Making an Entrance: How to Style Your Entryway Like a Pro

Think about your hallway. How does it look? Although this segue to your home can make a strong first impression, many people don’t make much of an effort to style their entryway. Entryways are the small, hallway-like entrance rooms found in many homes—also sometimes called mudrooms if you’re lucky enough to have a country pile! They serve as the greeter for all your guests and a functional spot to store things like shoes, jackets and keys.

Hallways are small rooms, though, which can make them difficult to style. The goal is to find furniture and accessories that have the right shape and add function to the room. If you’re looking to give your entryway a makeover, try some of these tips.

Your Hallway Functionality

Since this is the last room you’ll see as you’re leaving and the first you’ll see when you get home, you should design it to serve your needs at those times. Hallways are a great place to add storage for things like jackets, keys, shoes, hats and more. To further enhance your hallway’s dressing room functionality, add a small bench or table where you can sit when you’re gearing up or winding down.

You can get a little bit of both with this Avoriaz 2-drawer entry cabinet from Maisons du Monde. Its slim profile and gorgeous natural look make it a perfect entryway piece.

If you need more seating, a storage bench like this one from Spice Counter is an elegant solution that provides added storage as well.

Making the most of your hallway space

Hallways are generally pretty small, so you have to be careful not to overcrowd them. Look for space-saving furniture that fits the orientation of the room and provides more than one function. For example, if you have a long, thin hallway, you should get long and thin furniture. Other solution is to get wall hanging furniture, which will allow you to save some extra space.

You can never have enough coat storage—especially when it’s mounted to the wall. These wall hooks from Habitat give you four more spots to hang your jackets or keys, plus a small shelf on top for smaller items.

As messy as they get, drawers are a useful catch-all, especially when you’ve just walked into your home. This Bella side table from Loaf saves space while giving you a drawer and a small table top to hold a decorative piece. We know it’s designed for the bedroom, but it would look great in the hall with an antique phone on, we think!

Not All Business

Although your hallway should be functional, you don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics to achieve that functionality. Make sure you add a few warm touches, such as a nice mirror and elegant lighting. Items like these not only add function to your entryway, they also make it more of a warm, welcoming entrance for you and your guests.

Now that you’ve got some neutral colours filling your hallways, it’s the perfect time to pick a rug that pops to add some colour to the room. This blue and white runner from John Lewis is a good size for hallways and adds a splash of deep blue while complementing the other neutral colours in the room.

Lighting is an important part of creating a warm, welcoming hallway that makes a statement. Top your side table off with this small tripod table lamp from Habitat. The white lamp shade and neutral wood legs make the perfect complement to the other pieces in the room.