Fabulous Functional Foyers

You don’t get a second chance at first impressions.

Written by Marion Butterworth

Photo by Omar Salinas, courtesy of Natelli Custom Homes and Renovations

Your home’s most public space, the foyer is a place to gather and greet. Finely crafted details give the space personality, setting the tone for the rest of the house.

If your home is a book and the front faÇade and yard its cover, then the foyer is the introduction. Foyers serve multiple purposes. Ideally, they give a hint of what’s to come, revealing a taste of your personal style. They bridge worlds-inside and out and public and private spaces. Architect Dick Leggin defines foyers as a place to “gather and greet.“ Foyers should “create flow” says Frank Bell of Bell Builders in Glen Echo, Md. and “pull people into the core of the house.”

Photo courtesy of K.C. Co Inc.

Glass is the biggest trend in front doors, says Ann
Principe of K.C. Company Inc. Leaded glass in
sidelights, transom and door retains privacy without
sacrificing natural light.

Size Matters

Two-story foyers with an imposing staircase as the focal point are no longer the norm according to Griff Gosnell, principle at Monroe Development Corporation in Vienna, Va. “They were popular in the 80s and 90s, but now there’s more emphasis on the staircase in a transverse back gallery,” he says. “The staircase is often located in a rear or side hallway, so that upon entering the foyer, it’s just glimpsed,” adds Bell. Gosnell explains that people want foyers that are cozy, not cavernous. Bell agrees. The multimillion dollar homes he builds feature clear sight lines from front to back but not palatial lobby-like entries. “We build gracious homes based on cues taken from their 200-year-old predecessors.” Seldom does that include a two-story foyer.

Leggin of the Glen Echo, Md. firm Richard Leggin Architects explains that as standard ceiling heights rose over the last twenty years from a standard of eight feet to nine feet and sometimes ten feet in upper price range homes, the size of the two-story foyer grew to over twenty feet. “Dramatic curving staircases in huge foyers sell houses,” says Leggin, but they’re not sized to make us feel comfortable; they’re designed to impress. He puts his advice simply: “Less is more.” Well-designed foyers exude comfort not grandeur.

Storage Moves Out; Style Stays Put

Although foyers have become more human in scale, style is still paramount. Since the front entrance is rarely used by family members, foyer furnishings can be more formal and less rugged than in other areas of the home.

Photo by Kenneth Wyner, courtesy of GTM Architects Inc.

A welcoming entry draws warmth from layered lighting and hardwood
floors. John Bresnahan of Arlandria Floors reports that about half of
his clients choose hardwood foyer floors, often adding a decorative
central compass medallion.

The most popular flooring choice is sealed hardwood. “People feel it’s warmer than marble or tile,” Gosnell explains. “We got away from marble in the late 80s,” says Bell. Inlaid medallions and borders enhance basic wood floors. A decorative carved wool, petit point, hand-tufted or silk crewel area rug is an elegant finishing touch.

Nothing makes a style statement easier than color. Renate Eschmann of Color Wheel in Merrifield and McLean, Va. says, “The foyer can be a great area to introduce colors that will flow through the house.” Although a perfect place to indulge in a splash of color or decorative painting, many homeowners hesitate. The trick to choosing the right wall color and treatment, says Eschmann, is to consider the foyer “the hub of the house.”

Bell builds foyers with walls uninterrupted by doors to facilitate the display of art there. Having migrated to side halls, powder rooms and coat closets are out of view of the entryway. In custom built homes, the foyer has evolved into an elegant spacious area that looks nothing “like a pantry,“ says Bell. The detritus of family life-backpacks, sports equipment, muddy boots and jackets-is consigned to a mud room off the gallery hall.

Photo by Kenneth Wyner, courtesy of Richard Leggin Architects

Surrounding the arched opening from the foyer into
the house with moldings gives the foyer a separate
identity from the places on either side of it. In general,
the wider the moldings, the more prominent the perception
of differentiation.

Room Service

“I consider a foyer another room in the house,” says Bell. This principle dictates a space that is “big enough for people to inhabit” without being “ostentatious.” His company builds foyers that act as reception rooms, catching the overflow of guests from the kitchen and living room during parties.

Ann Principe of K.C. Company Inc. in Beltsville says that the most welcoming foyers are flooded with natural light from leaded glass front doors and outfitted more as a room than a passageway, with benches, settees and chairs, thick lush rugs, and architectural details.

Layers of lighting help any room feel more inviting according to Nicole White, ASID lighting designer for Dominion Electric. “A chandelier looks quite glamorous but often leaves the space below feeling a little cold. Wall sconces at eye level and buffet or table lamps offer appealing ambience.”

No longer a spot to stash outerwear and dripping umbrellas, builders and decorators are designing foyers as supplemental living spaces.