Creating an Inviting Home Entry

Now that the construction of your home is complete, it is amazing to look from the stock building plans purchased so long ago to the beautiful three dimensional building that has come to life at the hands of your general contractor. Walking in the front door of your newly built home makes you realize however, that white walls are not exactly welcoming for your guests! Let's take a look at simple methods to create an inviting home entry.

You selected a home plan with an entranceway because you wanted to be able to provide a central welcoming area within your new home. Most important is determining what will be the focal point upon entry. Home designs generally include a staircase of some sort as a central point of most entranceways. Therefore, this may be the focal point.

But, let's put our focal point on hold for a moment in order to discuss the purpose of the entranceway. You searched for home design plans that included and entranceway not only to welcome guests, but to serve as a place for your family to remove their shoes and coats upon returning home. Thus, the flooring materials need some consideration. A common suggestion made in stock home plans is to tile the entranceway with ceramic tile.

Many homeowners are straying from their home design plans in order to use the floor as part of the welcoming process within their entranceway. If the home is primarily hardwood floors, with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms it may be nice to use the combination flooring in the entranceway for your home design plans. Mixing tile and hardwood is tricky, but selecting a good professional will help in the process of design and implementation.

Once you have established the flooring, let's go back to that focal point from your home plans. The stairway is like the gateway to your life, so make it cozy. Try combining the hardwood of the main living area from your home design plans with the carpeting from the bedrooms to tie the two areas together. If you have a wall on one side, consider using this as a place to display family photographs or favorite paintings containing a few warm colors. Your home plans contained this wall for a reason, so give it a purpose and add some mementos to welcome your guests.

Next, if there is handrail, why not add some floral swags to the spindles in order to allow an open feeling while providing safety for your family? Or, if room allows a few small baskets of dried flowers on the staircase that would be a nice addition to your home plan.

Consider painting your entranceway a welcoming shade of light brown. Your home plan may or may not suggest color for the entranceway. You should try to use a color that is also used elsewhere in the home in order to create familiarity from the flow of the rooms in your home design.

Taking the time, and determining the right combination of colors and materials will enable to you make your home design entranceway very welcoming for your family members as well as their guests.

This home building article by:
Michelle McClory with AmazingPlans.com