The Entrance as an Advert

2. 3. 2018

Everyone gets the first picture of the level and style of your living immediately when they enter your house or flat. Shoes scattered all over the entrance hall, a hall stand brimming with coats and a small mirror in an ugly frame will definitely not be the best advert. Your entrance hall should not only be practical but also introduce the whole area of your flat or house in style.

Your entrance hall should be furnished practically, simply and with attention to detail. It is practical to have what is called a hall wall, which combines coat hangers, a shoe cabinet shelves, a mirror and lighting. It is always better to put coats on hangers than on hooks, which can be used for a short time by visitors even though the owner of a mink coat or of another expensive coat is likely to appreciate a hanger as well. There should be enough room on your clothes valet for the clothes that you are currently using and in your shoe cabinet there should be room for seasonal footwear. If there is enough space in your entrance hall, you can use a chest of drawers for gloves, scarves, caps and many other small items. If your hall is larger, it is best to have built-in wardrobes made and hide everything behind their doors. And if you are only in the process of building your flat or house, remember that the best solution for storing your clothes, footwear and other things is definitely a special chamber for clothes. It depends on the individual, but it is recommended that the wardrobe or entrance wall should have a built-in place for keys and wallets, for example on the internal side of the door or in a small drawer. You probably know what it is like to be looking for your keys frantically in your pockets when you are leaving or for your car keys that your wife used the previous night and you are now going on a business trip. Also, don’t forget the mirror, which should be large and especially high enough for the whole body to be seen in it. It might not be necessary to remind you that it should also be lit in the right way.

For easy maintenance, the entrance area can have floor tiles or quality heavy-duty linoleum, such as Marmoleum. We certainly don’t recommend cork or any other soft materials or cheap laminate floating floors. A solid wooden floor or quality wooden floating floor with an upper layer of six millimetres in thickness will provide heavy-duty surface.

It is necessary to think about the right lighting not only for sufficient spatial orientation and safety. The most suitable lights are those that are built in the ceiling, that do not extend into the space under them and can light a large area.

In the past the entrance hall was usually separated from the rest of the flat but fortunately, more open space is designed nowadays. If you can influence the design of your flat, don’t have it divided into too many halls and corridors. The entrance to the living (daily) part of the flat should be wide, light and straight and so should be the way to the kitchen with your shopping. Preferably, there could be a separate door leading from the entrance to the kitchen (with a pantry or pantry cabinet) and a free passage to the dining room or living room.

It is convenient to situate the toilet next to the entrance. It is used for the daily part of the flat and by visitors and there should be at least a small washbasin. Sometimes, there is also a shower, utility room with a washing machine and dryer, cleaning agents, ironing board, etc. It always depends on the exact version: many things which would be in your way in other places can be hidden behind a slatted door. There should definitely be a bucket, vacuum cleaner or broom in a corner in the toilet. Even the toilet should be a cultural place. After all, many do a “cultural activity” there, i.e. reading.

If the utility closet in the entrance hall or pantry can’t accommodate your vacuum cleaner, ironing board and other things, you must find space for them in one of the walk-in wardrobes. It is ideal to have a separate utility room, where you can do your ironing or at least put away everything connected with the laundry, usually near the kitchen. However, we are now talking about an almost ideal situation and reality is often far from it.