Can you locate the 'foyer/entry box' outside of the 'kitchen, living and dining box'?

Providing the house's floor plans and exterior elevations will help people to think outside of the box. But as always . . .

WARNING: Posting your entire floor plan opens you up to facts you may not want to know, but should. Be prepared for suggestions that will make for a better design. Keep a thick skin, open mind, sense of humor, and a glass of wine within arms reach. You may not enjoy it, but everyone else will and you will be better off in the long run if you heed well the advice.

Hi. I would just open up the door to an open space and beach views ( if available). We had a beach home that opened right up to everything. No one cared at all about a couch back… the views and the wide open airy feel was all that mattered.

I need to see the whole plan and IMO that looks too much for an entry and I see no coat closet and IMO no matter where you live you need one.

NO not that box, that is not good. Too closed in. Don't build anything there. If you don't want to walk into the back of a sofa, place a console behind the sofa lol. Yes it actually creates a foyer, though. We did it in our great room.

Place an area rug appropriately sized to visually define the perimeters of the foyer. There doesn't need to be a sofa backed up to the console, but we did anda lamp is good for reading.

Place a side table in the foyer next to the door with a mirror over it. Possibly a small side chair.

Sometimes an entry is created by placing furniture a certain way.

"I am so afraid it will just look like a big box in an open concept home?"

That is just a big box that looks very contrived and honestly awful. It would make me question the ability of my "architect" that he would even offer that as a suggestion, He is a true architect isn't he?

Love the round table concept. Perfectly arresting and with no sharp edges to walk around. We made sure our console had rounded edges for the same reason but the white table is so dramatic and such a beachy color.

I like that as well

Great idea. Thank you!

Thank you for a great solution

I dont like your architect’s suggestion . Can you attach the entry box outside the house? Line it with windows and a bench or two. The entry roon could be attached sideways/horizontal or vertically to the house. It could be a really nice features.

Can you locate the 'foyer/entry box' outside of the 'kitchen, living and dining box'?

No foyer. Solved. Unless there's something else on that floor that's separate from the KLD. Like a hall to bedrooms/bathrooms or a stairway. We have to see the floorplan to suggest a layout.

The problem with placing a round table is that you need a lot of space to do that. Like, 11x11 for a 3' table, which is a nice-sized room in and of itself. If you're concerned about people feeling like they enter your home into the back of your couch, you don't have that much space to work with. Everyone is just guessing without knowing how your home is laid out. Your best option is to add a vestibule like Mark proposed, knowing nothing else about your home.

We almost bought a house that was fairly open concept, but the foyer was in fact a box on the outside of the main house, which was mainly square. The front door was on the side of the foyer box, with a nice-sized square stoop. This box had floor-to-ceiling windows opposite the front door, and a wall of closets to the left. To the right, opposite the wall of closets, was the opening to the main living area, dining, and family room beyond.

The foyer had been added on at some point, and we are sure that it completely changed the way the house felt.

If you have the space out front, I believe Mark's and bpath's idea of an exterior vestibule (is that the right term?) is definitely going to be better looking than the interior box the architect came up with. Maybe show him/her some ideas that you like. A couple examples below.

Your initial picture seems to indicate a porch across the front of the house with stairs at the center. So an exterior box will be problematic. A simpler solution would be to replace the ugly interior box with low walls on each side, possibly with posts at the ends although that might not work with the vaulted ceiling. But even without posts the low walls will provide backing for furniture arrangements on each side. And a nice area rug at the entry will help define the space.

Consider a covered from porch or something that protrudes out and creates the entry space, perhaps?

Without knowing the floor plan and exterior elevations all suggestions are frivolous.

Rapp, twin low walls as in pony walls on each side of door? That would work--make them bookcases like these. Although this is too close to the door to create a foyer. The two should be 6' apart maybe?

The box doesn't work for me. You should visit a few open houses with no foyer to see what is done with the furnishings. I think you can get used to the open feeling if you give yourself time.

Trully if you want help we need a to scale floor plan

Here’s another idea: instead of walls on either side of the door, a wall in front of the door. You can put a shallow console table, a lamp, and art there. That way when people walk in, they don’t walk right in to the living area (you don’t always want someone at the door to see it all), and you can leave the front door open for air without feeling on display.

Of course, we don’t know what is the layout of your open space, so this may or may not work.

If the person that designed the foyer is not licensed by the state to practice architecture, please do not refer to them as an architect.

I like the vestibule idea which is basically pulling the foyer outward. Of course, that will affect elevations but the need to be able to hang towels, clean off sandy feet, and store shoes before trekking into the main area of the house is huge. To me, there's nothing worse than sandy floors and I'm always OCD about sweeping them when we go to the beach on vacation.

Not all posts require a complete to-scale floor plan for intelligent feedback. This is one of them. Posting the whole floor plan invites a flood of comments about things that the OP isn't asking about.

I like the vestibule idea and I think you do need a foyer in a beach house. We are now on our 4th beach house and every one of them has had some type of foyer. A place to sit and change shoes, etc.

To all who asked. The architect is a licensed architect. He was only trying to come up with some options for the foyer.

Take what follows as worth what you paid for it. (Ha...)

My very first starter home was a tiny cape cod, where the front door dropped everyone on the far end of the living room. Words fail to describe how much I hated that. I spent years trying to create a nice first impression, a nice foyer, out of that stupid entry.

I loved most of that house, it was a great first house - but I never solved the problem of not having a nice front entry.

It sounds like you care about something similar too. Some people care, some people don't - that's the beauty of life, different things matter to different people.

If you're building a brand new home, and are lucky enough to be building it at the beach, then you really should take advantage of this to know what you want, and to get what you want. Within reason, of course. :-) But a nice foyer is certainly a very reasonable ask.

Not seeing the entire floor plan and things to scale, I have no idea if a pretty table will work for you to delineate some space. Just bear in mind whoever said upthread that will need a lot of room to work is 100% right, and honestly it would not work for me. However I am not you.

I am just imploring you to think carefully about what matters and what doesn't - lest you spend a shocking amount of money on a new build and then end up like me, spending years hating one of the most important parts of the house.

I agree 100%. I think in the scheme of things, a foyer is not a huge deal. Just thought it might make it warm and inviting, however, having a high vaulted ceiling with beautiful beams will work. I will probably just do a "fake" foyer. Thanks so much!

Please keep us updated and provide progress pictures during construction, I have never seen a fake foyer before.

Mark, it's called a faux-yer.

Never seen one of them either.

You know Mark, you may have a professional designation, however, you certainly aren’t very professional

Should I be professional like the one that you hired to put a big box on your great room, or like the one that does not like gathering sufficient information to provide viable solutions? I act professionally and ask a question and ask for information, and was willing to give professional advice like I have done on other threads, and I get ignored here. If you can not answer my questions, I can not help you.

The discussion started with, "I really want a foyer/entry so it's not like you walk into the back of a sofa, etc.", and it is ending with, "I think in the scheme of things, a foyer is not a huge deal."

I spend some of my breaks in doing real architecture here in Houzz. I offer up advice here for free and for my own entertainment, and like most things in life I like to have fun while I am doing it. Good advice is free, great advice is invoiced.