Heart and Soul

The entry hall in your home is often a neglected area, which is a shame because I believe the entry hall is the window to the soul of your home.  By that I mean, a person's first impression of your home (and your personal style) is determined when they first enter.

You ring the door bell, you are welcomed in, you are relieved of your coat and your hat is hung and before you know it you are shuffled off into the living room quickly and perfunctorily.

I really enjoyed turning our entry hall into a welcoming alcove for guests but especially for ourselves.  I filled the walls with a puzzle-like arrangement of family photographs.  I remember buying the antique kauri hall table before I even had a place to put it.  I just knew one day I would have the perfect entrance for it.  

Since then I think I have developed a bit of a preoccupation for entry hall furniture and decoration.  It is obviously an interest for many others as it was not difficult to find some fabulous images to share with you.

You know what I mean when you enter a person's home for the first time and you are left breathless because of the warmth and inviting nature of the entry hall.  It's like the design equivalent of a hand-shake.

Decorating your entry hall I think is an untapped design experience.  Why?  Because you can use the entry hall as a place to store items that you don't know where else to put.  For example, I have now in my new home a floor lamp that would normally be in situ in the living room, however our new living room does not have a place for it and so I decided to put it in the entry hall to offer nice warmth when you enter in the evening.  It also offers low light for the children to run to the toilet in the middle of the night without having to turn a bright light on.

Coats and boots and wet weather gear can be stored there along the wall on hooks, so good if you lack a closet for storing such items, which is often the case.  A plant looks nice and those knick-knacks that you can't find a place for but look good all placed together in a bowl you collected from some foreign land.

I am constantly tweaking my entry hall, I don't think I'll ever let it just be, it's too much fun!