3 Key Elements To Prioritize When Designing An Entry For A Good First Impression
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If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then your foyer is the first introduction. A first handshake if you will. A glimpse into the life and family and soul of the space that forms and shapes those that live within its walls. Sometimes that introduction is informal, entering straight into the kitchen from the garage. Sometimes it’s very formal, with vestibules and soaring staircases. Either way, that first entry space helps to set the tone of the home from the very first step over the threshold. As we have been building our home, I wanted something married between casual and formal. Something that was like stepping into a cozy hug, but yet set apart from the living space, giving you space to breathe as you enter. Something that was personal to us, yet timeless. This led me to three quick and easy, yet transformative elements that I wanted to prioritize for a good first impression when designing an entry: storage, curated personalization and pops of color. Whether big or small, these three ideas can be implemented really into any entryway, so let’s dive into our design process in hopes of helping yours too!
The Space We Are Working With
As we have designed this home from scratch (you can read more on that process HERE!), I knew I wanted a dedicated foyer space. Our current home enters directly into the dining room while our apartment in Munich had a dedicated entry foyer which I found extremely helpful for welcoming guests, hanging coats, shoes, keys and handling the busyness of coming and going. It also is nice that having a dedicated foyer means that people don’t enter directly, or sometimes even see directly, into whatever is going on in the house. With all of these things going through my mind when creating our foyer, we landed on having our foyer act as a central entry spot. Upon entering, stairs lead to the second floor, while a guestroom and guest bathroom is on the right, a music library straight ahead (which can also access the kitchen, master and mudroom) and the living space to the left. It will act as a central hub for coming and going throughout the house, integrating it in a more casual way, but yet will be a defined space providing a slight formality as well.
3 Transformative Elements For An Entry
Once our space planning was determined, I have been navigating how to implement three transformative elements for entryway designs: storage, pops of color and curated personalization. These design pieces are not revolutionary, but the ways they are included can totally change both the form and function of your space and how it feels to live and operate in the room. While they can be great to think through before building a space if building new, they also can be implemented post initial construction in a variety of ways.
Storage
This first transformative element of prioritizing storage was a MUST for me for an entryway! For this new home, we are planning to have pullout storage cabinetry (similar to ideas shown from Buckeye Plans and House Of Kane Joinery) implemented throughout the space underneath the stairs to maximize the area while creating a dedicated spot for coats, shoes, keys, mail etc. to give the daily business a place to rest out of sight. While certainly under stair storage is easiest to create from the beginning, it is possible to add later or you might add storage in other ways such as other built-ins, lockers, a chest or console, or even just hooks and a shelf. We predominately used a coat rack and chest in our apartment entry in Munich and it was amazingly helpful for keeping our space tidy but functional. Knowing this and the busy family life we both currently have and are heading into in the future, prioritizing storage when designing an entry was top of the list for me!
Pops Of Color
Once storage is determined, pops of color can be added! As our entry space is so intertwined with the rest of the home, color drenching the space or even just adding in a new wall color didn’t quite feel like the right fit, so we will be keeping the same trim and wall color as the other main areas of the house. That being said, I have been loving the look of painted staircases (similar to the pictures shown by Uns.Hobbs_Interiors, Room Service By Caroline etc.) that are particularly popular in British designs. Whether in a more neutral color or a more of a statement, the pop of color on the stairs gives layered dimension without being overwhelming. And with this decision, there are so many options for it! You can paint the entire staircase, or just the risers, or the risers, treads and spindles but not the top handrail… there really are so many options depending on the color and paint commitment you are looking to involve. Likewise, adding a runner rug of some kind brings additional interest while increasing durability and wear. This option is not only a stylish design, but also can be more budget friendly as buying paint grade stair materials can often be a smaller investment than stain grade. We likely will use stain grade treads (and the top handrail, keeping the handrail natural similar to the image by Room Service By Caroline) in the event we ever want to refinish them to natural wood, but regardless, I love the painted stair aesthetic for bringing a pop of color into the entry.
Curated Personalization
Lastly, but certainly not least when designing an entry is integrating curated personal pieces that make the space feel like you and add layers to your design. Personalization can mean family pictures, or it can be more subtle like when layering with items that have stories or history behind them. While I haven’t decided which items to fully integrate yet (I hope to lay everything out after moving in and “shop” our own things a bit!), I do know I want to utilize one of the runners we bought when first married and much of the art we have collected throughout our travels, likely creating a gallery wall wrapping the stairs similar to the reel by Oliver James Interiors. Initially, I toyed with the idea of using our hanging gallery wall (tutorial HERE!) from Munich for the wall space on the right, however I believe a collection along the stairs could be fun as well. Either way, I know for sure that our personal art and rugs will be greeting us in this space and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.
Final Thoughts
While storage, pops of color and curated personalization may not seem revolutionary, they can be transformative elements to both the form and function of a space when designing an entry! Though not a huge area, this spot will be so helpful for our family on a daily basis and I believe that as the first handshake, it really will make for a good first impression of our home. But I would love to know, what are other priorities you think of for a foyer? Is beautiful storage top of the list for you like it was for me?! Let me know in the comments below and be sure to save this post for future designs!
Happy designing!
Chloe
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