WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN RENOVATING YOUR ENTRANCE-WAY
The front entrance of your house is an area that you wind up getting pretty familiar with. It’s what you see every time you step through your front door. For some people, this is a little patch of tile with enough room for the door to swing. For others’ it’s an entire little room designed for the needs of someone entering or leaving the house.
No matter what it looks like now, you also have the power to change it. Renovating your entrance is one of the most noticeable changes you can make to a home. Everyone will immediately be struck by the changes the next time they visit your home, and quite frankly, your entrance can set the mood for the way the rest of your home is perceived.
Today, we’re here to talk about some of the most important things to consider when renovating your front entrance. To achieve a combination of beauty and function, you’ll want to think not only about how your new entrance looks, but also how you will interact with it. From the porch to your front door all the way into your living areas deeper within the house.
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Flow from the Front Porch
The first thing to consider is how your new entrance design will flow from the front porch into your home. When you open your front door, you want to create exactly the right impression. Remember that the door will open inward, revealing whatever you place directly inside. If you plan to do a great deal of relaxing on your front porch, this could be an easy transition from outdoors to indoors, with a little table on either side for refreshments and convenience.
If you like more formal decoration, it can be fun to create a moment of surprise, where the elegance or trendy style of your entrance shocks guests out of the pleasantness of your front garden. Consider this experience when designing your new entrance.
Colour Transition
Another consideration is the transition of colour. How do you want the colour of your garden and the outside of your house to transition into the colour of your new entrance? Some people prefer a soft colour palette shift, like from green to teal. While others like a strong contrast, with a bold red or even a bright wallpaper in the entrance to make a distinctly different space.
This is also the space people will be leaving when they depart from your house. So, the colour transition can also be considered as a change from your lovely entrance to the design of your front garden outside.
An important part of this transition is the colour of your front door. The exterior of your door will influence the colour transition of people coming in. While the interior colour will influence the colour change for people going out.
A Handy Place for Coats and Umbrellas
Next, let’s talk about practical considerations. No matter how cosy your entrance design may be, there should always be a place for coats, muddy boots, and umbrellas. Storms and bad weather happen from time to time, and it’s important for family and guests to be able to shed damp gear before putting your carpets and furniture at risk.
If your entrance includes a handy coat closet, then you’re in luck. It will be easy to provide a handy space for coats and umbrellas. But if your space doesn’t have a closet, have no fear. An artistic row of hooks and a small shelf underneath is a great substitute and takes up very little space. Even in a small entrance.
Airlock Efficiency
Some entrances are designed in an incredibly efficient way that locks in warm or cool air in the house and doesn’t let opening the front door change the indoor temperature too much. This is because these entrances are designed like an airlock, with the front door on one end and an interior door or heavy curtain on the other. Simply separating your entrance with a room separator can significantly change the energy efficiency of opening your front door. If you are renovating your entrance, you can make this happen for your home. If you already had an airlock-style entrance, make sure to maintain that value by securing both ends of your entryway to reduce airflow between the doors. If you don’t, you can design a separation wall so that your entrance keeps the heat or cold out of your home as people come and go.
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
One interesting thing about the psychology of visiting is that when you enter someone’s house, the design of the entrance influences everything else you see. If there is beautiful art featured in the entryway, guests will think of you as an art-lover right off the bat, and they will notice your art more prominently throughout the rest of the house.
Or if they see that you have cool posters and a unique paint style for your DIY entrance, they will notice other hand-painted details and trendy décor as they explore the rest of your home. How you design your entrance is highly influential, so naturally, you want to put your best foot forward in the design. Show off the best part of your style first, as guests enter the house.
The Front Door
Don’t forget the importance of your front door as part of your new entrance renovation. Especially if you’re thinking about changing your doorframe from a single to a double, or even flanked by decorative glass panels. This is the perfect time to get a new style of front door if you’re reinventing the entrance of your house.
Or, if you’re just doing a little repainting and furniture moving, don’t forget to repaint your front door to match the new style. Changing the colour of your entrance interior should be matched by the colour of your door, though you don’t have to paint them the exact same colour. Let your door become a charming or trendy accent to your already unique design.
Flow into the Next Room
Finally, consider the flow into the next room. If your rooms are all very distinctly decorated, create a fun transition experience between your entrance and the living room or kitchen it leads into. Or, if your home is more unified in design, consider creating a smooth transition of subtle colour changes or even a décor piece that flows from one room to the next.
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If you are considering renovating your entrance, we can help. The perfect front door for the new front of your home is waiting to be discovered. Whether you are changing everything or just a few key pieces, we know entrances inside and out. Let our team here at Parkwood guide you to the front door you’ve been dreaming of.
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