Your entryway sets the first impression of your home. Focus on a cohesive colour palette, warm layered lighting, durable flooring, and practical storage to balance style and function. Use mirrors, artwork, plants, and accessories to add personality, and tailor your approach based on the size and type of entryway, whether it’s a grand foyer, narrow hallway, or small boot room.
From foyers to front doors, the entryway is where guests formulate their first impression of your home. Not to mention, it’s where they store their belongings, share greetings, and make themselves comfortable. So, there’s really no doubt about why you should make the most of your entryway, but how exactly do you do it? Well, you’re in luck – I’ve collated these exciting entryway decorating tips to elevate any home, so you can feel confident that you’re getting off on the right foot.
In case you’re curious, here’s a peek at what’s coming up:
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On average, it takes a guest about 38 seconds to form an opinion about a home. Chances are, those 38 seconds are to be spent in or near the entryway: shoes come off, coats are hung, keys hit the bowl, greetings are exchanged. That’s why it is so important not to neglect your entryway in your interior design and decorating plans – as the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Of course, there are plenty of practical purposes for an entryway too. From shoe and coat storage to a place to stow away seasonal knick-knacks like umbrellas, hats and scarves, your entryway should offer a space to physically prepare for the main living area. But when designed thoughtfully, it can do more than just keep things tidy: a well-styled entrance can become a space to pause, chat, even entertain – a kind of prequel to the rest of the house.
Ultimately, the purpose of an entryway is to transition your guests from the outside world into the interior of your home, both practically and aesthetically, setting the tone for all that follows. All the more important if you’re looking to sell your home, where buyers will be trying to glean exactly what the house is all about from that first step through the door.
As we’ll see, different types of entryways have different requirements due to their differing size, shape and function. That being said, there are a few fundamentals that can be maintained across each – namely colour, lighting, storage, flooring and accessories. Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these categories.
With colour schemes, almost nothing is off the table, so long as you follow your heart, complement the architectural characteristics of the space and stay consistent. Consider what it is about your home that you most want to convey to your guests, and which styles are the right medium to do so.
Neutrals are classic, sophisticated and timeless, as are tones grounded in the natural world. Bolder, brighter shades, on the other hand, tend to be more playful and feel contemporary. For something moodier and more mysterious, a deep green-black can be a great statement, channelling your inner dark academia.
Once you’ve got the general palette in mind, you should pay attention to the level of natural lighting in the space and home in on your choices. This will ensure that your chosen scheme looks good no matter the time of day. Generally, north facing spaces should embrace warmer or darker colours to offset the cooler and lower level of sunlight received. Those lucky enough to have a south facing area should maximise the feeling of light and space by opting for cool neutrals, soft pastels, and warming tones. If your entryway has no windows, consider light-reflecting colours such as tallows, off-whites, pale blues, and other nature-inspired hues, which will help light to bounce around the room.
Colour and lighting go hand-in-hand; you may have picked a swoon-worthy palette, but if you’ve failed to light it right, the effort is wasted. It’s also a transitional space that people don’t tend to linger in, so take this chance to make a statement with something unique, rather than simply ticking the utilitarian boxes.
With entrance or hallway lighting in particular, I’d recommend going all out on a pendant – be it modern and biophilic or antique and ornamental – plonking a table lamp on a windowsill or side table and then complementing it with a pair of matching wall sconces, perhaps by a shady corner or seating area. That’s all the types of lighting accounted for.
For something a little more low-key, consider warmer flush ceiling lights, subtle wall lights, or wooden table lamps to create a glow that illuminates the area from all angles.
Storage is the ultimate foundation of any functional entryway if you’re looking to avoid the dreaded piles of coats and chaos of runaway shoes. Typically speaking, you should aim to implement at least a cupboard of some sort along with a bench or other seating solution. If you’re feeling particularly space-savvy, you could even double up your furniture with two functions: for instance, a hall bench with under-seat storage.
Besides storage, layout and by extension flow, is the single most crucial aspect of your decorating endeavours. Done well, and you'll no longer have to experience the awkward and ungainly journey into the home, with nowhere to leave your belongings or gaps to squeeze through with heavy shopping bags or a package.
Here's the low-down: always leave a clear line of sight to the nearest room, so you can easily traverse the space, but at the same time, aim to place a console or shelving unit at waist height for those pesky packages. Having a bench in close proximity to the door yet not jutting out too far works wonders when numerous people are taking off their shoes, as per the example above. Paired with the airy pendant lights above, you're effortlessly guided into the space.
When it comes to flooring, practicality and durability should be your priorities. After all, the entryway is likely to be the area of the home with the most foot traffic, inevitably resulting in more wear and tear.
Think stone, tile, treated wood, or an LVT lookalike paired with a few rugs to encourage people to remove their shoes (and protect the flooring underneath). If hard floors aren’t on the cards, invest in a generous welcome mat to ensure that no muddy shoes make it to the rest of the house. That said, solid flooring offers the most versatility in patterns: herringbone, checkerboard, or Portuguese azulejo style ceramics all bring the wow-factor.
Time for the fun stuff! Accessories are the perfect way to connect to the charm and essence of the rest of your home. Period and thrifted pieces are particularly great for entryways as their mismatched character pairs well with the wear they will inevitably experience from consistent use. They’re also a natural choice for the trending modern farmhouse style. I love seasonal plants, quirky wall art, and a bobbin or wavy mirror to add a pop of fun, but you can pretty much use anything that speaks to your personality and your home!
So, now that we’ve covered some general entryway decorating tips, it’s time to turn to the different types of entrances and their specific requirements. Of course, we’ll also offer up a few more suggestions on how to decorate each of them…
When you think of a foyer, it’s likely that your mind goes to a massive sprawling staircase in the middle of a grand marble room. Whilst this is technically a foyer, not all entryways that fall into the category need to be so stately.
Derived from the French ‘le foyer’, meaning the home or household, it’s simply a gathering space designed to welcome and allow guests to get settled. Tending to be a little more formal than other entryways, with a slightly more spacious and furnished nature, they are characteristic of Victorian and Tudor homes, since they were often implemented to keep out the winter chill from the main indoor space.
Due to their bigger size and wider functionality, guests tend to spend more time in a foyer entryway than they would in a smaller equivalent. As such, it pays dividends to make the best of wall space and give them something to look at, whether that be your favourite paintings, books or photographs. Luxurious and unique pieces tend to fare well in foyers, offering a focal point to begin conversations as guests enter the house.
Foyers can also be a great opportunity for a multi-use space. So, along with your ‘drop off zone’, you may want to include a comfortable seating area littered with reading material or even a small desk of some kind. Interested? Then queue our reading corners article after this one. Just be sure not to overcrowd the space and interrupt the flow through the home!
After WW2, foyers have seen quite a decrease in popularity, with homeowners shifting their focus to more efficient and space-maximising designs. In accordance, the less formal boot room or small entryway has grown in popularity.
Whilst a boot room often suggests a secondary entrance at the back of the house, nowadays, it serves largely the same purpose as a small entrance at the front, hence the interchangeability of the two terms within this section.
As the boot room is smaller but still receives the same high level of traffic, it needs to be more practical and durable. So, the key goal of my decorating ideas for these small entryways is to marry old-fashioned functionality with aesthetics.
This involves being more thoughtful with furniture arrangements, as well as paying more attention to the robustness of flooring. With the latter, LVT, tiles and laminate are your best bets, and with the former, utilising vertical space will have you onto a winner.
Think smarter multi-purpose storage, such as a hollow compartment stool, chests, and understairs drawers; a thick, easy-to-clean rug; key hooks and coat racks to maximise wall space; and a large mirror to help the room feel bigger.
To put it simply, if you open your front door and see your stairs in front of you, your entryway is probably a hallway. A common fixture of Edwardian house design, these long and often narrow passageways are the connective tissue between rooms, facilitating movement between different sections of the building. And because the stairs are the main feature, there’s plenty of fun to be had playing with perspective.
The major factor to cling to when decorating your hallway is scale and proportion. This means having a good grasp of the physical dimensions of the space and measuring up your furniture accurately, so you know what you’re working with.
Here, innovative storage solutions like console/hall tables, benches with under-seat storage, and even radiator covers can tick your practical requirements without blocking the flow throughout your home. Scale them up in larger spaces for a chunky, grounded feel, or keep them slimline if space is at a premium.
Don’t forget to celebrate the stairs, either. After all, they take up a huge proportion of the initial view. Yes, I think a gallery wall or colourful carpet runner is in order! This is a great chance to implement a motif throughout your hallway, stairs, and landing ideas to tie them all together – whether that’s a certain colour, pattern, or symbol.
If your front door directly opens into a defined room – often the kitchen or living room – then you’re working with an entryway within a room. This is pretty common in flats, but also across older properties in my neck of the woods, Yorkshire, and Sheffield is famous for it. So trust me, there are tried and tested solutions out there to this spatial planning nightmare; each allows you to establish a moment to pause and prepare before moving deeper into the home. In one word: zoning.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a ‘zone’ functioning as a mini, welcoming yet practical entryway. There are several ways to do this: roll-down blinds or a portiere (which also work well to disguise the front door!), actual room partitions (half, solid or glazed), or simply a tactical furniture layout.
Whichever you choose, delineate a border between the liminal entrance spot and where your main room begins. It can also help to use visual cues to keep them separate – for instance, in the example above, the long rug subtly hints to an open corridor, whilst the rattan basket maintains a boundary for the main living room. And the armchair? It morphs into casual living room seating as soon as your shoes are off and everyone’s hunkered down.
Just take care to ensure that the entryway is cohesive or, at the very least, complementary with the main room!
This is quite a meaty and complicated task, so I recommend checking out our room dividers guide for the full scoop.
And there we have it – my 10 furniture-specialist-approved entryway decorating tips to make the best first impression. Balance functionality and flow with your personal aesthetics, and you’ll be good as gold. It’s all a matter of finessing the storage, layout and accessories through space-savvy choices and layering.
Now, if you’re looking to maintain that stellar impression throughout your home, check out our other design inspiration guides – we’ll see you over there!
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