10 Designs That Teach You To Make Your Foyer Useful

by Ekta Poddar | January 21, 2024 | 7 mins read

How to design a foyer for your home entrance

Turn your foyer into a multi-purpose practical and welcoming space. Choose from this list and boost your buyer appeal. 

What’s the first thing you notice when you enter someone’s home? If you answered with ‘foyer design’ give yourself a pat on the back. The foyer may be a small area of your house, but it sure packs quite a punch in terms of its design potential and ways it can be useful. It serves as an area that welcomes guests (and you) when they enter the house. It is where people can catch their breath. It can provide handy storage for your bags and keys when you come back from a long day at work. It can also be where you store items like shoes, sports paraphernalia, umbrellas and the like. Our foyer design ideas will help you achieve all these objectives and more.

Position A Foyer Table for Convenience

One of the easiest ways to make your foyer useful is to place a foyer table at the entrance. This allows you access to a temporary storage surface as soon as you enter the house. Use the table to put down your keys, any packages you are carrying, or your purse/bags. For narrow entrances, choose a slim table that doesn’t eat up too much floor space. You can also add touches such as an elegant tray or basket to hold your personal items.

Foyer design ideas and easy ways to make your foyer useful for entrance wall design
A conveniently located foyer table that doubles up to display stylish accessories
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Put In Permanent Storage To Make Most Of This Space

Space permitting, add permanent storage in your foyer in the form of foyer furniture or closets. Put in shelves that can store shoes, sports equipment and odds and ends like umbrellas. Drawers will also do the trick. Another foyer idea is to have a few open shelves to display decor items. You can have bespoke closets put in or choose from the wide variety of closets, racks and cupboards available in the market.

Foyer design incorporated permanent storage space for shoes, sports equipment and umbrellas
Clever utilisation of space that results in plenty of permanent storage

Be Creative With Storage For Small Foyer Design

If your foyer area design doesn’t lend itself easily to bulky closets, put your thinking cap on to come up with creative small foyer ideas. Use ottomans that have hidden storage, or place large wicker baskets. Have a bench in your foyer? Place organisers or baskets underneath. Those with small foyers can put in hooks on the walls to hang items like bags, scarves and the like.

small foyer is designed with a wooden storage bench
A wooden storage bench is just right for this small entry foyer

Choose Seating Depending On Foyer Size

A large foyer will afford you plenty of space to put in settees, a chaise lounge, even a sofa for you and visitors to sit. A smaller foyer might be enough for a couple of chairs while a tiny foyer might only accommodate a single chair or bench. Ottomans, benches – with or without storage – chairs that are practical yet stylish, you have no dearth of options when it comes to choosing seating. Make sure the seating is functional and allows you to be comfortable as you tie your shoes when departing.

Foyer area is designed with a bench that is richly tufted
A richly tufted bench in a glamorous modern foyer

Make The Seating Discreet For Small Foyers

Many foyer designs for apartments tend to be on the smaller side. Some cool foyer ideas will soon have your foyer seating sorted. Have small stools or ottomans that can be slid under a console table. Integrate seating with your storage in such a manner that it blends in. Have a custom bench built that can also take care of your storage needs.  Use a stylish pallet for storage, the top of which can double up as a seat.

Contemporary bench complements the foyer's interior design in the house
A fuss-free bench in contemporary design in a small foyer
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Place A Welcoming Rug at your Home Entrance

A good rug immediately makes entrance foyer both welcoming and useful. Guests feel welcomed by a pretty rug that ties in with the rest of the foyer decor. They also have someplace comfortable to take off their shoes. A hardy rug will catch any lingering dust or dirt that may otherwise be inadvertently tracked in. A hardy easy-to-clean rug in dark colours is a practical foyer décor idea. It can also be a great décor item that raises the style stakes of your foyer interior design.

Entrance foyer design for a carpet that makes for an ideal welcome
A carpet that makes for an ideal welcome in a gorgeous entryway with French Doors

Take Advantage Of Natural Light At Your Entrance

Foyer light is critical – a well-lit foyer extends a warm welcome into your home and it gives a guest an immediate sense of which direction to head next. Your best bet when it comes to foyer lighting is natural light. That is, if your entrance foyer design enables you to put in such a solution. Put in windows on the side of the foyers, or a transom window over the door. Such light is not only flattering for when you are checking yourself out in the mirror, but it also makes the foyer look bigger and brighter.

Foyer area design is integrated with a fabulous side window that provides plenty of natural light
A fabulous side window that lets in plenty of natural light

Brighten Up With These Foyer Lighting Ideas

Natural lighting solutions not an option for you? Take heart and cheer up by opting for any of the following. Install a classy or chic lamp on the foyer table or a tall and graceful floor lamp by the door. Hang a pendant or chandelier from the foyer ceiling. Candles are another option that you can consider. Make sure to keep the lighting solutions in sync with the rest of the foyer décor and you will have a winner.

Modern foyer design, candles are used to supplement the wall sconces
Wall sconces are supplemented with candles in this modern foyer design

Shine With Mirrors As Foyer Wall Decor

If you are looking for small foyer entrance ideas, explore the world of mirrors. Mirrors brighten up any space, and in the foyer, they are especially useful for one last look at yourself as you leave home. In small foyers, they have the double bonus of making the area look spacious and airy. Move away from staid and boring mirrors and instead opt for shapes and frames that add interest to the foyer design.

Flat entrance design with a handsome mirror on the top of a console table for foyer design ideas
A handsome mirror atop a console table in a narrow foyer
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Invoke The Magic Of Greenery

Adding greenery is a sure-shot way of making your foyer beautiful and functional. Large foyers can accommodate statement planters while smaller foyers can hold smaller potted plants. Take the opportunity to upcycle old bottles and repurpose them as vases and planters to hold money plant cuttings and flowers. Such touches will make your foyer inviting, setting the tone for the rest of the house.

Design of the small foyer includes a striking tall metal planter that makes a statement.
A tall metal planter makes quite a statement in an elegant foyer

From foyer tables to foyer seating, storage ideas to modern designs, from ideas for foyer tables, lighting, and decor our guide covers it all. Regardless of your foyer size, these ideas and suggestions are sure to get your creative design juices flowing. Armed with these, we are sure that you will turn your foyer into a beautiful and useful space in no time at all.

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Ekta Poddar is a content writer at Design Cafe home interiors blog.

Ekta Poddar

Ekta is a freelance writer obsessed with good design and all things pretty. She is travelling, reading and eating her way through various cultures across the globe. Her inspiration comes from the great masters, Michelangelo, Anthony Bourdain, and Terry Pratchett. When not writing, she is crocheting, cooking or buying craft supplies.

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