Molding

The entrance to a home shouldn’t be an afterthought. Much more than just a doorway into the home, it’s a welcoming expression of the owner’s style.

Your home’s entry conveys a great deal of information about you and your tastes. Not only is it the place where your home’s exterior transitions to the interior, but it also provides the first glimpse that visitors have into your home itself, and we all know that first impressions are critical. There’s never a chance to make another first impression, so ensure that your home’s entrance depicts the statement that you want it to make.

In an entrance to a home, it’s the combination of a number of architectural details that together add up to create a total feeling. While the front door itself makes a major contribution to the overall impression, be sure to consider the appearance of the exterior wall surrounding the door itself. Interesting embellishments and design details can make a world of difference in adding up to a stylish and inviting entryway.

Once you have selected a welcoming front door design, it’s time to think about ways that you can extend the design and the inviting feeling to the rest of your entryway. Depending on the architectural style of your home, your entrance could be enhanced with the addition of door trim details such as pilasters, crossheads, or entrance pediments. These decorative architectural details serve to complement and provide additional interest to your front door, and the wide variety in styles, shapes, and sizes of these decorative pieces offer ideas for any style of home. While historic-look homes are a natural fit for these decorative details, you’ll find that other architectural styles can be complemented by the strategic addition of these stylish elements.

Don’t forget to consider the impact that color can provide when you are designing your home’s entrance. While the colors you choose for your front door and the related architectural details should coordinate with the overall exterior color scheme, don’t be afraid to experiment with bolder touches of color for the greatest impact. A vivid red door, for example, makes a strong statement and draws the eye to the entryway; in some Asian countries, painting the front door red denotes that the inhabitants welcome good luck and happiness into their home.

Your home’s entrance should have adequate lighting for nighttime; in addition to safety considerations, light can be an important decorating element with which you can experiment. You’ll need plenty of light so that your visitors can safely find their way to your door and so that you can see to unlock your door at night, but you may also want to add accent lighting to achieve a warm and welcoming feeling.