Guest Blogger: How to Make your Home have a Grand Entrance

Guest Blog #169, Entry #645, September 6, 2011

Your front entry is the welcoming point of your home. From the first glance from the street to guests visiting your home, a grand entrance is a gorgeous addition to your home. From the front door and entryway, to adding plants, color, and distinction in your foyer, there are countless ways to brighten and enhance your front entry.

Guest Blogger today shows you how to make your home have a grand entrance, and how to take key elements and make them the focal point of your front entrance.

Choose front entry doors that make a statement

Image courtesy of Home View 3D

Find a door that grabs your attention

Ever drive by a house that had a door that instantly grabbed your attention and made you want to see the rest of the home? The wood was elaborately finished or hand carved or the windows were etched and the effect just stunning…

Owning a house with an entryway this spectacular would make one the envy of the neighborhood, but perhaps this is just a little too pricey for the budget. Can something almost as impressive be accomplished at a lower cost? One almost has to have an entry way to have a doorway with this many windows as in the summer the heat from the sun entering all these windows would make inside temperatures rise, unless it was set off from the main living area. In the winter this type of heat would be a blessing though.

Make your entry way live up to the elegance of your door

Once the door is selected and installed, the entry way has to live up to the statement defined by the elegance of the door.  Because the door declares that the home is indeed elegant and classy, the owner must take pains to back it up.

Create an inviting front entry

One way is to hang mirrors in the entrance way

Mirrors will catch the light and add instant glamour to the home. They also add dimension and depth to the room. People like to see their reflections as they enter the home, and the mirrors also will give the illusion of more space.  If the entry way is tiny such as this one, you may want to use slender furniture so as not to feel crowded upon entering.

Notice the mirrors hung facing each other. While creating the illusion of a more spacious area mirrors will help to appease those with claustrophobia.

Use small patterns or solid colors for small areas

Notice also that the floor pattern is small. A solid color or hardwood flooring here would also work well.  A large pattern on such a narrow walk way would not work. It would overwhelm the viewer.

Grren your front entryway with plants

Adding beautiful plants

May as well put this wonderful light to use and add a few healthy houseplants. Plants do much to improve our oxygen and remove toxins from the air. They also assist in reducing stress simply by allowing us to enjoy their beauty.

This pictured flower is rosemary. It will give a most delightful aroma upon entering the home and also can be useful in supplying snippets to use for cooking flavorful and healthy dishes or for placing in beauty treatments or teas.

An entryway can cut down on cleaning time

Having a separate entry way, one where the guest or resident does not immediately enter the home also gives the home owner the added benefit of allowing for the removal of coats, shoes, overshoes and so forth before entering the home. Most of the dirt brought into a home is brought in on the shoes so if they can be taken off here there will be much less housework needed to maintain the cleanliness of the home.

Find the appropriate coat rack

This unit serves two purposes. One it holds the household shoes so they can be put on and taken off here and neatly stored off the floor and secondly it holds a mirror to check ones appearance upon entry and departure. Perhaps you would like to add a coat organizer similar to this one where one can leave their coats in the entryway.

Or this one where one actually sit down to remove their shoes or to put them on. The lines are simple but elegant and this will work in even a small entryway.

Marina Chernyak is freelance writer and co-owner of decorative mirrors website located at DecorativeMirrorsBoutique.com

For more front entry inspiration on Stagetecture, click here.