Entryway Design Ideas for Every Kind of Front Door

Entryway Design Ideas for Every Kind of Front Door

The best entryway design ideas start with what you drop the second you walk in: keys, bags, shoes, the mail. Here is how I would set up a bench or console, a mirror and hooks, and a few baskets and trays, for a real foyer or a door that opens straight into the living room.

You walk in with a tote on one shoulder, a coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. The keys go on the kitchen counter. The bag goes on a dining chair. Your shoes land wherever they come off. By Thursday, the first six feet of your home look like a lost and found.

Good entryway design ideas are really about giving those things a place before they end up everywhere else. It does not matter if you have a proper foyer, a narrow hallway or a front door that opens directly into the living room. Every entry needs the same four things: somewhere to sit or set things down, somewhere to hang things, something to catch the small stuff and a rug that can take a beating.

Start by measuring the space you actually have. In a narrow hallway, a console only ten to fourteen inches deep will still hold a lamp and a bowl without bumping your hip. In a door that opens into a room, a bench against the nearest wall does the job of a whole foyer.

The first grid is benches and consoles. Winston Porter's Carlia and Birch Lane's Adayla are storage benches with room for shoes underneath. Jenni Kayne's Montecito bench is simple and beautifully made, and Urban Outfitters' Forrest bench adds a bit of cane. For consoles, McGee & Co.'s Hampstead and Lulu and Georgia's Maca by Élan Byrd are clean and substantial, Anthropologie's Hale wraps its frame in canvas, and Nathan James's seagrass consoles come as a set of three that tuck together.

Collage on an off-white background showing Carlia Solid Wood Storage Bench, Rattan Woven Wall Hook Rack, Road Runner Handwoven Indoor/Outdoor Rug in Blue, Maca Console by Élan Byrd, La Vie Mirror, Beaded Round Tray, Hampstead Console Table, Bodhi Burl Mantel Mirror and Spoke Tray by Sarah Sherman Samuel.
Benches, mirrors and the tray that ends the key hunt.

Benches and console tables

A mirror and a few good hooks

Every entry needs a mirror, and not only for a last look at your hair. A mirror by the door bounces light into what is often the darkest part of the house, and it makes a narrow hall feel wider.

Anthropologie's Sutton mirror has a rattan wicker frame, warm and a little bohemian. Lulu and Georgia's La Vie is a softer shape that suits a small wall. McGee & Co.'s Bodhi burl mantel mirror is wide and low, good over a console where you want the mirror to feel like part of the furniture.

Then hooks. Hooks are better than a closet for the things you use every day, because nobody hangs their coat on a hanger when they are late. McGee & Co.'s Kent brass hook and Jenni Kayne's oak hook are the prettiest single hooks here, and they look best in a row of three or four. Franklin Brass's cylindrical hooks in satin gold are simple and sturdy. Anthropologie's rattan woven hook rack puts several hooks on one piece, and Lulu and Georgia's For-Everything coat rack by SIN is a horizontal bar with room for bags, hats and a scarf.

Hang hooks at two heights if you live with kids. Adults need them around shoulder height, and children will actually use theirs if they can reach them.

Hang the mirror so its center sits roughly at eye level, and leave space between it and the hooks. Coats hanging over a mirror hide the whole point of it.

Mirrors and wall hooks

Runners, baskets and trays

The small things are where an entry either works or falls apart. Keys, sunglasses, headphones, the dog leash and the mail all need a spot, or they drift onto every flat surface in the house.

A tray on the console is the simplest fix. Lulu and Georgia's Spoke tray and matching Spoke catchall by Sarah Sherman Samuel have a lovely spoked pattern and hold keys and sunglasses. Anthropologie's handwoven rattan round tray is warm and casual, and McGee & Co.'s beaded round tray is a little more polished. One tray, one bowl, done.

Baskets take care of the bigger stuff. Urban Outfitters' Java rattan basket from Zsa Zsa Zsu fits under a bench for shoes or dog toys. Jenni Kayne's Coast waste basket is exactly what the mail pile needs, a place for the junk to go before it ever gets inside. Anthropologie's rattan tapered basket planter can hold a plant by the door or a few umbrellas.

Last, the rug. Annie Selke's Road Runner is handwoven indoor/outdoor, which means you can hose it off, and it comes in a cheerful blue. An entry rug should be tough before it is pretty. It is the first thing wet boots touch.

What I would skip: a lovely delicate rug by the front door. It will look tired within a month. I would also skip a console so full of decor that there is no room left for the keys.

Runners, baskets and trays

Our honest take

I think the entry is the most underrated space in a home. It is the first thing you see when you come back and the last thing you see when you leave, and a little order there makes the whole place feel calmer.

If you take one thing away, let it be this: give every everyday thing a place within arm's reach of the door. A bench or console, a mirror, a row of hooks, one tray and one basket. Put them where you actually drop things, not where you wish you did, and the rest of the house will stay tidier too.