My entry opens to the dining room. (The non-eating space kitchen is a separate room.) The living room is perpendicular and to the rear. With hardwood floors throughout, I have the table and chairs on a 8x10 area rug. That leaves the 'entry' with 4 1/2x10 wood floor exposed. I have an antique library table by the wall with a copper and metal tree hanging above. The library table decor gets changed with the season. This creates that "sense of entry" while maintaining the openness of the space.

Kitycat- That sounds very pretty and a great way to define a small space :)

Young- I plan to have a small vestibule, with a bench. This is to keep the cold air out and the kitties in! The stairs and hall (with french doors at the end) is what you enter from the vestibule. The living room is on the right and kitchen/dining on the left.

You won't be able to see the kitchen work area, from the entry, which I rather like, but you can see diagonally, to the banquette dining area.

Our current house has a tiny foyer, which goes straight into the LR. Between the size and the straight line, it doesn't do much for creating a sense of 'entrance'. This is something I've struggled with on our new house design. I'm trying to keep a small floor plan, but want a definite entrance. My current plan has the living space to the right as you enter; hopefully, this will give a little more separation.

I take a different view from the recent trend of ginormous foyers with soaring ceilings. I would rather have a modest foyer, and let the the features of the house unfold room by room. In our case, the LR will be much grander than the foyer, and the kitchen will actually be the gem of the house (I hope!). So, as a guest enters, they will be increasingly impressed with our little cottage.

I've read that as you enter the front door, your line of sight should be towards a window, to beckon you in. In my case, you'll have to turn to the right to be 'beckoned', but the window will be some 38' away, all the way to the dining area of the kitchen. I think it will be a nice effect.

I say all of this for the sake of conversation, because we are designing and building this house for ourselves! The only visitors will be close friends and family, who are coming to see us, not the house. That being said, I hope they'll find our little cottage in the woods to be comfortable and appealing.

Jay- Your cottage is going to be amazing, as well as comfortable, and very appealing! :)

I agree that a fireplace, window, or other focal point, should draw you into the home. Diagonal views are also nice, especially in a smaller home, as they make the space feel larger.

Young- You're going to have a beautiful view, with your fireplace and bookcases...and the diagonal view through the dining room, into the kitchen...with those gorgeous support posts/columns. Not to mention the french doors to the library and the front porch!

This is our entry. I had just finished painting and was waiting a day to put lace curtains and pictures back up on wall. There is a small library table behind the love seat as landing when coming in with a hand full of groceries or to set a purse down. I also use that table to set my coffee cup on when sitting on the love seat. Looks unhandy for this but it is easy to do. I would consider changing that library table with our hall tree just to see how it would be. But I like it the way it is now so....................

Here is a link that might be useful: Entry

I'm not sure I can create a real entry INSIDE the house, because the door opens and BANG, you're in the living room.
But I've tried to create a "sense of entry" with broadening the front walkway, having big terra cotta pots on either side, the the two curved steps rise up to a front cement stoop covered by a stucco gable. It is an archway, with two small archways on either side like window holes, where I hang baskets of asparagus fern...just put the baskets back out there this week.....and off to the one side I have a tall urn with two big umbrellas waiting in it, and off to the other side next to the door, a chrome ships bell made in Italy. The door itself is full glass, one doubled glazed, and it has the tiny blinds between the glass layers. Although I have the bell out there, our "welcoming committee" is our dachshund, who has a SOMEBODY HERE bark.
Because she would rush through the door, I go outside for strangers, or bring the familiar faces inside so they can be approved by the canine committee.
I had wanted to make the french door in the sunporch our entry, because then I could give a better entry space without exposing the living room. That will have to wait until we change the lock though....the tumblers went kaflooey, and now I cannot open the door. Bummer.

We have a separate foyer, which is a bit odd-shaped. I have an antique coat rack with a mirror and a picture, but nothing really welcoming. I'd like to have a corner bench or something with a lamp.

Our front door opens into a hallway. I haven't bothered to fix it up much and really should. Right now, it just has a runner on the floor and a picture on the wall, with a coat rack at the end. At the end of the hall, you can see the kitchen, which you walk through to get to the LR, where you are greeted by 2-story windows.

If you were to come in via the slider, you'd walk right into the LR, with no entry.

Kit- That sounds lovely! I hope you'll post pictures sometime.

LL- I've always liked your vestibule idea and have thought on it for our house, in fact. I can't wait to see it come to life.

Fl- I agree with you regarding the "lofty" entries. I like a cozy entrance that begs you to come in. I'm looking forward to seeing the reality of the plan you've worked so hard on!

Shades- A table for dropping things upon when entering is a luxury in a SH, is it not? Thanks for sharing your lovely space.

ML- That sounds great, puppies and all. Perhaps that's where I should focus my energy for now: an exterior entry. It really does set the stage for a home.

Marti- You lucky duck! Foyers seem so rare in SHs.

Oldgardener- Your two story windows sound divine. :)

As for our SH, we have no entry and are "dumped" into the LR. Due to its three doors, windows, and fireplace, furniture arrangement has been a struggle. I have the sofa with its back to the door (again), in an attempt to separate the entry space. Of course, that limits where I can put the tv cabinet. I love walking into a home and being greeted by stairs, which is something we consider when planning the next phases of change in our SH. For now, I'd be overjoyed just to find a lovely entry table. :)

My front door opens directly into the living room. But the living room is smaller than the adjoining dining room. So I'm planning to do what kitykat has done--make the living room into the dining room.

My plan is to have a round dining table in the center of the room, with 2 chairs. The other 2 chairs will be . . . somewhere, either in living or dining room, ready to be put into use if needed. The dining room will also have a long console table that will be the "landing strip" when I get home, but can be used as a sideboard if I'm having people over for dinner.

I have a library table as well (!) and am trying to work out if it will fit better in the living or dining room.

But this way, I'll have more seating in the living room and a sort of combo entry/dining room, which seems to be a better use of that space than trying to squash all my living room furniture into an 9'x8' space.

Hi, Camlan. I was thinking, 8 x 9 is still not much room for a dining table AND a library table. And the entry.

I do agree that swapping the dining room into this space is a better choice than having the living room there.

If your library table is not too big, it would be fine to use as a dining table, and hold off for a while getting a round table for dining. I like the idea of a console table to drop your stuff on. And as Sarah Susanka (Not So Big House book author) says, have a spot to collect/sort/drop your mail there too. A nice decorative basket, a floating shelf and a wall mounted rack (like one I've seen at Pottery Barn) would serve for most of those untidy little chores. Especially if you do not have a coat closet, having the shelf and hooks would be good for guests as well.

Maybe instead of JUST a console table, you can get one which has a couple of drawers and then a shelf below. I'm thinking everyone could use a little more storage.

What size would your new living room be? It sounds like you need small scale furnishings for sure. That will make your space feel a bit larger.

Young-Gardener, if the sofa is not a really long one which blocks off the whole room to entry, then it is no disaster. In my DH's cape, the front door opens right into the LR. I pur a console table on the perpendicular wall a couple of steps into the room. Pair of lamps, a black-framed mirror above it. Then a couple of steps further, is the coat closet. I want to put a full length mirror on the wall of the LR exactly opposite the front door, which is leading people right to the coat closet. (Which is about the size of a school locker now because they ran the heater ductwork in it to reach the upstairs bedrooms).

But the love seat has its back turned to the front door. It is of course short backed, and only a two seater. I put an oriental runner from the front door to end at the far end of the console table, sort of telling folks to "follow the yellow brick road." You can see a portion of the dining room once you are a few steps onto that runner. Our living room up there is not where we normally hang out. It is our conversation room, for quiet talk, candles in the fireplace, a 5 x 8 rug forming the conversation grouping which consists of the love seat, and two armed dining chairs with upholstered seats flanking the hearth. Other than one table plus lamp, a tiny glass nesting table, and 5 photos with large mats on the wall, that is the entire room. So it is sort of an entry room, but not quite.

What I want is to put a gabled shelter over the brick stoop outside the door, because there is no shelter there and the weather is not the most welcoming up in MA. From what I'm reading in NOT SO BIG stuff, the house begins welcoming people before they enter if you have a sheltered place to stand. Well, maybe we'll do that and maybe not, before we sell that lovely place.

The last house I built before I left Florida was 1124sf with two bedrooms and two bathrooms on a fairly narrow (50 feet wide) lot. I worked for the builder at the time and I worked with the designer to create the floorplan. One of the things I insisted on was an entry foyer. It was 6 feet wide and 7 feet long. Although you could see the living room from the front door, I painted the walls of the foyer hunter green and all the trim (flutted casings with square rosettes) were a high gloss white. The living room walls were a soft beige which created quite a contrast. A very narrow table on one side with a mirror hanging over it caused most everyone to pause and look to their left shifting the eye away from the living room. The floor in this space was tile and the living room was carpet which further defined the space. for a small space I think it worked really well. I bought the lot and built the house for a little less than $80,000 and some years later at "the peak" a different owner sold it for $160,000. I was 28 when I designed and built that house. That was 22 years ago and I would love to have it back. So you see, I was small house cool even back then!

Scott

Wow, Scott! That sounds gorgeous. Someone sure did make a killing on it, too.

ML- Yellow Brick Road is definitely well put. I think that's how DH feels about the current set up because he calls it a "maze." It does make the room seem smaller, but I think that's because it creates a conversation area, whereas before the furniture was too far spread. It's a full sized sofa. I need to snap a picture. I like your long rug idea. I'm going to look into that. I have one, but it's not as long as I'd like. I bet your house would look great with the covered area you have planned.

Camlan- Swapping the room does sound like your best option. Plus, a round table will help with flow. YOu'll have to post pictures for us! Here is a dining room (I love) with a round table.

Here is a link that might be useful: more pics of the room above

OH that dinning room kitchen is GORGEOUS young-gardener. I love the covered chairs around the table. With a set up like that I would turn our dinning room back to real dinning room with table. Thanks for that vision of Loveliness.

I was shocked when I saw on the blog that she got the chairs at IKEA. :)

I've been struggling with this concept and it is the reason I currently have no doors on my "foyer" closet.

Our front door opens right up to the combined/living dining area. We recently had our hardwood floors re-finished and decided to put tile at the front door. This helps define the space a little and there is a small table there. But there is no place to sit down, and not much space for a bench or seat.

I have been toying with the idea of making the closet into a bench with storage/hooks. We would definately lose some valuable storage space. And I'm not sure if that look would suit our home.

Plus, our goes to the ceiling. I have also toyed with the idea of putting cabinet doors on top and then regular height closet doors underneath. The items on top are things we don't use very often at all.

I'm attempting to attach a link to my Flickr page. This includes photos of the areas before. Trying to find the "after" photos as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: remodeling pictures before