Have you ever seen a chandelier you couldn’t live without? Those oversized pieces of art are hard to resist. But lighting your home is about more than finding a fixture you love. It’s about creating a safe and welcoming environment.

As an interior designer, ShaRee Antenucci knows exactly what it takes to properly light every inch of a home – top to bottom, inside and out. So after partnering with ShaRee on her Ibis Country Club II Project, we decided to ask about her process. Below ShaRee shares her best tips on how to light your home.

First, though, let’s learn a little more about the designer herself.

About ShaRee Antenucci

ShaRee Antenucci is a Minnesota native who moved to Florida in 2000. While working for a high-end furniture gallery in Florida, ShaRee studied her way through the Sheffield School of Interior Design. During those two years, ShaRee worked with a range of clientele. After finishing design school, she set up her own real estate investment firm. Her background in design helped her real estate clients stage their homes in order to get the most return on their investment.

Since 2002, ShaRee Décor has been staging for-sale properties, providing in-house consultations, renovating rooms and redesigning entire homes. Her mission is to find solutions to her clients’ challenges, so they can have a sense of peace and serenity in their own home. ShaRee’s design philosophy is to see the big picture, and then find the pieces that put it all together.

In her spare time, ShaRee is also a successful painter. She specializes in abstract originals, portraits and landscapes. ShaRee especially loves working with oil on canvas. Her portfolio of artwork also includes stunning photography of nature during its peak seasons.

About the Ibis Country Club II Project

As an artist in several forms, ShaRee brings a certain dimension to her projects that proves she is a master of color and creativity. You can see her mind’s eye at work in the Ibis Country Club makeover. This Mediterranean home was transformed into a modern space that feels warm and inviting. You’ll feel that lived-in comfort in the wood floors, the open kitchen and family room, LED lighting, outdoor living area and countless other features throughout the house.

To round out the renovation, ShaRee partnered with Capitol Lighting to establish the perfect kind of lighting for every square inch of the house. With the right fixtures and placements, ShaRee pulled off her quintessential home – one that’s cozy but has great personality. You, too, can achieve the perfect lighting when you follow ShaRee’s expert home lighting tips.

The Most Important Factors for Lighting Your Home

When you look around your home, you may notice that each area has its own unique lighting needs. A space outdoors, for instance, functions just fine on sunshine during the day. Your master bathroom, on the other hand, requires light at all hours – morning, noon and night. These are the kinds of considerations you have to make throughout your house. And this is exactly how ShaRee approached the Ibis Country Club II Project.

We sat down with ShaRee to discuss how she tackled the lighting in every nook and cranny. Here’s what she had to say.

Foyer

The foyer is what first introduces guests to your home. Here, you want to make a statement about the house. ShaRee says, “If I were a light fixture, I would be in the foyer – the first fixture everyone sees!” For the Ibis Country Club II Project, ShaRee went with the stunning Skyline Pendant by Elan Lighting as the focal point of the entrance.

Dining Room

Featured: Farrah Pendant by Fredrick Ramond

In the dining room, it’s important to have the right amount of light for the size space you have. If you’re tempted to go with a large pendant or chandelier, just make sure it works well with the style and enhances the room’s décor.

Kitchen

Featured: Surge Suspension Light by Tech Lighting

The function of lighting in the kitchen is to illuminate your workspace, like an island or bar seating. But ShaRee says you also want your kitchen lighting to have a “wow” factor – to be an accessory in the room.

Kitchen Table

The lighting above and around your kitchen table should transition well, both decoratively and literally. It helps to install a dimmer switch, so you can adjust the level of lighting for different activities – whether it’s to eat breakfast, do homework or read the newspaper.

Family room

Featured: Empire Ceiling Fan by Monte Carlo

Your family room is often the largest space in the house. Within it, you might need reading lamps for a cozy nook or wall scones to show off a work of art. And because the family room is such an active spot, it will help to have some air flow. An overhead fan works wonders to keep things comfortable.

Bar

Featured: Fizz Mini Pendants by ET2 Lighting

A bar brings a sense of class and refinement. ShaRee advises that you play up that ambiance with moody lighting. If there’s a unique feature, like a mosaic backsplash, highlight it with modern pendants. This space deserves all the attention it can get.

Powder Room

Featured: Uni Wall Sconces by Troy Lighting

This is a petite space, so you don’t need a lot of lighting. A small chandelier is sufficient. That said, you may have a couple fun features to show off. If you’re in love with the wall paper, for instance, a pair of sconces will accent it nicely.

Master Bedroom

Featured: Compartir Pendants by Elk *NEW* Coming Soon

The master bedroom is another large room that could benefit from proper air circulation. After all, you want to be comfortable when you sleep at night and get dressed in the morning. Of course, ambient lighting is most important in the master suite, setting the mood and helping you doze off. This is where dimmer switches and nightstand lights come in handy.

Master Bathroom

Featured: Cutler Bath Vanity Lights by Feiss & the Symphony Pendant by Elk *NEW* Coming Soon

To get the most out of the master bathroom, you’ll need multiple sources of light. This will likely include a main fixture in the middle and wall sconces for your bathroom vanity lighting. In the Ibis Country Club II, ShaRee says she used a modern glass light fixture and wall sconces to complement the mahogany cabinets and hardware.

Patio

Featured: Vision Max Fans by Monte Carlo

To help keep you cool on the patio, fans will be necessary. Any fixtures you add out here should complement your patio furniture and flow seamlessly with the great outdoors.

Exterior Lighting

Featured: Dawn Outdoor Wall Light by Modern Forms

ShaRee stresses that when you plan outdoor lighting placement, you have to think about curb appeal. This is where it pays to have a modern-style light fixture that won’t date your home. But most importantly, the fixture has to be functional and adequately light up your driveway and walkway.

Put Ideas in Motion

Naturally, ShaRee put her own lighting advice to work when she designed the Ibis Country Club II, which is one of the many reasons why our professionals were so honored to collaborate with her. During this project, ShaRee relied on the Capitol Lighting professionals who “played an important role in helping me with all of the specs and scale of the various fixtures,” she noted.

At Capitol Lighting, we admire all of ShaRee’s work. But we’re especially proud to have been a part of the Ibis Country Club II Project, and can’t wait for our next creative meeting with ShaRee Décor.