Entryway, The Right Way

On today’s blog, I decided it would be great to talk about entryways. I’ve been in the process of refreshing mine, so I thought I'd share the process of what goes into designing a space like this.

An entryway is just as special as any other room in your home - it’s functional, it gives a sense of order in the home, and it should be welcoming. On top of that, as the first point of “entryway”, this is the first area you enter when coming home and the last one you go through when leaving, so think of it as your corridor to the outside world. As such, you may want to accommodate furnishings where you can store your keys, mail, shoes, etc. depending on what your lifestyle is. For example, you may want a settee or chair to sit and take your shoes off, or maybe just a small catch-all table. Whatever the case may be, this is your area to comfortably enter your home.

Why give much thought to the entryway? Nowadays you see them everywhere on Pinterest, but if you’ve never had a styled entryway, you really don’t know what you're missing. However, if you find yourself leaving things on the nearest table (dining table or island) when you get home, or taking your shoes off somewhere randomly, you may want to look into styling your entryway to bring order into your home. Without a proper entryway that provides designated spaces for those ordinary things you constantly do or use when entering or leaving your home, you run the risk of losing the sense of order in all adjacent spaces. This is why I feel every home should have some sort of entryway area that is designated to helping you stay and feel organized.

In summary, there are three things an entryway must be:

1) Functional

Depending on what you need this space to do for you, it should be able to meet your needs. That should include having a hard/resiliant floor material (if designing from scratch) or a high performance rug as it’s in a high traffic area. It should also include a functional furniture piece to store items like a bench with storage space or a settee to sit. You might only need a console table to place keys, mail, and a beautiful lamp to light up your entry. You could also have baskets where you store your outdoor gear or umbrellas. Think of how you will use the space and create your list of what it should have before you start shopping. 

2) Welcoming

Entryways should almost be able to say “hello” and “goodbye” as you pass through, so style this area in an inviting way. For instance, you might consider adding small greenery or a small tree. You could also consider using inviting lighting in the space so you can easily light up the room and instantly feel at home when you enter - I’ve always hated the feeling of getting into a dark space and having to rush to turn on a light. You could also include a beautifully framed photo or an art piece you love that greets you when you come home.

3) Stylish

This area should also be a snapshot of what your home style is like. Whether your style is modern, glam, country, eclectic, etc., you should be able to identify that from the entryway. For example, you wouldn't have a rustic styled entryway in a glam styled home.

When styling this space, you can be a little adventurous. You might have a unique furniture piece, art piece, or some beautiful antique to display. Bringing back the four elements in a space (blog#2), be sure it is well balanced, meaning the heights of all the pieces in the space work well together (high/ medium / low), different materials and textures are used in a harmonious way, and color is well utilized through art or greenery. Create the focal point, whether that be the mirror or gallery wall - make it be that first thing you want to see when you enter. Lastly, I would say one of the most important elements in an entryway is scale. As a typically smaller space in a home, you must make sure you get the right size pieces that will fill the space nicely. With that, you will ensure spacing between pieces is appropriate, as you don’t want to jam pack the space nor have pieces awkwardly spaced. 

Thanks for checking out my blog. I hope this helped you in designing your entryway space the right way. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out via my contact page.

Until next time!

Janiece