How to Help Guests Find Your Front Door
Steer your visitors in the right direction with an impressive front entrance that shows them the way into your home
We’ve heard it enough times: first impressions count. In an era when so many houses are dominated by garages and carparks, sometimes it’s not easy for first-time visitors to figure out where to go when they arrive at your place. And, in our casual culture there are always the visitors who ignore the front door and head around the back in ‘I’m one of the family’-style. So your main entrance door needs to stand out as the welcoming point of your home. Here’s how to up the style and presence of your front door, and put an end to lost guests peering in windows and catching you unawares.
Without visual landscaping cues, many modern homes can be baffling for guests coming to visit for the first time. Stepping stones from the street to the front door make it obvious where to go.
Tip: Flanking a pathway with water gives the visitor a sense of arrival (and is sure to impress).
Tip: Flanking a pathway with water gives the visitor a sense of arrival (and is sure to impress).
Visual guides to steer visitors towards your front door are especially important if there are other doors on the front of the house (sliding walls of glass, or French doors off a living room, for example). If it isn’t structurally obvious which door is the main entry, use paving to point the way. The irregular, organic shapes of these stepping stones provide a clue to what lies beyond the front door. What kind of first impression do you want to give? Formal, quirky, casual, cottage cute? Plan your pathway accordingly.
There’s no reason a pathway has to be paved, of course. A boardwalk can give a home character of a different kind, and leads guests to front doors positioned in otherwise mysterious locations.
Tip: Using repetition is an age-old way to draw the eye where you want it to go, and where the eye goes, the feet can follow. In this case, a line of bird of paradise plants along the wall leading to the front door draws guests to the entrance.
Tip: Using repetition is an age-old way to draw the eye where you want it to go, and where the eye goes, the feet can follow. In this case, a line of bird of paradise plants along the wall leading to the front door draws guests to the entrance.
Here, chunky timber posts create repetition of a different kind, eliminating any chance of a visitor veering off track.
Provide clues with contrast
If your house lacks a formal porch or obvious portico, make the entrance stand out with contrasting materials or tones. Here, Haden Kose of BK Design has created contrast with a dark stain to highlight the front entrance of his own home.
Browse more contemporary exterior ideas
If your house lacks a formal porch or obvious portico, make the entrance stand out with contrasting materials or tones. Here, Haden Kose of BK Design has created contrast with a dark stain to highlight the front entrance of his own home.
Browse more contemporary exterior ideas
There’s no need to resort to painting your front door a bright colour when contrast comes into play. This door, stripped back to bare timber, stands out just because it’s different from the tones in the trim and facade.
In modern houses which often have a garage dominating the facade, you can still use the garden to signal the way to the front door. Here, informal planting and a straight path help direct pedestrians away from the driveways, while a white soffit contrasts with the black stain to lead the eye to the front door.
Catch guests’ attention
Unusual doors are instant attention grabbers, so if you’re building a home from scratch, don’t be afraid to be a little different. Why have a standard-sized door when a taller version packs such a punch? Bright colour optional.
Unusual doors are instant attention grabbers, so if you’re building a home from scratch, don’t be afraid to be a little different. Why have a standard-sized door when a taller version packs such a punch? Bright colour optional.
If a super-tall door is too out there for you, why not go wide? A wide and bright pivot door provides a block of colour here that’s hard to miss.
Or give your front entrance a designer difference to draw in admiring eyes.
Does the style of your front door suit or match the style of your home? That doesn’t mean you can do only traditional doors on a traditional house – juxtaposing vintage and modern can be really exciting – but if your door is just ‘blah’, consider replacing it. And think about any windows and sidelights it’s set into as well.
In this Auckland home, custom-designed coloured leadlight glass in the door repeats the colours and design of the rest of this house. At night when the lights are on, the coloured glass glows like jewels – what better way to lure guests to your front door?
In this Auckland home, custom-designed coloured leadlight glass in the door repeats the colours and design of the rest of this house. At night when the lights are on, the coloured glass glows like jewels – what better way to lure guests to your front door?
In another example, the homeowners have mixed different textures and colours of glass to tie into the theme of both the exterior and interior.
Front doors that show off who you really are
Front doors that show off who you really are
Tip: Before drawing attention to your front door, ask yourself ‘Is it something I want to draw attention to?’ If your door is ugly, in poor condition, or out of keeping with the house then seriously consider replacing it.
Warm up the welcome with colour
In traditional houses it’s usually obvious where the front door is, but in some modern houses it’s not so clear. It’s both confusing and embarrassing when visitors arrive at your house for the first time and can’t work out where to go. Changing the door’s colour is the simplest way to turn this situation around, and what could be more eye-catching than red?
In traditional houses it’s usually obvious where the front door is, but in some modern houses it’s not so clear. It’s both confusing and embarrassing when visitors arrive at your house for the first time and can’t work out where to go. Changing the door’s colour is the simplest way to turn this situation around, and what could be more eye-catching than red?
Using red for the glass entrance door of this house provides just the prompt guests need when they arrive. Without a standout colour, where to go is anyone’s guess.
But choosing a colour that suits you and your home can be better than just going for something bold and eye-catching – any colour that differs from the rest of the facade will stand out well.
If you feel like something brighter and more colourful than the rest of the exterior but don’t know where to start, take a cue from the colours in your garden – your favourite flowers or spring foliage, for example. Or if you have a favourite accent colour in your interiors, introduce it at the front door first.
If you feel like something brighter and more colourful than the rest of the exterior but don’t know where to start, take a cue from the colours in your garden – your favourite flowers or spring foliage, for example. Or if you have a favourite accent colour in your interiors, introduce it at the front door first.
The most classic colour for a front door is black. This looks classic and elegant, it takes on different moods whatever the style of the house and it always makes your door decorations such as fresh wreaths, knobs, numbers or signs stand out. It’s my fall-back colour.
Tip: While you’re thinking about the exterior colour of your front door, also think about whether to paint the inside of the door the same colour? There are two options. The first is to paint the inside of the door to match the other doors inside the house so that it blends in. Alternatively, if the exterior colour works well with your interior, carry it through and make the door stand out as a feature inside as well.
Tip: While you’re thinking about the exterior colour of your front door, also think about whether to paint the inside of the door the same colour? There are two options. The first is to paint the inside of the door to match the other doors inside the house so that it blends in. Alternatively, if the exterior colour works well with your interior, carry it through and make the door stand out as a feature inside as well.
The colour choices are endless for front doors. How brave are you? What suits the style of your house and the look and feel you want to create? Even if the rest of the house is neutral, and whatever the period or style of your house, you can still let yourself go on this one item.
Tip: Wash the paintwork down regularly when it looks dirty and dusty. An attractive front door enhances your home’s first impression and is likely to add to its value (as well as lifting your spirits every time you turn the key and walk into your home).
Houzz quiz: what colour front door should you have
Tip: Wash the paintwork down regularly when it looks dirty and dusty. An attractive front door enhances your home’s first impression and is likely to add to its value (as well as lifting your spirits every time you turn the key and walk into your home).
Houzz quiz: what colour front door should you have
Put it up in lights
A well-lit entry is welcoming when friends and family arrive at night, and is a great chance to really show off your front door. Use a mix of lighting types for different functions: try an automatic sensor lights that flicks on when it detects movement, mixed with some fixed lighting. The fixed lighting should include path or step lights for safety, some at ground level, others a bit higher for directional help.
A well-lit entry is welcoming when friends and family arrive at night, and is a great chance to really show off your front door. Use a mix of lighting types for different functions: try an automatic sensor lights that flicks on when it detects movement, mixed with some fixed lighting. The fixed lighting should include path or step lights for safety, some at ground level, others a bit higher for directional help.
Also consider decorative uplights to show off a spectacular tree, feature wall or garden sculpture, a welcoming feature light on the porch to highlight the front door, and perhaps some task lighting to make the key hole or doorbell clear.
Tip: Make the front door just about the welcoming statement it makes. Let real life – shoes, scooters, toys and sports gear for example – intrude at the back door or inside the garage, but keep your front door and entrance garden clutter free. Use it just for the welcoming vignettes – potted plants, a piece of sculpture or a welcoming bench to sit and rest. Similarly, keep the path up to the front door clear, moving rubbish bins, the garden hose and tools to a more utilitarian spot.
Tip: Make the front door just about the welcoming statement it makes. Let real life – shoes, scooters, toys and sports gear for example – intrude at the back door or inside the garage, but keep your front door and entrance garden clutter free. Use it just for the welcoming vignettes – potted plants, a piece of sculpture or a welcoming bench to sit and rest. Similarly, keep the path up to the front door clear, moving rubbish bins, the garden hose and tools to a more utilitarian spot.
Hang up a sign
If all else fails, a welcome sign will dispel any remaining doubt about which door visitors should knock on to announce their arrival.
TELL US
How do you make your front door stand out? Share your tips in the Comments below.
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Browse more front entrance ideas
If all else fails, a welcome sign will dispel any remaining doubt about which door visitors should knock on to announce their arrival.
TELL US
How do you make your front door stand out? Share your tips in the Comments below.
MORE
Browse more front entrance ideas
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Take note of traditional houses that have a clear garden vista that leads visitors from the street to the door. Paving, structural hedging or plants in pots frame the front door and create a sense of arrival.