Investment propertyThe Survival of the Entry Foyer in New Home Designs
What does the entry foyer to your home say about you? In recent years, new
homebuilders have played down and sometimes neglected the elegant entry
altogether. This has happened especially in smaller plans, with architects
sacrificing the square footage at the behest of their client-builders to make
way for larger living spaces. In the 1980"s and early 90"s many builders
became big on open concept floor plans, making true entry foyers an
afterthought. A logical concept, perhaps, when building costs are rising.
After all, we don"t sleep or live in our entries, so why make it such a focal
point?
Many design critics agree that reducing the size of an entry foyer to a few
tiles in the shape of a postage stamp, and incorporating it into a front room
robs the buyer of more than meets the eye. In reality, the entry to your
home may be the farthest point most visitors will ever get after being
invited in. That means that those visitors" first impression of you and your
home life may just be their last. And, by selecting a new home floor plan
with or without an entry foyer, you may be choosing just what kind of
statement you would like to make to those intermittent guests. But what else
does a real entry area give to the homeowner besides the impression it may or
not make on others?
Privacy, for one. The idea of containing and shielding visitors from the
rest of your home"s interior means you needn"t always be "ready" to show off
your life inside. Valuable treasures and furniture pieces may be saved to
show off at a later, more appropriate time of your choosing, not theirs. I,
for one, do not need for well-meaning door-to-door types to see just how I
live, even if I am somewhat pleased with how I have decorated my home.
Protection from the elements may just be another, depending on how severe the
weather is in your part of the country. Well-designed exterior as well as
interior entries can be designed to shield your home"s belongings and wall
surfaces. Guest closets in entries are on the comeback trail, too, giving
homeowners a practical and usable alternative to a pile of sometimes wet
coats and purses piled on the bed in the spare room. Important pieces of
furniture and delicate decorations displayed upon them may be safe from
sudden entry "winds" with which we all may be familiar. A contained entry
foyer may also save on energy costs, with heat or air conditioning vents
serving primarily the entry area, and not an entire room beyond.
My favorite reason for a notable entry foyer, however, is what I can display
there that just doesn"t seem appropriate for other parts of the house.
Pictures, silk plants, an elegant entry table, and a burst of decorating
color can jolt those entering into a true sense of "home" and my personal
style. The floor surface, which is usually a practical, weather resistant
surface like tile, marble, or sealed hardwood, is, perhaps one of the richer
surfaces of the home. The view from the entry in a two-story home may very
well be of a sweeping staircase, revealing even more pride of decoration and
signature, but not necessarily of furnished living areas.
The inclusion of formal or semi-formal entries may even be compared with why
new homebuilders find that many homebuyers still want a formal dining room,
even though the formal living room may have gone by the wayside in many home
designs. Even with "great room" designs, buyers still seem to want that
seldom-used, uncluttered, manicured and permanently decorated place for
special events, family gatherings, and prized heirlooms to be displayed.
Perhaps the elegant entry, the anachronism that builders may have, at one
time, thought it would become, is a slice of courtly living that may not soon
see its demise, as the formal dining room has not. This writer hopes it to
be true. With so many conventions of our parent"s era forgotten, the idea of
being a gracious homeowner, ushering an unexpected, but temporary guest into
the home for a bit of conversation and a warm send-off in the entry foyer
still sounds so civilized!
The idea here is to alert new homebuyers to take note of not just the basic
floor plan and how it suits your immediate needs and those of your family.
Rooms, along with their size, practicality, and proximity to other parts of
the home are easily assessed. The entry foyers and its overall relationship
to the "livability" of your new home can be easily neglected when deciding on
a floor plan. Decide for yourself what that seemingly "wasted" bit of square
footage can mean to you in the long run.
Also See:
Reviving Old World Ideas: The Portico Entry
New Builder Products are Built to Last
Avoiding Naivete When Building A New Home
The Latest In Innovative Products For New Homes