by Kat Apf

Created on: February 18, 2009   Last Updated: March 07, 2010

A welcoming entrance area is not only great for your guests, but for your family, too. We want guests to have a good feeling coming through the door but we also want our family to breathe a sigh of relief when they come home. We want every person who walks through our front door to feel at ease and comfortable being there. It's not difficult or expensive to make your entrance area welcoming, either.

A welcoming entrance area starts before you enter. The front door is what people see before they actually enter your home. So, you want to start there. A wreath on the door, which can be changed to match the season, is a good, first welcoming sight. A good sturdy mat will also help create a welcoming feeling. There are many wreaths and mats to choose from and you don't have to spend a fortune, either. Target, Kohl's and even Wal-mart, all have many of them to choose from.

If your front door opens to a staircase, the best thing to do is make sure it's uncluttered. We all tend to pop shoes, books, school bags and coats on the stairs and banister. Try to train your family to put these things away when they come home. A cluttered area makes people feel ill at ease right away. Uncluttered is what you want to shoot for.

A nice mat on the inside of the entrance area is a good idea. It can be as simple as a rag rug or as elaborate as an Oriental rug. It should go with the room that comes after your entrance area. But it doesn't have to match exactly. Good decorating usually avoids exact matches. Colors that complement each other usually work best. Soothing earth tones can be appealing but don't feel you have to be traditional if it doesn't suit your personality or your house's. Go with what suits you best in colors.

Plug-in air fresheners in the foyer help create a homey feeling. If you don't have a plug in this area, diffusers are great, too. Scents and smells really do have an effect on people. Walking through a door and having a bad smell destroys any of the other attempts to make it a welcoming feeling. Cinnamon has a universal appeal. Most people connect cinnamon with a feeling of home. But there are a lot of air fresheners to choose from and again, like with color, you should go with what appeals to you.

If you have a coat closet close by, always have extra, empty hangers so you can hang guests' coats. It's not inviting to have to frantically search for a place to put a guest's coat. If the closet isn't guest-friendly, meaning it's crammed full and you don't want to open it in front of other people, get one of those over the door hangers.

Overall, it's not hard to create a welcoming space in your entrance way. Chances are if your entrance area feels welcoming to you when you come home, it will feel that way to your family and friends, too.

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