BY LANA

If you’re lucky enough to have a house with a defined front entry, I say embrace it baby! It’s more than just a thoroughfare to the rest of your home, it should set the tone for your whole vision, so you want it to be welcoming as well as functional.

Ready to strut your stuff? Here are 5 simple but effective ways to transform your entry:

1. Flaunt your flooring

A front entry is a great place to inject some personality and what better way than with some fancy flooring. If you’ve chosen floorboards throughout the rest of your home, perhaps you could jazz things up a little and lay them in a herringbone pattern in your entry, like Bon did in hers. Or try a feature tile like we laid at House 11. We carried the beautiful Tile Cloud encaustic look tiles from the front porch right through the entry to create a seamless transition from outside in. They’re as practical as they are pretty and will make for easy cleaning in a high traffic area.

BONNIE'S ENTRANCE

HOUSE 11 ENTRANCE

2. Set the scene

Think of your entrance as a sneak peek of your home - make it as fabulous as the rest!

The entry way at House 11 was existing, but it was quite dark and cavernous, not exactly inviting. As with the rest of the house, we wanted to open everything up, make it look lighter, brighter and more welcoming. Painting everything Dulux White on White is always a great place to start when freshening things up, along with some vertical Hardie Groove cladding to give the illusion of taller ceilings. In this reno, we added a new front door, complete with side panels to make it even wider and clear glass panes to flood the space with light.

BEFORE

3. Take a seat

Bench seats are a winner in every room of the home and I especially love mine at my front door. It’s a great place to perch while taking your shoes off to abide by my strict no shoes policy!

At House 11, we found the perfect space under the stairs to build in a bench seat and had enough room to fit another behind the door. And of course, Erin made sure there’s masses of storage in them to hide a multitude of sins, like dirty shoes and school bags.

If you don’t have a nook suitable or built in isn’t in your budget, a freestanding bench seat could also do the trick.

4. Hanging around

Decorative hooks look great and make for more awesome storage, but make sure you leave them to hang display-worthy hats and bags. Bon would like me to remind you that plastic raincoats and shopping bags aren’t the most attractive styling items, so resist the urge to clutter your hooks with them. #pleaseandthankyou

5. Get styling

Prints, pots, plants all have a place in a front entry. The trick is to remember that #lessismore and not to over crowd the space. We were lucky at House 11 to have buckets of room so we could fit not one but two faux plants in big pots. If you’re not as blessed with size, don’t cram it.