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Monday, April 26, 2010

Bienvenue!


My entrance hall at Christmas last year.


image from Home Interior Design Themes


image from Room Remix blog

Welcome! That's what an entrance hall says to the visitor. Ideally, an entrance hall also tells the visitor something about the homeowner and sets the tone for the rest of the house. It is a great place to make a design statement in your house. It's a good idea to have a table or console to put things like keys and gloves when you first enter. And a chair and an umbrella stand are nice additions too. A settee look great under the stairs.

I love this sofa covered with a suzani (For beautiful suzanis go here). It sits so nicely under the stairs.

image from Decor Arts Now



image from decor pad


image from CSN lighting



The entrance hall at Mirador, Nancy Lancaster's house in Virginia

No one does an entrance hall better than Miles Redd. Three of his front halls -







Architectural detail is also important. If there's not much detail, then a bold paint color will do the trick.


John Pierce Mansion, Portsmouth, New Hampshire entrance hall

Here is the hall reproduced in miniature!



Miles Redd


image from House of Beauty and Culture


image from Elle Decor

A front hall is a great place to showcase art.
 
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image courtesy of Whitehaven

Close up - the drawing on the right is by Atlanta artist Helen Durant.
 
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Jane Douglas' front hall. The shot of orange at the end is fabulous!



Above photo, my own entrance hall as seen from the living room.

7 comments:

  1. What a great collections of staircases...so often they're difficult design elements to deal with but these are graceful and elegant. Thanks for the upgrade!

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  2. Your entrance is amazing! Great post! xo Erica

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  3. Helen, your entrance is gorgeous! Such a grand staircase. And I love the light fixture. Thanks so much for posting this. I need all the inspiration I can get for my new entryway.

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  4. Thank you all for your kind words! We love our house too. It was built after 10 years of planning, saving and pondering. So we really knew what we wanted to do - plus we had a terrific architect who understood our vision. It is a delight to live in. Functions well for us and is pretty. Form and Function married.

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  5. It's worth reading pattern 130 "Entrance Room." Yours hits the psychological checkoffs. To me having stairs on an exterior wall allows the stair windows to light both floors. The little flair a the bottom of your stair makes it both grand and humane. As a bonus yours fits 133. "Staircase as a stage."

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  6. I am in love with the home that is mostly blue inside. The red door really goes well with the blue. Blue and red for the win.

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