Most of us have grown up in homes with a formal front entrance. But most of us would also have come in and out the back door or side door, and never used the front door!

So who used the front door then? Hawkers? Disgruntled neighbours? Snobbish guests? And that's about it. Everyone else used the 'real' door.

But the front door / back door usage also changes significantly depending on whether the home is in the city or on acreage. With some farm homes I've been to, the path to the front door was that overgrown I couldn't have reached it if I had wanted to. And if I had fought my way to it, they probably wouldn't have been able to open it because they'd lost the key years ago!

Designers hit this question of whether a front door is needed from time to time, and it's a tricky one because a house without a formal front door smack in the middle of the front of the home can look like a face without a mouth sometimes.

Ok, so with houses on small blocks in the city, a front door is a given, but what about on larger rural blocks where the home runs east west? Do you need to waste precious space with a formal entry / passage? Do you need to spend money catering for the annual hawker visit or Christmas dinner guests?

Can a designer create a home that not only plays the part of no front entry but also looks the part? How well can the landscaping be designed to guide visitors to the 'real' door? Can a home have the right balance and make a statement without succumbing to the custom of a front door?