An entryway is the hardest-working square footage in a house and usually the least planned. It is where shoes, coats, bags, keys and post arrive within about eight seconds of somebody coming home.
If it has nowhere for those five things, they end up on the floor and the stairs, permanently.
The four jobs
Every entryway, however small, needs to do four things.
- Somewhere to put small things down: keys, post, sunglasses.
- Somewhere to hang things: coats, bags, dog lead.
- Somewhere to sit, even briefly, to deal with shoes.
- Somewhere shoes live that is not the middle of the floor.
Most entryways have furniture for job one and nothing for the other three. Fixing the other three matters more.
Start with the corridor width
This decides everything else, so measure it first.
After the furniture is in, you need at least 36 inches of clear passage, enough to walk through carrying something. Subtract 36 from the hall width and whatever remains is the deepest furniture the space can take.
- Under 42 inches wide: nothing on the floor. Wall-mounted only, a shallow shelf 4 to 6 inches deep, hooks, and a mirror.
- 42 to 54 inches: a narrow console of 10 to 12 inches deep, or a slim bench, on one side only.
- 54 to 72 inches: a console of 14 to 16 inches plus a bench, or one good piece that does both.
- Over 72 inches or an open hall: a full arrangement, console, bench, storage, and something on the opposite wall.
The 36-inch rule is worth defending even at the cost of the furniture you wanted. A hall you turn sideways to walk down is worse than a hall with less in it.
Job one: the surface
A console table, or in a tight hall a shallow wall shelf.
Height 30 to 34 inches, depth as the corridor allows. Put a tray on it, this is the single most effective object in an entryway, because it gives keys, post and pocket contents one designated place instead of twelve.
See the consoles, or how to style one.
Job two: hanging
Hooks, and more of them than you think. Count the people in the house, multiply by two, add two for guests.
Height matters: 60 to 66 inches for adults, and a second row at 36 to 40 inches if there are children, a child who cannot reach a hook will not use it, and that is the entire explanation for coats on the floor.
A rack or rail is easier than individual hooks because it spreads the load and gives flexibility about spacing.
Leave clearance below for coat length. A 48-inch coat from a 66-inch hook reaches 18 inches from the floor, so nothing deep goes underneath.
Job three: seating
The most commonly skipped and the most missed. Putting on boots standing up is a daily small annoyance that a bench removes permanently.
Seat height 17 to 19 inches. Depth 14 to 16 inches, which is enough to sit on and narrow enough for a hall.
A bench with storage does jobs three and four in one footprint, which in a small entryway is the single best furniture decision available.
Job four: shoes
Shoes are the thing that makes entryways look chaotic, and the only real fix is capacity. Count the pairs that genuinely live by the door, usually two per person, and provide for that many, not for the aspirational number.
Options: a bench with a shelf underneath, two baskets under a console (spaced apart rather than in a row), or a shallow shoe cabinet if the hall allows.
Leave a doormat area free. Wet shoes need somewhere to be wet that is not a timber floor or a storage box.
Light, which changes the room more than furniture
Entryways are usually the darkest part of a house, often no window, often a single ceiling light directly overhead, which is the least flattering arrangement possible.
A small warm lamp on the console changes the entire feeling of arriving home, and it costs less than any piece of furniture. If there is no socket, a rechargeable lamp is a legitimate answer.
A mirror is the other light multiplier. Position it to reflect a window or a lit room rather than a blank wall, and it does two jobs, you check yourself on the way out, and the hall reads as twice its width.
If there is no entryway at all
Many homes open straight into the living room. The answer is to create a zone rather than a room.
- A rug that marks the arrival area.
- A narrow console or a shelf against whatever wall exists, even 4 inches deep.
- Hooks on the back of the door itself, or on the wall beside it.
- A screen or divider to make a visual threshold if the space allows.
The zone does not need walls. It needs the four jobs covered within a few feet of the door.
Order to buy in
- Hooks. Cheapest, fastest, biggest immediate improvement.
- A tray. Costs almost nothing and stops the surface burying.
- Shoe storage. Solves the visual chaos.
- A bench. Solves the daily annoyance.
- A console. The piece people buy first and the one that matters least if the other four are missing.
- A mirror and a lamp. The finish.
Most people reverse this list, buy a beautiful console, and still have coats on the bannister.
Keeping it working
Clear the tray weekly. Seasonal coats go somewhere else, an entryway holding the coats for all four seasons is an entryway that has failed. And keep one clear surface span of about 10 inches for setting a bag down; without it, bags go on the floor regardless of what else you provide.
See the consoles, the benches, or send us the hall width, entryways are the place where standard sizes fit least often.
Where to start
Every Rootelier piece is made to order, so sizes can be adjusted to the room. Browse entryway.