Front Entryway Decorating IdeasÂ
If you are looking for inspiration to update a small entryway, you will love this post with How To Decorate A Small Entryway with Bench and Hooks! See our Entryway Update – Small Front Entryway Decorating Ideas on a budget and check out the before and after pictures. All sources are listed below!
If you are in a hurry:
When we purchased our home, it was a blank slate. Every single wall was stark white. The entryway and family room had a chair rail, so I tried to work around that since it is an older home and I knew pulling the chair rail off the wall would require some patching (and I’m lazy, lol).
I already had some entryway ideas and knew how I wanted to update the space using paint and peel and stick wallpaper. Our first home had a very similar entryway (check out our first home here) and was basically the same entryway if you moved the front door over 1 foot!
–>>For more ways to transform ANY room with peel and stick wallpaper, check out this post!
I wanted our entryway decor to have the same farmhouse style as the rest of the house, using the bench with storage and hooks with a shelf (very similar to our first house).
I was able to update the space quickly and with little money by applying peel and stick wallpaper and paint. You’d be surprised how easy wallpaper is to apply. I used this wallpaper, which is meant to be applied with the wood vertical, however, I carefully applied it horizontally (like shiplap) instead. It turned out great! Everyone that comes to our home has to touch the wall because it looks like real wood!
The small, white entryway bench pictured was used in the foyer for our last house. The perfect size and depth storage benches for small entryways are hard to find (this one is old from Home Goods).
The entryway storage bench in our first home was really good and had baskets for shoes! We don’t really need a storage bench by the front door though since we primarily use the mudroom/garage entrance. However, we are currently building a bench with storage in our mudroom!
The biggest purchase for this update was an interior full-light grid door for the mudroom/laundry room.
Actually, we purchased the door as soon as we bought the house and the door was sitting in our garage for 6 months before we installed it and updated the entryway, haha.
I really wanted to paint the laundry room door and the inside of the front door black and I found that Benjamin Moore’s Gray is almost black but up close it’s a dark charcoal color.
It turned out great! I used a matte finish paint (the can says exterior bc I plan to use this paint on our exterior doors too!).
After applying the peel and stick wallpaper, the wall above the chair rail was still stark white and looked too white with the wallpaper so I painted it Benjamin Moore’s Balboa Mist.
These paint colors worked well in our entryway because there is little light and it’s a very small space. If you have an entryway similar to ours, these paint colors and wallpaper should brighten the space!
We ended up removing the chair rail inside the nook at the front door but I didn’t patch the wall because I put wallpaper right over it! I applied the wallpaper a little above eye-level and we installed a shelf above the wallpaper.
The shelf is a 6″ x 1″ x 5″ piece of scrap wood (we cut to size so the door can open without hitting the shelf)Â with these wooden corbels.
I painted the wooden corbels and the shelf with Chalked Paint in Linen.
We have an entryway mirror on the wall in the hallway, just before the mudroom and front door. It’s perfect for checking your face before walking out the door 🙂
I also added a privacy film to the glass on our front door. I can’t believe we lived here for 6 months with no privacy on our front door, haha! This film was really easy to apply, even though I had to cut the diamond shapes perfectly, it only took a couple hours and we finally had privacy!
I think painting the entryway door and mudroom door dark gray was a good choice and makes it feel more elegant in our home. The peel and stick wallpaper was the inspiration for this entryway and it turned out so much better than I expected!
–>>Check out this post with 8 Peel and Stick Wallpaper designs to transform any room in your home!
Our Entryway Update Sources:
- Peel and Stick Wallpaper (Faux Wood)
- Trim Paint: Off-the-shelf bright white
- Paint Color Above the Chair Rail: BM Balboa Mist
- Door Paint Color: BM Gray
- Shelf Paint Color: Chalked Paint in Linen
- Front Door Privacy Film
- White Bench (old from Home Goods)Â Similar
- Wood Corbels (can be painted or stained)
- Wall Hooks (I used 2 of these)
- Birdhouses (Target One Spot) Similar
- Garland Similar
- LOVE pillow (Cricut Made – tutorial coming soon!)
- Rug (Home Goods) Similar
- Window Pane Mirror (old Home Goods) Similar
- Farmhouse Sign (Handmade by me – see this post for how to make one!)
- Straw Tote (old from World Market) Similar
How to pick the right paint colors
Have you ever had trouble picking the right paint colors for your home? Choosing the right paint colors for your home can be overwhelming. There are so many different “whites” and “grays” these days, how can anyone know they are making the right paint color choice?
That’s why I put together the best tips on How to Choose Interior Paint Colors in this post.
Every home is different… the entryway in our first home was much different than the entryway in our second home, and both of those were very different from the entryway in our third home! So I chose a different paint color for each entryway in all three of our homes. Not to mention, from the time that we bought our first home, to the time that we bought our third home, home paint color trends changed drastically. The colors that I used back then were no longer a trendy color and well, I just didn’t like the brown-ish tan that was in our first home, haha.
So if you need help choosing paint colors for the rest of your home, head on over to this post to see my paint-picking tips and what has worked for me in all three of our homes 🙂 My post with how to choose paint colors for your home is one of my most popular posts and readers have benefited from reading it before heading to the store to buy paint that ends up not working out.
I also have some ideas for choosing paint color combinations for bedrooms (with themes!)
Paint versus Peel & Stick Wallpaper
Peel and stick wallpaper has become very popular recently since not everyone has access to tools to build their own Shiplap walls (thanks Chip and Joanna) or wants to tile an entire wall with subway tile. I love tiling but if I could slap up some wallpaper and call it a day, that would make me, the hubby, and my wallet happy!
You can find peel and stick wallpaper online at Target, Amazon, Home Depot, and more! I’ve linked my favorite peel and stick wallpaper and the ones I’ve used personally below.
Cheap Home Hacks that’ll Increase Value
Renovating a home can come with a high price tag if you’re not budgeting and deciding which updates bring the best return on investment. After selling our updated first home in just 4 years, we bought an even bigger house that needed a lot of updating. We sold our second home after 4 years while doing the much-needed work to produce a profit by following the same strategies we did in our first home.
If you enjoy updating your home, want to increase your home value or just want your home to look better, you should check out thee 10 Cheap Home Hacks That’ll Make Your House Look So Much Better.
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Conclusion to Update a Small Entryway with Decorating Ideas
I hope you enjoyed this entryway idea! Adding a new entryway rug will quickly update your front door and if you find a small entryway bench, hold onto it! Our small bench can be used as extra seating for dinner guests, at the foot of the bed, and more! This home entryway idea update is low-cost and a fun way to decorate if you have a small entrance.
Don’t forget to grab the wallpaper!
Do you have a similar entryway and are updating it using these sources? I’d love to see your before and after photos! Please share with me on social media (my links are at the top of the page!) 😉
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[…] –>>See more of our Entryway before and after pictures HERE. […]