Functionality is important in a foyer or entrance hall: you need a place to put your packages and keys, take off your shoes and hang your jacket.
But there is something else that is just as important. Whether or not you have a proper foyer, the entrance to your home is the first room you (and your guests) encounter after stepping through the front door. Why not add some style and spark a little joy?
The foyer “sets the stage for what’s to come in the rest of the home,” said Jennifer Bunsa, founder of Bunsa Studio, a Miami-based interior design firm. Because entryways are often small, they’re usually not very impressive architecturally, she added, “so we want to introduce some other elements that draw the eye and create impact.”
We asked her and other interior designers for advice on how to do it.
Treat the walls
In any small space—a powder room, a foyer—the addition of wallpaper, an appealing color, or paneling can give the room a special feel. “Sometimes people are a bit afraid to use wallpaper in a room that might not be huge because they feel like it’s too busy for the eye,” said Nicole Salvesen, a founder of Salvesen Graham, a London based interior design firm. “But it can actually help calm the room.”
In an Arts and Crafts style home in Boulder, Colorado, Salvesen Graham added jasper wallpaper with a repeating blue and green floral pattern and painted the crown molding around it sage green. That helped create a cohesive look “that’s actually gentle on the eyes,” Ms. Salvesen said. In the narrow entrance hall of a London home, the designers took a different approach to a similar effect, using fluted plasterboard along the walls to add visual interest without making the space feel suffocating.
When designing the foyer of her mid-century modern home in Roslyn Harbor, New York, New York-based designer Cara Woodhouse clad the walls in custom-made wallpaper from Surfaces by David Bonk. The pattern consists of pieces of silver leaf huddled near the ceiling but spread further down the walls so it appears as if they are falling to the floor. “It’s almost like snowflakes,” Ms. Woodhouse said, creating an effect that’s striking but “very light, light and airy.”
Address the floor
As you put your shoes on and off, naturally focus on the floor of your entryway. This creates another opportunity to do something interesting.
Ms. Bunsa is a fan of encaustic cement tiles with colorful graphic patterns in foyers. In a home in Jamesport, NY, she installed hexagonal tiles with mustard, light blue, and dark blue detailing by Popham Design in a random pattern for a bold, geometric look. In her own home in Miami, she used rectangular tiles with free-form, black-and-white shapes, also from Popham Design, and set them across the floor and up one wall.
“I wanted to play with the idea of the classic black and white checkerboard tile floor,” she said. “But the Popham tile changes it and makes it look more modern.”
For a client’s home in Roslyn, NY, Ms. Woodhouse laid a traditional stone floor by laying Artistic Tile’s triangular marble tiles in a variety of colors including white, black, red, pink, blue and green. “Because it was a small space, we were looking for that eye candy moment that would pop,” Ms. Woodhouse said. “It’s where you least expect it that really makes a statement.”
Look at the ceiling
If a statement floor isn’t for you, or you already have a workable plain floor, you can change up the look of the ceiling with paint or wallpaper.
When Marea Clark, an interior designer from Northern California, renovated the foyer of a 1906 home with a dark hardwood floor and pretty white wall paneling, she decided to liven things up by adding striped Schumacher wallpaper to the ceiling.
“We wanted it to feel very elegant but add a playful quality,” said Ms. Clark. Now she said, “The room almost feels like a tent.”
Add statement lighting
A foyer is a great place to install a sculptural pendant light, chandelier, or sconces, as large lights can make small spaces feel a little grander. In a country house in Surrey, England, designers at Salvesen Graham installed a pair of metal and glass Jamb globe pendant lights in a narrow entryway. “By choosing a big, round light fixture, the room can feel a bit wider and more spacious,” said Ms. Salvesen.
In the foyer of a home outside of San Francisco, Ms. Clark chose a traditional two-foot tall lantern from Coleen and Company as the focal point of the space. The powder-coated pink metal frame adds a touch of whimsy. “It’s just this unexpected pop of color,” Ms Clark said.
Ghislaine Viñas, a New York-based interior designer, sometimes looks for fixtures that offer multiple points of light. In a home in Los Angeles, she installed a multi-armed, flush-mounted luminaire that extends with eight diffusers. For a home in Palm Beach, Florida, she chose a PET fixture with six shades made from recycled soda bottles that sprout from a single ceiling canopy on multicolored strings.
“We wanted to contrast the formality of the architecture with a really good informality,” said Ms. Viñas.
Mix unexpected furniture and art
When guests arrive at a 19th-century Gothic Revival home in upstate New York where Ms. Viñas designed the interiors, the center table in Moooi’s foyer stops them: it’s shaped like a pig with a tray on it. “It’s unusual that the first object you see inside is a little tongue in cheek,” Ms. Viñas said. “Doing things that aren’t just the obvious choices speaks to the personality of the people who live there.”
Of course, these choices don’t have to be so playful, but choosing standout furniture and accessories that encourage closer inspection can help make the foyer a destination. For example, when designing her Miami home, Ms. Bunsa installed a geometric planter by Bzippy in Yves Klein blue containing a large cactus and a bench with an intricately woven seat by Peg Woodworking to create several moments of interest.
In more traditional homes, Salvesen Graham aims to combine intriguing antiques, colorfully patterned fabrics and contemporary art to create interiors that feel alive. For example, in the foyer the Surrey office designed, they installed antique blue and white ceramics, yellow checkered fabric lampshades and cushions, and three-dimensional contemporary cut paper art by Jack Milroy mounted in an acrylic box.
“We use antiques and vintage pieces in all of our interiors to make the home feel more authentic and grounded,” Ms. Salvesen said. “We use a real mix because that’s really how people live.”
Don’t be afraid of full size furniture
Ms. Salvesen also recommended installing full-size furniture, even in medium-sized foyers where you might assume you need smaller pieces. While really tiny entryways call for space-saving furniture, large pieces of furniture can keep it from feeling like a long, narrow space when you have just a little extra breathing room and make it look like an actual room.
For example, if you have the space, install a bench with a generously padded seat, rather than one so flimsy it feels like you’re riding a two-by-four. If you have a free corner, bring in an armchair. Similarly, instead of feeling like you have to find a flat console or wall shelf, choose an impressive sideboard or center table.
Blessed with a large entryway, Mrs. Woodhouse took this approach to heart and installed a velvet-covered ottoman that offers seating on all sides. “People don’t usually hang out in entryways,” said Ms. Woodhouse. “But I have to tell you, people are actually hanging out in my entryway.”
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