Entrance areas can be a bit of a forgotten space when it comes to decoration, but it’s the first impression visitors get of your home. And when you add some sneaky (and stylish!) Organizational elements to the area, it becomes a highly functional space too, not just a passageway.
When we moved into this house last fall, the entrance had a tile floor that peeled off the subfloor, a double cabinet door that was too high for the cabinet opening (so it was just leaning against the door), and lighting appliances and hardware, which were very out of date (and mismatched!). So the room really felt like it needed some cohesion and purpose.
Since the room is right next to our dining and living area, I wanted to make sure that the colors and feel of the entrance flow into these rooms and give a small view of the rest of the house. I thought about doing some fun wallpaper (like Elsie in her entryway), but ended up with a solid color choice (for now anyway!).
The previous room had outdated fixtures, mismatched switch panels, a broken closet door, and just needed a general vote to feel fresh. We added a new Sputnik light fixture and a more modern entrance doorknob made of brass along with a paint for the front door (Bubble Shell from Behr) and painted the walls a delicate pink (Soft Stone from Valspar).
Aside from the color, the biggest change came when we added the poorly laid tile that popped up on its own (you can even see in the previous photo that they aren’t flat against each other) and into a white oak floor instead. Took a ton of extra time as we ran into a number of issues, but it’s so pretty and us love it.
This organizational wall shelf with hooks is one of my favorite things in the room! It’s big enough to hold a letter holder for the mail (I love this marble and gold one), a planter I use to store sunglasses, a small bowl for loose keys, and anything else I keep near the door would like to.
And the hooks on the bottom are also perfect for hanging hats and purses. Here’s a smaller (and more budget-friendly) version and I love this gold and white hook shelf if you just want hooks or don’t have a full wardrobe for coats.
We love and still use the mid-century modern IKEA kitchen that I made for Lola when she was little. It looks so cute under the shelf and I feel like it’s the first thing kids visit when they enter the house as it’s in the entrance area – it shows them that this is a kids house and we have fun things to play with !
Reasons to focus on the styling and organization of your entrance area:
- It is the “first impression” of your home. Let the style preview what to expect in the rest of the house.
- It’s the perfect place to organize things related to leaving / entering the apartment (shoes, mail, keys, etc).
- It can also serve as any other storage area for items that are not related to other specific parts of the house (e.g. “junk drawers” or less-used items).
Shortly after we moved into this house, I finally framed the watercolor that Lola did with my mother. I know I have favorite pieces of art that I did when I was little and I think this is going to be one of their very special ones. It makes me so happy!
While getting a real door in our closet (nine months after we moved in) was a big deal, it felt so good to remodel the shelves in the closet and add a new rod to make the space more functional too.
Getting a shoe rack was super helpful (I also like this wood and white version) and lots of bins to store gift wrap, outdoor accessories, and baskets to hold more random household items like extension cords were super helpful.
I love these wire mesh baskets, which come in all sizes, and those pink and white boxes. Don’t forget to label your boxes with your label printer!
Would you like more ideas for organizing closets? Check out these posts!
That wall and corner was sort of a nothing room, but I wanted it to be a welcoming picture as it is the wall that you see when you first open the door to visitors. We angled and trimmed the rounded entrance to the dining room to match the rest of the passageways in the house, and it made me feel much better about making this crooked type of arch look symmetrical and finished.
I love this console table we chose for the space as it is slim enough not to take up a lot of space, but the top is perfect for holding trays for loose items (like a brass tray or brass plate and hand tray) and some Plants and decorative items. How cute is the pink princess phone !?
The four drawers are also a great place for some other organization as we have our “junk drawer” in one of them (everyone has that drawer with pens / tools / calculators / stamps and so on, right?) And the rest have things like Cloth napkins or clean masks that I want to keep near the door (but I hope I won’t need them forever!). This is a pretty wooden console table if you want things a little simpler.
I love a hanging brass flower box in almost every room and this “Ooh La La” print makes me feel like I always have a bit of Paris in the house.
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I love that I have shelves, drawers, hooks, a clothes rail, shelves, and trash cans to keep our entryway organized and tidy when we walk in and out of our room. I feel like this is such a welcoming and fresh way to greet visitors and I like that I can also seasonally decorate the console table area to add some Christmas cheer to the front of our house.
You can see the rest of my house tours to see how I’ve done all of my other rooms so far!
Would you like more tips on how to design your entrance area?
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Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman.
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