06 Feb 5 Tips to Style Your Entryway for Spring

Happy New Year and February friends!  Welcome to our first blog post of 2021. I can’t believe I didn’t write in January, but with our country in absolute chaos, I needed to get to February – the love month. We all need love and something that gives us joy, to bring calm into our lives, especially in our current times.  Styling our entryway is fun and relaxing for me. Please enjoy learning about my decision-making process and 5 tips to style your entryway for spring, or any season.

Once New Year’s Eve passed and 2020 was in the rearview mirror, I was itching to ditch the red poinsettia, take down the tree, and put away all the decorations. Then I could breathe and exhale and start thinking about 2021.

That is until January 6th hit. That was so difficult and I’m still processing it. Then it was reflection time, prayers for a peaceful transition, and a reboot of the new year on February 1.

Hope springs eternal

When the brilliant young poet Laureate Amanda Gorman read her poem, I was incredibly inspired with a renewed sense of hope. Especially in the face of the prevalent racial injustice that is tearing apart our communities.

Her poem was so incredibly powerful! WOW!! Not to mention history in the making with our first Black woman VP. Double WOW!!

Transitioning to the new year

It usually takes me the month of January to truly get into gear for the new year, but this one was challenging beyond words for everyone I think. Anyone else feel that way?

And then there’s the virus!  My heart goes out to each and every one of the lives lost and grieving families left behind.  If you haven’t read or seen this, it’s heartwarming to see how communities all across the country are remembering their loved ones:  PBS article.

Nesting at home

Aside from all the challenges we and our country are facing every day, many of us have been spending almost a year in our homes.

While juggling jobs and families, we’ve been re-imagining our spaces, creating multi-purpose rooms (ya know, the home office and homework space for the kids!), freshening up pillows, cleaning out closets, baking, painting, and more.

For those of you who know me, 2020 involved two major home improvement projects, the spring and fall One Room Challenge.  We totally transformed our kitchen and living room salon in the middle of the Pandemic. And, while I love it, my husband David and I both paid a price by getting Covid last June.

Thank God we’re fully recovered, but this about sums up 2020. It was fast and furious, a lot of work, but great rewards in having two complete room makeovers. David and I absolutely love our new Living Room Salon (and new kitchen and breakfast nook) and enjoyed them all through the holidays. Read more about this transformation HERE.

New to the blog?

If you’re new to the blog, welcome.  I’m Deborah Main, The Pillow Goddess.  I’m a luxury pillow designer and design and travel blogger in Austin, Texas.  I write a blog post once a week (except during holidays and summer when I take time off).  Be sure to check out all my other posts HERE and subscribe to the weekly blog HERE.

 

What brings you joy?

I’m so excited that despite the challenges ahead for us all, spring and hope are on their way!

One area that brings me joy is to style our new entryway in our Living Room Salon. Here’s what we started with (below) before we participated in the fall One Room Challenge. The small entryway to our vintage bungalow is very contained and part of our living room. It has one feature wall with a vignette I love to style.

BEFORE

AFTER

Importance of styling entryways and foyers –

Entryways are the first room your guests see when they walk into your home. Therefore, it’s nice to make it a beautiful and functional space. It’s also a great place to add color and texture to your home.

My first way to kick off decorating for the new year was to re-style our entryway. It was a task I could simply do and have fun with. I especially love fresh flowers and cutting and designing a floral arrangement in our new BLANCO kitchen sink. With the new porcelain countertop and deep sink, I have plenty of space.

To wallpaper or not?

Let’s talk about wallpaper for a minute. It’s not exactly part of styling, but it is a sure-fire, super fun way to totally transform your entryway.

I don’t want you to think I whipped this entryway together in an afternoon. Yes, I styled it in one afternoon, but to design the entryway took a lot of time. I mean A LOT of thought  – like hours, days, and weeks during the fall 2020 One Room Challenge – went into selecting the wallpaper. Read about that process HERE.

When indecision strikes

Are you a decisive person?  I am NOT!  So it took me a lot of trial and error and time to select the perfect wallpaper.

Some designers do not like accent walls, but I absolutely love them wallpapered. Also, I highly recommend our entryway partner York Wallcoverings!

Decision-making process in styling our entryway

What to consider when deciding to wallpaper an entryway

As you can see from the BEFORE living room and entryway above, we had a lot to decide. There were many factors to determine the best wallpaper. It had to not only be the perfect wallcovering for the entryway, but also the living room, kitchen, and breakfast nook.

The space for styling an entryway

First, before you style anything, assess your entry or foyer.

1. Is it a hallway with a front door and walls on each side?
2. Is it its own separate room?
3. Is it tiny or large?
4. Does it adjoin to another room in your home?
5. Is it basically one wall next to the front door?

 

The function when styling an entryway

Next, you need to assess your goal and purpose for your entryway so you know how to style it.

1. What is the first thing you do when you enter your home?
2. Do you need a place for coats and hats? How about your handbag?
3. Do you need to sit down to remove or put on your shoes?
4. Where will you put your keys?
5. How about the mail for the day?
6. Does your entryway need a table, or baskets?
7. How about a mirror to check your lipstick before you head out the door?
8. And what about pets and leashes?

 

As you can see, entryways and foyers, while often small areas, can have many important design decisions to make before you style them. Entryways often have multiple functions, so you need to decide what works best for you and your family.

Many families I notice have cubbies built into a bench or coat rack. Or they have baskets under a table, maybe for the kids to drop off their backpacks. This is another way to style an entryway or hallway.

Decorative items needed for styling an entryway

For our family, since we’re empty-nesters, we only needed five home decor items to style our entryway –

1. table
2. mirror
3. bowl for keys
4. table lamp (s)
5. vase with flowers

 

The most important factor in designing our entryway was it had to fit in with the rest of our decor as it is literally IN our living room salon.

For us, wallpaper was the answer to making a statement wall as part of our entire Living Room Salon design. And, since we see it every day when we dine in our breakfast nook in the kitchen, we wanted something really beautiful to look at every day. The Sprig & Heron wallpaper by York Wallcoverings turned out to be a perfect choice!

 

Set the mood when styling your entryway

Lastly, remember that an entryway is the first part of your home your friends and family see.  It’s important to decide what mood and feeling your striving so you know what style is best for your entryway. Be sure to follow me on Instagram @thepillowgoddess and see my Stories for a wide variety of entryways styled by other interior designers that inspired me!

1. French country
2. Casual farmhouse style
3. Opulent elegance
4. Tropical oasis
5. Classically refined
6. Traditional
7. Modern

 

 

I knew with our antiques, like the Art Deco cabinet (above) right next to the front door, that I wanted a classical style.  But I also wanted bold color and pattern to give it a slight modern edge. That’s why the wallpaper was such a tough decision. Because often, not always, classical wallcoverings are in softer colors and I knew I wanted the color and pattern to pop.  But since our living room is very tiny it couldn’t be overpowering either.

I also needed to keep it classical because one of the first antiques you see upon entering our home is my mother’s Consolette Piano (corner of it in the photo below) she received for her seventh birthday. Yes, she was that talented.  I wish I could say I play well, but I do not.  My mother could sight-read anything put in front of her!

Another factor was we also have an art gallery wall. Artist Victoria Larson partnered with us for the fall One Room Challenge and we now feature one of her beautiful crane watercolor panels.  I love how it complements the crane wallpaper.

 

A little historical perspective

Below are a few ways I styled our entryway before adding the gorgeous wallpaper from partner York Wallcoverings. As you can see, even if you don’t have a lot of home accessories to style with, they’re perfectly adequate. Albeit a little ho hum.  Below the entryway looks incredibly unfinished to me now that we’ve added the beautiful York wallpaper.  Very ho hum….but you work with what you have. I must confess, styling was not my thing back then, but I love it now. In addition, notice the single chair.

Fall entryway styling

Christmas entryway styling

Spring entryway styling

On to the finished look for styling our entryway

 

BEFORE

Pretty boring before. Now, here (below) after we wallpapered it, is how I styled our entryway for the fall One Room Challenge. I was extremely happy with it.

However, when you see how I styled the table for the spring (further down in this post), you’ll see that this asymmetrical way is a bit more casual.  The wallpaper really makes all the difference though, don’t you think?

AFTER

 

Accessories are styling essentials for an entryway

If you’re like us, you may already have a piece of furniture you’d like to use.  The antique Shaker table was passed down to my husband and me on our wedding day from my mother and father, so it’s a table we treasure. Table lamps and floral vases or sculptures are a great way to style a tabletop in your entryway. Also books and candy dishes.

In my first styling, while the antique Shaker table is the foundation, I was determined to use the vintage table lamp from my husband’s Aunt. I’ve always loved it and the classical green floral design and cream silk shade coordinated perfectly with the wallpaper.

Then, since I wanted to add greenery, I DIY-ed this blue and white dish with an orchid and other green plants to put on stacked design books.  I also added my mother’s Wagner bookends.

Candles are a great option too when styling a table in your entryway. We styled our table with a hand-painted snuff bottle we purchased while traveling to China.  The jeweled pen is from my dear friend Julia Molloy of BOLD Summit.

 

Holiday styling kept simple

Next, for the holidays I switched the focal centerpiece to a red poinsettia and added a couple of holiday trees. I tend to keep our holiday decor very simple, but you certainly can go all out and style your entryway by putting lights around the mirror and more objects on the table.

 

Now onto 5  simple tips to help you style your entryway for spring

For spring, I wanted a completely different, more elegant look. Mainly, because I love fresh flowers and like to display them in front of the gilded mirror.  I also was lucky and found (while we were putting away our Christmas decorations) a pair of tall buffet table lamps that I incorporated into my pillow displays when I exhibited at events and shows. They were sealed up in a box and in excellent condition.

Here are five simple tips to help you style your entryway for spring.  See further details about each below.

1. Assess the area to be styled
2. Hang a mirror
3. Select one or a pair of lamps
4. Gather home decor like books, nic nacs, or basket for keys
5. Find a vase you love and arrange flowers for the centerpiece.

 

Assessing the area to be styled

Determine which wall will be your feature wall and which pieces of your furniture work best.  You may, or may not have noticed in my BEFORE images that I only had one chair on the left.  That is because it’s a very tight squeeze by the door and I needed space for it to open.

Only when I stepped back to look at the entryway wall to assess it, did I realize that it would look a lot better from our living room and breakfast nook to have a pair of chairs on each side.

I had a pair of matching antique chairs, but one of the cane seats was darker, so I decided to make cushions for them in this fabulous modern fabric from partner Mitchell Fabrics. I then trimmed it with some cording from partner Trim Queen.

I think the entryway looks so much better styled with two chairs than one, don’t you?

Hanging a mirror is an excellent styling idea

I believe mirrors enhance any room, especially an entryway. Whether it’s a gilded vintage one like ours, or a simple round wooden or metal framed one, find a mirror you love.  I was on the hunt for this affordable gilded beauty for years.  I finally found THE one and hung it in several different temporary places in our home. Only when I started designing the living room and entryway did I feel like I finally found the permanent home for it.

And besides, every woman needs a mirror in the entryway to check her lipstick, right? Mirrors add a third dimension to a room and really open it up.  In the image below you can see the kitchen bar and pendant lights.

Select one or a pair of lamps for styling the table

As you saw earlier in this post, you can choose to style your table asymmetrically with one lamp as I did during the One Room Challenge.  While there are many design rules – like if you have matching end tables don’t select matching table lamps for example. But I hardly ever follow rules and I believe it is a personal preference.

Here is my spring table styling symmetrically with a matching pair of tall lamps in a gold base and black shade. I love how the gold base works with the gilded vintage mirror.

Lighting is very important to an entryway as well. You want to see your keys, where you’re walking so you don’t bump into a wall or trip on the doorstep, and maybe even find something buried deep in your pocketbook or wallet.  In addition, since the pair of lamps are more decorative, we have overhead recessed can lighting to help light the way.

To be honest, I thought the lamps might be too tall and would take away from the gorgeous black and gold end table lamps, by partner Couture Lamps, in the Living Room Salon.

However, I love symmetry and I think they coordinate beautifully with everything in the living room salon. Plus they really make our entryway style feel more elegant.

Gather home decor accessories like books, a dish, or a basket for keys

As you can see below, for the spring styling I added an antique glass dog candy dish on the left that was my grandmother’s and a vintage cream Wedgewood one on the right. In addition, I kept the look of stacked design books in the middle.

Although not photoshoot worthy, I wanted you to see below how we have a small silver bowl for our keys, sunglasses and facemasks. The minute we walk into the house our keys, etc. get plopped in that silver bowl of my grandmothers.

Find a vase you love and arrange fresh flowers for your styling centerpiece

The last, and one of the most important pieces to styling an entryway, is to welcome your guests, and yourself, with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers.  This vase is one of a pair of vintage hand-painted vessels from China that I snagged at Bunny Williams Treillage shop in NYC. Or rather, my designer friend Maureen Break Coates, of Luxury Transitions, found them for me the day before they closed.  They have a very special meaning to me since on my first Modenus NYC Blog Tour in 2014, we had an entire morning with the acclaimed interior designer Bunny Williams and her husband John at their shop.

This vase with the coloring of the delicate hand-painted birds works beautifully with the wallpaper and I love lilies and hydrangeas.  Give me fresh flowers any day and I am in heaven!

HA! I just realized that the top book is one of Bunny Williams’ many design books.  I think I must have planned that, right?

I hope this leaves you inspired and helps you style your front entryway with beautiful fresh flowers and many other wonderful home decor items.  It’s also such a nice area to come home to with family mementos greeting you at the door.

Take it from me, re-decorating, designing, and styling an entryway, or another area of your home, are fantastic ways to keep your mind occupied during these difficult times. Two One Room Challenges definitely got me through 2020! Not kidding!

Please PIN for easy reference

 

While I will not be participating in any more One Room Challenges this year, you know where you can find me – nestled at home in our new Living Room Salon enjoying our pretty entryway and more.

But wait! I’ll be at the Kitchen and Bath Show Feb 9 – 12

 

Starting this weekend, please follow me on Instagram @thepillowgoddess as I’m honored to be selected as one of ten fellow Design Hounds from @modenus, covering the most incredible automatic wine dispenser brand PLUM Wine at the 2021 Virtual Kitchen and Bath Show (KBIS).

If you love all things kitchen and bath, please attend this cutting-edge tradeshow and follow along on Insta @plum.wine and @kbis_official with hashtags:

#thepillowgoddess
#designhoundsxPLUM
#designhoundsKBIS
#kbisvirtual.

Register HERE and stop by PLUM’s virtual booth starting Tuesday, Feb 9th at 10:00 a.m HERE.

This is an exciting time – the first-ever VIRTUAL Kitchen and Bath Show (KBIS) and my very first time attending the KBIS tradeshow. I’m super excited to represent the PLUM brand with my fellow Design Hounds and discover more great products for you and your home. Till next time, stay safe and enjoy the Super Bowl and a beautiful walk in the sunshine! XO PG

Note: This is not a sponsored blog post, except in the final paragraphs by PLUM.  All photos and opinions are my own, except where noted by professional photographer Cody Kinsfather. Graphic courtesy of Design Hounds.