Entryways have a lot riding on them. They give guests first sight of your home, and they’re what you’re greeted with each time you return. But when it comes to the best trends, it can be a minefield of ideas and designs. We talked to trend experts to find out which entryway ideas will be big in 2024.
It’s easy to overlook designing an entryway properly, but a space like this provides more than just a transition to larger living areas. It sets the tone for the rest of your home.
Here, we showcase the most exciting trends to make first impressions count and make your entryway more inviting.
7 entryway trends for 2024
To help guide you in the right style direction and offer the very latest insight from the experts, we have curated a collection of the top interior design trends you need to know to make your entryway more inviting.
1. A place to show-off antiques, art and statement furnishings
Minimal and unassuming entryways have had their day. The entryway is now being considered as a room of its own – and should be treated as such with a bold design that will wow.
When there is room to store the usual entryway detritus somewhere out of sight of the entrance, take the opportunity to place a favorite piece of entryway furniture, art, or sculpture as a way of setting the stage for the rest of the decorative scheme in a house.
‘A strong, one-off unique piece of art is a great way to draw focus into a space that would otherwise be awkward or too small,’ says Jessica Bennett of Alice Lane Interior Design who designed this entrance to be grand and magnificent in every way.
2. Investing in made-to-measure storage
At the entrance to your home, storage should restore calm, provide display space and be suitably chic and functional, which is why entryway storage is going full bespoke for 2023. It’s a lot for one small space to capture so thoughtful storage is vital.
When commissioning a piece of bespoke joinery, consideration is needed to ensure that the cabinetry style complements the room’s aesthetics as well as being of the correct scale and proportion, says Jessica Bennett of Alice Lane Interior Design who designed this home in Utah.
‘Built-in cabinetry is not only an investment and will hopefully add value to your property but is also personal to you as you will be living with it every day. Although more expensive than shelving, drawers, visible or behind doors, are a much more efficient way of storing and accessing items.'
Space planning with a budget to spend on bespoke joinery is the ideal solution to the small room conundrum. Ceiling-high shelving or cabinets that run up and over a door provide useful extra space.
3. Using rich, bold color schemes
Arriving or leaving, the entryway's design sets a mood, and there is no better way to do so than with room color.
‘Entrance halls should make a statement about the house and owners as well as being a welcoming space. Small spaces can be treated in a grand way – “be bold” is the advice I usually give my clients,' says Jamie Ivey of the Ivey Design Group.
'Use strong color to make a statement and give personality. Light colors will not make a dark space light, but good colors will make it interesting. So go with the vibrant mid-to-dark colors that can be lifted and lightened with good entryway lighting instead.'
Joa Studholme, color curator, Farrow & Ball champions the use of dark colors in a small room: ‘When dealing with a small or dark hall it’s best to embrace what you have rather than fight it. Paint it a strong color that will thrill you and your guests when you arrive at the house and make the rooms off it feel bigger and lighter.’
4. Go big with statement lighting
The entryway is usually one of the tiniest spaces in our homes, but the latest entryway trends suggest that we shouldn't be decorating in a small way, especially when it comes to the light fixtures we use.
There are various entryway lighting tricks available these days to make an entrance appear more exciting – and feel grander at the same time, says Sally Storey, creative director of John Cullen Lighting.
‘2023 is all about upping the drama, not symmetry, by investing in lighting that wows in an entryway,’ she explains. ‘Add impact by hanging an oversized pendant and dimming it for mood, but use this in conjunction with downlights that can spotlight a picture on the wall or highlight flowers on a console table.’
Here, an oversized vintage crystal chandelier from the original Fairmont Hotel is the first element that guest notice when they visit this hillside home in Seattle. 'This was the only light fixture that wasn’t replaced when we remodeled this home,' says interior designers Tim Pfeiffer and Peak Petersen of Hoedemaker Pfeiffer.
5. Adding texture, depth and interest to walls with panels
In days gone by, wall paneling's purpose was insulation – today it has evolved into a sophisticated and modern decorative flourish.
An entryway is a perfect place for paneling as it adds character to an otherwise blank space (which might require lots of artwork to liven up). There are plenty of options to choose from, be it a simple dado rail, or butt-and-bead joints which are typically found in period properties.
In this light-filled London house, the team at Studio Ashby added a sense of place with Jacobean-style paneling in a warm pale green and carried it up the full height of the walls, framing the doorway too. It adds immediate interest that is unrivaled. While this is a traditional English style, it also works beautifully in American homes.
6. Introducing softness, color and pattern underfoot
Tiled floors in entrance halls are an extremely practical solution for the part of the house that everyone will walk through, but they can be harsh and rather cold. Warm things up by taking a different route, suggests Irene Gunter, director of Gunter & Co Interiors. Another option is to lay down a rug. Rugs are back in a big way for entryways, so make them the star of the show in your home.
People’s preference for hard floors has really grown in the last 30 years. But we still want our spaces to feel welcoming and comforting – especially in the colder months. Rugs, therefore, are completely critical to the coziness and warmth of a room. Because they need to be as large as they can be, they are often the most expensive thing to go into that room. You have to allocate a good bit of budget for them.
'You can either go for something decorative like a kilim rug or a natural rug in jute or sisal,' says interior designer Whittney Parkinson who designed this space. 'We often use a big jute rug in a smart room to tone down the formality.'
'Stair runners are an excellent place to be as brave and bold as possible. Often people just run the carpet up the stairs, but this feels like a wasted opportunity. You don’t hang around on stairs for very long, so you can afford to be more decorative than you would in other rooms.'
7. Designing with glass
Letting light into dark spaces is one of the main attractions of designing with glass, but it can also introduce beauty and elegance, making it a pivotal entryway trend for this season.
Small entryways are notoriously lacking in natural light but one way to overcome this is to add a porthole mirror at the far end. Not only will it introduce an interesting design feature but it will also help to bounce light around the entrance.
‘By doing this, we brought light into an otherwise dark and gloomy space but I also love the way it reflects the stained glass in the front door when the light is falling in a certain way,’ adds decorator Sarah Brown who designed this house. She has embraced glass extensively in this space with two full-height glass doors replacing traditional solid ones leading off the two main living rooms.
One trend which is currently being adopted in entryways is color drenching.
‘This contemporary, cohesive approach delivers high impact by painting woodwork, radiators, the ceiling and doors the same color as the walls,’ says Ruth Mottershead, creative director, Little Greene.
‘This will create a complete scheme, treating each element similarly, and will deliver a design statement when entering or viewing the entrance from other rooms within your home.’
