Entrance Area Speaks Volumes about Your Style
Let’s examine the entrance area of your home and consider all the ways that it can declare your style!
To start, the main door of your home is the most important area of a home. It is the first thing that your guests will see when they arrive. If you have done your homework in this area your guest should be saying, “Oh, I wonder what is inside if it looks like this outside.”
The flowers located in the front of my house are repeated in the living room fabrics. The front porch pots can also be viewed from the front window.
To start our conversation, let’s take a look at 6 things that I have identified as being possible ways for you to add a little WINK!
- Door Color
- Hardware /Lighting
- Containers /Yard Art
- Flowers /Shrubs
- Shutters /Awnings
- Bench/ Pillow/ Mats.
Charles Faudree, a country french designer from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a favorite design principle: “too much is never enough.” This means that every surface, detail, and corner is considered. Everything plays a role in each masterfully orchestrated scheme. That is where you find me checking out every angle of a setting for my home’s entrance area. I am usually praying that there are not any neighbors watching!
#1 DOOR COLOR
When choosing a door color consider the inside colors of your home. A big no-no is to open the front door and feel like you have been hit in the face with a brick. Connecting areas will give you a sense of continuity.
Scott and 3 day old Sy King McDaniel are standing in their family room along with the dog, Lyle Lovett. Can you see how their living area related to their entrance above?
The question now is whether to paint or stain the door. Using black paint or stain would be the easy way out. But that may not be your only option. Take a look at the colors inside that could be brought outside to use as your flowers and door color. It is a process of elimination.
Europeans are fond of painted doors. Remember the cute English cottages and Monet’s love of green and blue at Giverney. Asians tend to use a lot of stain to do natural finished doors. Americans use a bit of both.
#2 HARDWARE/ LIGHT FIXTURES
Now that we have the door let’s consider the hardware. It appears that homeowners have gotten smart and have abandon the use of brass. But in the very expensive homes many times you will find lacquered brass. Really, any metal works. The style of the hardware is where you need to take notice.
The light fixture must also be considered at the time when choosing hardware. Hanging the fixture the right height is very important. With a 6.8 foot tall door the bottom of the fixture should be 5.0 feet from the porch excluding the finals or knobs. If your door is taller try to adjust to get the same effect.Taller doors like the 9.8 foot doors that Joann Sewell was dealing with at her home took a lot of figuring to get the perfect height. Joann placed the fixtures 8.0 feet from the porch floor. The gas light fixtures are her own design that she had custom-made.
Joann will need to guest post on how she went about bringing the beautiful gas light fixtures to reality. Notice that she has done a lot of things right because it was not an easy job making a large, open front inviting. This stately home sets back about 20 feet from the sidewalk in a historical district. Placing the bench to extend the welcome area was the item that made the WINK factor. Good job!
#3 CONTAINERS/ YARD STATUES
Moving on, we will talk about containers. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is not getting their pots big enough. To be able to keep your plants watered make sure that the containers are large enough so that it will hold water for a couple of days in the hot months.
You need to have a pot at least 14 inches in diameter and 25 inches tall. Also, the containers need to be in a neutral color so the flowers or shrubs will stand out. That does not mean that you can not use design or color. Just make sure it carries out the total picture.
There are a number of dog statues that can fill out space on porches. Informal (country) homes could use roosters or bunny rabbits to make a WINK! I have also seen lions used very effectively in stately homes.
FLOWERS/SHRUBS
Note that flowers also carry a feeling of formal and informal. When I visit large garden centers every spring, I use their flat cart to place different flowers on it to work out color combinations. This will give you an opportunity to add and take way before you buy. Sometimes I am surprised as to the combinations I put together. Actually, that is how I came up with using garden cabbages in my front yard.
Notice the little dog with his head in the dirt! WINK! WINK!
Don’t forget the vegetable plants. They can add a lot to the color and texture. There are summer and fall cabbage, and these are the summer ones. I will talk about that another day, though.
You could also take your paint colors and fabrics with you when you shop for plants to keep you focused on bringing the inside out. There is a big difference between throwing a red versus a pink flower into the batch. It just takes one color to kill the whole look.
Think about shrubs in pots. There are lots of different topiary styles that really make a statement. I would make sure that the containers are big enough to support the shrubs. Using flowers along with shrubs can also be very interesting in the same pot. When visiting Boxwoods in Atlanta, Georgia last week, I noticed how they had used a topiary in the center of the container with small boxwood around the topiary in a square design. It is very simple and clean-looking.
#5 SHUTTERS/ AWNINGS
Shutters make entry doors look very special. They come in a lot of designs so pay attention to the different styles out there. Try to get shutters that fit the width and height of your door. The key is to measure across the door and divide width by 2 to get your shutter width of each. You could probably get by with 1 to 2 inches wider but no more. If you could close the shutters and it covers the door or window then you would have it!
Awnings and curtains are rarely used at front doors. If you have a situation where they will work I would go for it! It could be your ticket to the WINK factor!
#6 BENCHES/ PILLOWS/ MATS
If you have a space for a bench it can add a lot of color to the entrance. Be careful when using a painted door and a colored bench. Think about using a black or stained door so you do not have too much color in a small area. Of course I am not saying you can’t use other colors, just reminding you to take extra care in a small areas. You should avoid having too many colors begging for attention.
The monogram pillow on the Monet bench is from my courtyard where I used a lot of blue and white pottery with mostly boxwood and white flowers. The white Chippendale bench is on Frieda Minor’s front porch. She has a very interesting pillow. Frieda has her house number embroidered in navy on the scotch green pillow. Do you see a WINK?
Using pillows and mats to fill up space to pull together the total picture can add a WINK! Mats are sometimes hard to keep looking fresh when used on an uncovered porch, but they do make some pretty mats that are labeled indoor and outdoor. I would try to find a mat that is fairly neutral in color. I have one that I put outside when I am having a party. It makes my door area look inviting.
These are some US mail order books that I suggest you take a look at for some ideas for your front entrance. For my friends in other countries, check out the IKEA store. The original store started in Sweden and now they have 276 stores in 25 countries.
I have identified 6 things for you to consider when thinking about making an entrance that is special. I hope this will help you to evaluate your entrance or to be able to rework your entrance with confidence. I would love to hear from you.
If you have a question, comment or a subject you would like me to discuss, go over to the contact page and leave a message. Have a terrific week fellow design enthusiast!
