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Front door entry design help

5 years ago

We are designing a 2200 sq foot house to be build on a very small lot- 5000 sq feet. The long is longer than wide so this presents design dilemma. Front door has been designed to come into the living - into the center of the living room rather than off to the side. We do not have a foyer. Is it ok for door to come into the center rather than off to the side? It seems odd to me and feels like things just dump into the location of where the furniture will be. It's not a massive house.


Is it better to have the door open so then you are the stairs when you walk in? So door would be on right hand side of house as you walk up. That type of entrance would be less dramatic but would give more room to use in the living room.


Comments (7)

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    What is your climate?

    If the door opens to face the stairs is it directly facing the bottom step of a flight of stairs that goes straight up to a landing at the top, or are the stairs configured in zig zag, with the first few steps from the ground floor at an angle to go up to a brief landing, and then a turn so you take the next group of steps up the rest of the way to the second floor?

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    -We live in Bend, Oregon. Four seasons with snow.

    -The stairs go up, brief landing then up.


  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I would pick the second. Wouldn’t want the cold air blowing straight into the living room. Hard to decorate with a front door in the living room. For what it is worth , I’ve not bought houses because the front door opened into the living room or because the front door opened smack into a straight flight of stairs up. But I would be okay with the configuration you describe.

  • 5 years ago

    So even if the entry is tighter than these it can still be pleasant


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  • 5 years ago

    I‘m not sure that opening a door to look across the top of the coffee table, dining room table, kitchen island, is especially dramatic. If you move the door to the side, it will be somewhat centered on the house itself, and opens to a “virtual foyer”, with the sofa forming the “wall” on the left, and maybe a console table along the wall on the right to define the space. Another option would be to take the door around the corner and enter from the side, so that the view ahead is the window next to the fireplace, and the eye is invited to sweep around the room before entering further. But, the porch design needs to guide people around to there. So maybe just having the door on the front, at the right end of the LR, is best.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    It's always undesirable to have a front door enter directly into the living room. A separate entry foyer, even if small, is much better. Failing that, move the door to the lower right corner and build a half wall maybe 4 feet long separating the door from the living room. This not only creates the illusion of a foyer but also provides additional wall space for furniture.

  • 5 years ago

    I agree - lower R front corner will give you a wall on the R that you can arrange "foyer" type furniture on (hall tree, breakfront, narrow table with mirror above). Furniture can group around fireplace more easily then, and the area on the R side of the living room becomes a traffic area leading into the house, to the stairs & back of the house. That's the way the traffic wants to flow anyway - don't break up the living space by having the door centered and traffic flowing right into the center of the room. By moving the door to the R, you'll also have a bigger front porch area at the left end for chairs etc. Widen the front porch gable so that the front steps are centered on the new front door location. Another idea is to delete the R side of the porch that wraps the corner - it looks as if it isn't covered and seems like an odd & awkward space to me.