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Heaven-Sent Entries: 12 Ideas to Make Your Home More Welcoming
With home entrances as functional as they are fabulous, you'll be feeling the love every time you come home
Home entrances serve two purposes: they’re a spot to drop keys, phones, jackets and shoes, but they’re also a place that says “I’m home” by reflecting your style and personality just the way you want it to. Whether your welcome-home entry is outside your front door, or just inside, these ideas will inspire you to do more to make yours special.
2. Create somewhere to sit
Your home should be your sanctuary, so take a moment when you get home to sit, breathe and leave the stresses of the day behind you. Taking off your shoes while you do it is optional.
Your home should be your sanctuary, so take a moment when you get home to sit, breathe and leave the stresses of the day behind you. Taking off your shoes while you do it is optional.
3. Contain the dirt
If you have a shoe-free home, the danger is that every time people take off their shoes by the front door, the sand and dirt from the outdoors ends up creating a mess just where you don’t want it. Kids who have spent the day playing in a sandpit are notorious for upending their gumboots on the floor when they get home. A shoe tray keeps shoe collections – and the floor – neat and tidy.
If you have a shoe-free home, the danger is that every time people take off their shoes by the front door, the sand and dirt from the outdoors ends up creating a mess just where you don’t want it. Kids who have spent the day playing in a sandpit are notorious for upending their gumboots on the floor when they get home. A shoe tray keeps shoe collections – and the floor – neat and tidy.
4. Paint the front door
Giving your entrance a fresh, welcoming look is easy with a lick of paint. What colour makes you smile? Sunny yellow? Fire-engine red? For me, it’s lime green.
Take a look at this nifty guide on how to paint your front door
Giving your entrance a fresh, welcoming look is easy with a lick of paint. What colour makes you smile? Sunny yellow? Fire-engine red? For me, it’s lime green.
Take a look at this nifty guide on how to paint your front door
5. Make room for everyone
If your entrance is a dumping ground for school bags, sports equipment, shoes and jackets, a station like this could be the answer. Clutter-free zones are feel-good zones.
If your entrance is a dumping ground for school bags, sports equipment, shoes and jackets, a station like this could be the answer. Clutter-free zones are feel-good zones.
6. Find a piece you love
Keep an eye out for a bench seat, mirror or painting you can use in your entrance. Only things you absolutely love should make the cut – nothing else will do for this important part of the house.
Keep an eye out for a bench seat, mirror or painting you can use in your entrance. Only things you absolutely love should make the cut – nothing else will do for this important part of the house.
7. Have fun with it
Adding humour can give your mood a little lift every time you come home. Just the thought of how guests will react to a sign like this is enough to give you a giggle. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.
Adding humour can give your mood a little lift every time you come home. Just the thought of how guests will react to a sign like this is enough to give you a giggle. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.
8. Bring your entry to life
Healthy, flourishing plants that greet you provide a sense of tranquility, and can add a resort vibe, as you enter the front door.
Healthy, flourishing plants that greet you provide a sense of tranquility, and can add a resort vibe, as you enter the front door.
9. Fill a wall with memories
Whether they’re pictures of your loved ones smiling and having fun or snaps of your last great travel adventure, covering a wall in your entrance with framed shots is sure to make you feel warm and fuzzy every time you pass it.
More: A Dozen Novel Ways To Display Your Favourite Photos
Whether they’re pictures of your loved ones smiling and having fun or snaps of your last great travel adventure, covering a wall in your entrance with framed shots is sure to make you feel warm and fuzzy every time you pass it.
More: A Dozen Novel Ways To Display Your Favourite Photos
10. Find art that takes you to a happy place
If art is likely to give you more pleasure than photos, adorn your entrance area with a changing display of your current favourites. Keep an eye out for pictures you love and bring them – and the feeling you had when you bought them – home with you.
If art is likely to give you more pleasure than photos, adorn your entrance area with a changing display of your current favourites. Keep an eye out for pictures you love and bring them – and the feeling you had when you bought them – home with you.
11. Add a box to hold your keys
When more than one person lives in a home, the tech-gadgets and keys can soon add up to a whole lot of awful by the front door or on the kitchen bench. A simple hinged box or basket could be just the thing to keep them out of sight, but still just as easy to find on your way out.
When more than one person lives in a home, the tech-gadgets and keys can soon add up to a whole lot of awful by the front door or on the kitchen bench. A simple hinged box or basket could be just the thing to keep them out of sight, but still just as easy to find on your way out.
12. Get a new best friend
Who better to make you feel welcome than a loyal canine companion? All that unbridled joy can turn a bad day around in an instant.
MORE
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Who better to make you feel welcome than a loyal canine companion? All that unbridled joy can turn a bad day around in an instant.
MORE
19 Low-Cost, High-Impact Ideas for an Enviable Entry
Crossing the Threshold: 7 Surprising and Stunning Home Entries
Transform Your Home’s Entrance From Daggy to Dazzling in Just One Week
Set the tone for how you want to feel when you walk in your front door with a positive note to self. A framed chalkboard is just the place to scrawl your greeting or affirmation.