarah Lawrence College.

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