Room Design
By
Deirdre Sullivan
Deirdre Sullivan
Deirdre Sullivan is an interior design expert and features writer who specializes in home improvement as well as design. She began her career as an assistant editor at Elle magazine and has more than a decade of experience. Deirdre contributes content for brands including The Spruce and Realtor.com, and has been a featured speaker at various conferences.
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Updated on 11/28/23
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A beautiful and well-organized entryway is the first place you see when you enter a home. It's your chance to make an impression and set an inviting tone for your home. This is where you can introduce the style of your home, whether it's modern, rustic, contemporary, traditional, or mid-century, and create a striking foyer that catches the eye of guests. It's also a functional space, where you can add storage or drop areas that encourage you and others to leave their shoes, umbrellas, or other outdoor items. It's a place where style and function meet.
To help you begin decorating your entryway, first consider your design style, then think about adding furniture, decor, and storage to tie it together and make the space work for you. Maybe you want a mirror or a console table, baskets for gloves or shelving for mail. You could look for a bench to put your shoes on or a rug to catch wet feet. No matter the size, you can create an entryway that maximizes your style and space, and here are 22 of our favorite entryway ideas for inspiration.
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Creating an Entryway in an Open Concept Home
Interior designer Amy Fasnacht from Havenly, an online home decorating service, was tasked with transforming an empty, open-concept space without a proper entryway into a multifunctional abode.
To accomplish the mission, Fasnacht carved up the room into clearly defined zones for specific purposes. She placed a rough-hewed bench behind the sofa to create a little entryway. The piece of furniture conveniently located near the front door is a landing strip for grab-and-go items, like handbags.
The 11 Best Storage Benches to Liven Up Your Home
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Efficient Entryway in a Swedish Apartment
Not having a closet in the entryway is not a problem for this Swedish apartment seen on Alvhem. A recessed wall deep enough for shelves with a 10-inch depth becomes a handy spot to keep shoes and hang coats. A pendant light, sizeable gilded mirror, and small seat add practical function. On the floor aresquareceramic tiles that stand up to wet shoes.
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Funky Entryway Chairs
Having a place to put on or take off shoes in an entryway is essential in many homes. We believe that the bench, chair, or stool you decide to keep near your front door should show off your unique style. Case in point: these Eames-inspired chairs.
The molded plastic seatswere initially solid blue. Interior designer Megan Pflug gave them a stunning new look with patterned marble fabric.Her decoupage project required three yards of material, which was cut to fit each chair before being attached to the original surface using Mod Podge glue. Afterward, a couple of coats of clear water-based polyurethane were applied to the fabric to protect against moisture and stains.
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Entryway With Midcentury Furniture
The super talented design team at Amber Interiors out of Calabasas, California, gave a tired ranch house a fresh and modern new look. The revamped entryway is 100 percent swoon-worthy.
Anchoring the space is a gorgeous, oversized mirror reflecting the lovely living room. Below it is a midcentury wood slat bench in teak that provides a place to sit or drop off handbags. A rug brings the room a warming color, and in the corner, there is a pop of natural greenery. On the right is another midcentury seat made of wood with two sheepskin rugs for comfort.
The 11 Best Outdoor Rugs of 2024, Tested and Reviewed
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Black and White Small Entryway
This cute and tiny entryway brimming with style is by Jennifer Wagner Schmidt Interior Design situated in Fairfax, Virginia. The fantastic foyer is equipped with a glossy lacquer console table with drawer storage. Above it is a faux bamboo mirror in white. Dressing up the walls is black and white wallpaper in a modern Moroccan-inspired trellis pattern. Additionally, the framed art is perfect for personalizing a space, for which a small print is added here.
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Beautiful Porcelain Tile in Hardworking Entryways
Durable, water-resistant flooring is ideal for busy entryways, especially in areas prone to lots of wet weather. That is why Chicago-based interior designer Claire Staszak from Centered by Design installed porcelain tile in an eye-popping pattern in this entryway. Compared to ceramic tile, porcelain is harder and less porous, making it an ideal choice for high-traffic areas.
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Entryway Solutions for a Long Narrow Hallway
If your entryway is a long, narrow hallway—behold these ingenious tips from aScandinavian apartment spotted on Alvhem Makleri. On the right, five sets of IKEA shoe cabinets called TRONES are mounted onto the wall. Next to the front door are slate floor tiles that stand up to moisture and dirt. The rug placed on the floor will protect the painted wood floors while also being easy to clean thanks to it being machine-washable.
Next to the long hallway is the section shown in the right-hand photo. Wall-mounted shelves double as a coat rack and a place to display baskets or bags.
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Elegant Small Entryway in a New York City Apartment
The entryway in this New York City apartment decorated by Murphy Deesign almost broke Instagram. The beautiful trellis wallpaper in ginger jar blue is from Black & Spiro in Queensland, Australia. The gorgeous, geometric console is a score from a West Elm sale. The blue glass faceted mirror is from Bungalow 5. On the floor is a classic, chinoiserie umbrella stand complemented by a gold runner.
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Simple, Clean, and Rustic Entryway
Instead of shelves, Sarah Gibson, the décor blogger who pens Room for Tuesday, wentwith a useful bench in her entryway. She says it is a particularly handy spot for groceries when unloading the car.
The basket under the seat is for hats, scarves, and other outerwear items. The quirky cow and steer coat hooks work with the entryway's southwestern theme. They are also the ideal size for hanging dog leashes and house keys. The eye-catching black and white print on the wall is an engineer print of a photo Gibson took several years ago.
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Colorful Entryway Covered in Tile
Swedish interior designer Daniel Heckscherfrom Note Design Studio updated what was once a cookie-cutter apartment foyer into a playful entryway using porcelain tile. Covering the walls and floor created a one-of-a-kind space that is moisture-resistant. The square tiles on the walls create a repeating diamond pattern. On the floor, brick-style tiles are laid out in a herringbone pattern. Grout in contrasting colors enhances both layouts.
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Little Entryway in a Stylish Home
In this seriously creative home decorated by blogger Sarah Mora, from A House in the Hills, a floating wood console carves out a modestly sized entryway. Above it is a large round mirror that reflects sunlight from the living room windows. A couple of potted plants add a welcoming touch. Another smart idea is the concrete floor throughout the space—it is a durable feature and one of the most significant décor trends of the year.
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A Natural Wood Pegboard in the Entryway
We love natural wood pegboards because they are both functional and extremely good-looking. The married duo behind the design blog Vintage Revivals created this beauty for a client's entryway. The pegs and shelves on the unit are removable, so the owners of the home can customize the board in any way they please.
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Modern Farmhouse Entryway
Blogger Krystin Lee from Suburban Faux Pas has a few tricks for styling a farmhouse entryway at the bottom of a stairway with a ceiling that reaches the second floor. Modern trellis wallpaper from York Coverings extending from the floor to the top of the home's second level sets the tone. A natural wood table from the Wicker Emporium is an elegant touch that does not feel overdone. The white scroll mirror and the two knitted pouf stools are stylish and practical pieces from Homesense.
All About Modern Farmhouse Style
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A Console in the Foyer
Creating a beautiful entryway is child's play with these styling tips from the décor experts at Havenly. Their example uses a simple console to establish an attractive focal point for those entering the home, whether it is centered with the front door or up against an adjacent wall.
While the console's primary purpose is to provide a spot to drop keys and bags, it is also an excellent spot for displaying knick-knacks. When decorating your foyer, do not forget about the entryway walls. A mirror surrounded by wall art will make a stellar first impression.
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A Modern Entryway That Will Inspire You to Be Tidy
We believe a beautifully decorated entryway with lots of practical storage will inspire you to keep things tidy instead of throwing your stuff in a massive heap. This gorgeous foyer by Angela Belt at Homepolish, an interior design company out of New York City, is a great example.
A porcelain tile floor in a modern black and white pattern is exceptionally welcoming. A vintage shag rug brings room brightening colors while the rustic wood bench provides a place to slip on shoes. The modern wood console adds extra storage space. A black ceramic table lamp offers a soft glow at night when an overhead fixture would be considered too bright.
The 11 Best Outdoor Rugs of 2024, Tested and Reviewed
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Maximizing Vertical Storage
A sliver of wall space can expand your storage options in a small apartment. We noticed this ingenious idea in a Nordic apartment on Alvhem. Two lower shelves keep dirty shoes off the floor, and the upper shelf with a built-in rail establishes a nook for jackets and handbags.
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Wallpaper on the Ceiling in an Entryway
There is so much to love in this entryway by In Site Designs based in Greenville, South Carolina. First, let's talk about storage. A coat rack and console table create room to park scarves, coats, and handbags.
When it comes to style, there are lots of decorative touches that make this foyer welcoming. The turquoise door adds a burst of cheerful color while playing off the framed prints on the wall on the right. The metallic and geometric patterned wallpaper dresses up the ceiling while the star pendant acts as a decorative focal point.
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Entryway Hack for Growing Families
Affordable solutions that maximize function at home are always winning ideas. So it is no wonder that this entryway hack is very popular. The unit is an old bedroom dresser painted turquoise. Afterward, small chalkboards were attached to each drawer. Now every member of this family has a place to put their grab-and-go stuff.
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Minimalist Entryway With Pops of Greenery
If you are looking to ditch all of the clutter in your entryway (including the furniture), behold this minimalist space by Antonia, the blogger behind Craftifair. On the left wall are Muuto Wood Coatrack Dots. On the right is a wall-mounted storage box for keys, sunglasses, and other small items. On top are a couple of small plants that infuse the space with a little greenery. The mirror above it all helps to brighten the foyer by reflecting sunlight from a nearby window.
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Faking a Tile Floor in the Entryway
It is often challenging for renters to add both style and function to a room since they're usually not allowed to renovate or hang anything on the walls. Medina, the decor blogger from Grillo Designs, came up with a couple of solutions to combat these problems. First, she covered up the existing floor in her entryway with peel and stick vinyl wallpaper. (Bonus: vinyl wallpapers are somewhat water-resistant and can be wiped clean, making them perfect for families with young kids.) Notice the wire magazine rack on the wall? It was installed using a self-adhesive plastic hook.
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Neutral Entryway Filled With Natural Materials
Beautiful pieces in mostly natural materials are what make this entryway by Studio McGee out of Utah so inviting. The light wood flooring is called Alta Vista Laguna from Hallmark Floors. This stunning console used for keys and bags is a gray-washed Douglas fir. Its natural grain lends a rustic yet sophisticated touch to the foyer. Pairing the unit with a set of woven baskets adds more storage space. To keep everything in the entryway from seeming too matchy-matchy, a brass chandelier was installed overhead for a little contrast.
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Practical Pieces in an Entryway in a Small Apartment
Several practical pieces helped Amy, the content creator at Homey Oh My, whip up an entryway in a tiny corner of her apartment. To anchor the space, she added a narrow console table ideal for dumping little items like keys and mail. To personalize the nook, she spruced up the table with a ceramic vase and a couple of candlestick holders. The black tray on the right is a catchall for small items like gum, jewelry, and a mini flashlight. The coat rack on the left is the perfect size for a couple of jackets and handbags.
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