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Paint for entryway


The 10 Best Foyer Paint Colors for an Elegant Entryway

By

Ashley Knierim

Ashley Knierim

Ashley Knierim is a home decor expert and product reviewer of home products for The Spruce. Her design education began at a young age. She has over 10 years of writing and editing experience, formerly holding editorial positions at Time and AOL.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

Updated on 01/18/22

The Spruce / Christopher Lee Foto

Your home's foyer is the first space guests see when they enter your home, so it's important for setting the mood and tone for the rest of your residence. The transitional room can sometimes be an afterthought but is actually one of the most important design decisions you can make for your home. The best foyer paint colors depend on the size of your entryway and the tone you want to set. Keep in mind that neutrals like gray or beige are popular for foyers, but bright shades, moody hues, and subtle pale colors can also work well in the right setting.

Here are 10 of the best paint color ideas for your foyer.

10 best color to use in an entrance |

(Image credit: Future)

When adding color to our homes, it’s all too easy to forget the entryway; after all, it’s not as if we spend much time in this often small or narrow room. 

As well as looking inviting in its own right, an entryway color scheme should set the tone for the rest of your home. Move it up on your decorating agenda: it’s a place to be bold and show your personality. Winning room color ideas and entryway paint ideas pay attention to the mood, size and natural light, so whether you go for something playful or serene, here are some entryway color ideas to get you started.

Entryway color ideas

Color is a remarkable decorating medium and is an easy way to make your entryway more inviting. What could be easier – or more impactful than adding color to your entryway? Use these pretty color schemes to update your entryway ideas. 

1. Choose a color that works with neighboring rooms

(Image credit: Farrow & Ball)

When there are clear views from a hallway into adjacent rooms, think carefully about your choice of color trends and paint ideas to ensure that the eye is drawn naturally from one space to the next. 

'Using color in the entryway doesn’t just make for a memorable introduction to your home, it also creates contrast with the rooms coming off it,' says Charlotte Cosby, head of creative at Farrow & Ball .  

(Image credit: Paint & Paper Library)

The variety of hallway wallpaper ideas before us is now so extensive that preliminary research will always pay dividends, especially in such adventurous times for design.

The accent wall is one of the most popular recent trends. It is a classic design device, which draws the eye to a specific area. Striking, elegant and confident, black and white is always a winning combination and will make a dramatic statement in a modern entryway.

'We are seeing a trend for rich cocooning colors and those that bring a sense of comfort, perhaps a reaction to the turbulent world,' says Andy Greenall, head of design at Paint & Paper Library. 

 

3. Add in element of yellow

(Image credit: Zulufish)

'Entryways can often be an overlooked area of the home, seen mainly as a space to pass through and yet gives the very first impression,' says Caroline Milns, head of interior design at Zulufish . 'Being a smaller space, it is also where you can have a little more fun and experiment with color and pattern to dramatic effect. '

'These charcoal and mustard geometric floor tiles are not only hardwearing and easy to clean – essential for an area of high traffic – but they also work in harmony with the monochromatic graphic lines of the floor-to-ceiling Crittal doors, the sculptural glass quad pendant and linear furniture. Fresh white walls finish the space reflecting the light along the full length of the entryway to the kitchen ahead.'

 

4. Create a serene feel 

(Image credit: Bert & May )

'To create a cool and calming space when you enter your home, soft blue tones will make for a serene entryway,' says Lee Thornley, founder of Bert & May . 'Using tiles on the floor will allow you to introduce a strong pattern and variation of tone that won’t overwhelm the space, allowing you to keep the rest of the space pared back.'

 

5. Ground your entryway with a warming terracotta 

(Image credit: Elicyon)

'Taking inspiration from the South Bank’s industrial heritage, we incorporated materials, textures and colors that speak to the local area’s history as a vibrant hub of natural craft and art,' says Charu Gandhi, founder and director at Elicyon .  

'The color palette of "new neutrals" has been chosen to create a warm and heartening ambience, combining soft ivory and sandy tones, fall burnt oranges and ochres, flashes of gold and calming dark teal. Grounding the space, the entryway features a striking marble and oak console table by a Portuguese maker.'

6. Embrace a winning combination

(Image credit: Dado)

'Entryways are the perfect spot for making a big design impact,' says Kate French, creative director at Dado . 'Embrace the narrowness and lack of light and opt for a deep rich hue on walls, combined with pops of bold or bight color.  

'Although transient spaces, an entryway and the spaces beyond can often be seen from multiple rooms, so consider a wallpaper that's easy to scheme. A small all over print bursting with color and detail 'Floral Ogee' in Madder by Daydress for Dado is the perfect paper for scheming in a host of ways, working beautifully when seen through an open doorway or up close. '

7. Lift a dark space with yellow

(Image credit: The Radiator Centre)

Yellow room ideas are having something of a revival, so perhaps now is the time to decorate 'sunny side up,' 'Symbolizing energy and optimism, yellow room color ideas are a great color choice for the home,' says Jennifer Ebert, Digital Editor, Homes & Gardens.

Andy Greenall , head of design, Paint & Paper Library agrees: ‘Yellow is a color that evokes happiness and provides a sense of positivity. It is perfect for areas of the home where there is much activity and socializing, such as the kitchen and dining room, where it adds energy and vitality.’ 

8. Take inspiration from nature

(Image credit: Farrow & Ball)

Calm, cool and collected, the color blue is a decorating win-win in an entryway: not only does it make a beautiful base for a scheme but it’s scientifically proven to be a subconsciously calming shade.

'The entryway is a space that welcomes you at the end of a long day, and the first glimpse your guests are given of your style – so it's the perfect opportunity to make a statement,' says Charlotte Cosby, head of creative at Farrow & Ball . 'Let your artwork or favorite piece of entryway furniture do the talking and use a striking contrasting backdrop with clean and crisp, white woodwork.'

9. Go for neutrals in a small entryway

(Image credit: VSP Interiors)

'Whenever you introduce a rich shade like ochre to a space that's on the small side, it's always worth painting the woodwork, doors and ceiling white to lift the look and create contrast,' says Melanie Griffiths, editor, Period Living. 'Here, the original stone flags also help to lighten up this small entryway idea, and they add the most perfect authentic touch.'

10. Forest green and stone for a natural look

(Image credit: Little Greene)

'Rich, dark greens have a receding quality that gives the illusion of walls being further away, doing away with the myth that smaller spaces should be painted in lighter colors to make them seem bigger,' says Ruth Mottershead, creative director at Little Greene .

'Embrace small spaces with intense shades like ‘Brunswick Green’ which has a timeless, positive quality that works beautifully on a single wall or in an all-over scheme. Pair with woodwork in the neutral ‘Portland Stone-Pale’ to reflect the colors we see in nature.'

What are good colors for an entryway?

One trend which is currently being adopted in entryways is color drenching. ‘This contemporary, cohesive approach delivers high impact by painting woodwork, radiators, the ceiling and doors the same color as the walls,’ says Ruth Mottershead, creative director, Little Greene. ‘This will create a complete scheme, treating each element similarly, and will deliver a design statement when entering or viewing the entryway from other rooms within your home.’ 

What is the best color for an entryway?

The best color for an entryway is one that will make you feel at home – instantly. 

'Entrance halls should make a statement about the house and owners as well as being a welcoming space,' says Mike Fisher, creative director and founder, Studio Indigo. 'Small spaces can be treated in a grand way – “be bold” is my advice. Large details can open up the space, such as using double doors but making them as tall as possible.

'Painting the space a light color will not make it feel bigger. Use strong color to make a statement and give personality. Lastly, we are great fans of polished plaster in hallways – it’s practical, tough and has a wonderful reflective quality that makes the space shimmer.’ 

Sophie has been an interior stylist and journalist for over 20 years and has worked for many of the main interior magazines during that time, both in-house and as a freelancer. On the side, as well as being the News Editor for indie magazine, 91, she trained to be a florist in 2019 and launched The Prettiest Posy where she curates beautiful flowers for modern weddings and events. For H&G, she writes features about interior design – and is known for having an eye for a beautiful room.

paint preparation and design options

Deciding to make cosmetic repairs in the house on your own, without resorting to the help of professionals, for example, to wallpaper the walls of a room or paint them, then the question certainly arises - what color to choose for decoration. It is especially difficult to make a choice when it comes to a small space, like a corridor. Let's try to figure out what color of the walls in the hallway is best suited.

Let's start from the end, let's see what kind of hallway we have, how to correctly distribute the colors and choose the right tone for the walls. If you are sure that the quality of your own painting of the corridor will be quite satisfactory, proceed by choosing the most suitable time of the year for this and carefully preparing the room and materials.

Contents

What needs to be prepared?

Walls

The walls in the hallway are subject to active "wear and tear", so potholes, stains, chips and smudges often appear on them. The removal of old paint or wallpaper (if necessary), a hard brush and a soapy solution (a 3% soda solution is also suitable), and leveling with putties help to put the work surface in order.

If you notice that the walls are “infected” with fungal mold, then before applying the primer, it is necessary to treat the infected areas with special chemicals. means, and then remove the layer of dead fungi. If necessary, the procedure should be repeated.

Stages of preparatory work:

1. Fill the cleaned area. Gypsum putty is usually used for this.

2. Let the putty dry completely and apply a primer.

Putty and deep primer are a must! Without them, all the imperfections of the surface will appear under the paint, and the paint itself will lie unevenly, whitish spots will remain or the texture of the paint will not appear.

Paint

Choosing the right paint for the corridor is not an easy task, given the huge range of proposals from manufacturers. We will look for "anti-vandal" according to the parameters:

These parameters are met by coatings that combine the properties of interior and exterior paints - enamels, glazes, two-component polyurethane, water-dispersion paints based on acrylic and latex.

Alkyd enamels are good, but you can work with them only with open windows and doors, because. when dried, they emit a sharp pungent odor of coloring pigments, which persists for 3-5 days. There is an alkyd with polyurethane without such odors, but the prices for it "bite".

Washable water "dispersion" is perfect for painting the walls in the hallway.

Acrylic styrene paints are also suitable for solving the problem of changing colors in the corridor. The best version of this series is butadiene dispersion for interior work.

All these paints offer a variety of texture options: from matt glossy or brilliant lacquer to the effect of wet silk or soft velor.

Having finished selecting the paint, according to its properties, do not forget to stock up on brushes, rollers, spray gun (according to the application technique), masking tape (for even separation of painted surfaces) and stencils if desired.

Choice of color and color zones

Before opening the catalog with colors, evaluate your hallway. Advantages? Disadvantages The color of the walls you choose in the corridor can not only change the appearance of the room, but also correct, mitigate visible flaws.

In the video: a combination of colors in the interior.

It is known that if the ceiling height is disproportionately high in relation to the hallway area, then the corridor itself seems uninhabited and uncomfortable with any wall pattern. This shortcoming can be easily corrected by painting the ceiling and the upper part of the walls with the same color up to the front door opening. In this case, a light or pure white ceiling, “lowered” onto the wall, is separated from the rest of the area with a baguette or panel in a contrasting color, delimiting the wall from the ceiling.

If the high hallway is also narrow, then consider finishing the doorway with other materials, or simply paint the entire door wall in a rich, contrasting, dark color is best. This will visually “push apart” the walls in the hallway, make it wider.

What color should the hallway be painted if there is a low ceiling? In this case, the color of the walls should either end up right next to the ceiling, or “crawl” onto it partially. The border between the colors is separated by a contrasting stripe. With this technique, it is desirable to make the ceiling a reflective surface, for which we will give preference to light colors with glossy structures.

For a hallway with a low ceiling, furniture with a shiny lacquer surface and large mirrors will be in demand.

You can also use the optical effect of “fullness” and “thinness” known to women using vertical and horizontal stripes and lines. Vertical - "thinness", horizontal - "fullness". However, using this effect, it is necessary to correctly select not only the width of the stripes and their combinations, but also the brightness of the colors, otherwise we will get the topic: “How to paint a corridor in the style of a chicken-pocket.” Do not overload the corridor with color spots!

Do not overload a small hallway with colored bas-reliefs, and photo wallpapers with a spatial pattern on one of the walls will only be welcome. You can draw a beautiful picture with a landscape “leaving” into space if you are confident in the artist’s own abilities. A high-quality fresco, painted by a professional artist, will undoubtedly not only decorate the appearance of the entrance to the house, but also give a special personality to your room.

When choosing a color directly, remember that dark and juicy tones visually reduce the size of any room, light and soft shades, as it were, increase them. Therefore, light colors are appropriate for small hallways, while dark or intensely sharp tones are acceptable for large hallways.

All red-yellow colors (especially saturated ones) seem to the eye to protrude, convex against the background of pale pastel colors, which “brings” the walls together, reducing the area of ​​​​the room. All beige, creamy, blue and light green - move away and make your hallway more spacious.

If the corridor has natural light, then with windows located on the north side, we choose “warm” colors of colors. With windows on the south side - "cold". "Warm" - all colors dominated by sunny shades of yellow, red, beige, apricot, chocolate, etc. All "cold" colors contain shades of blue.

The green color beloved by many can be both “warm” and “cold”, everything will depend on the amount of white, yellow or blue color in it.

When using stencils, the same rules apply:

Interestingly, a large bright pattern under the ceiling will produce an expansion effect. If you are afraid to make a mistake with the choice, you can’t decide what color to paint the walls in the corridor, or how to choose the right accents, there is a win-win option. Buy floor paint in the same color as the walls and ceiling, and cover all surfaces with the same color.

Looks fresh, lively and creative! The main thing is that the paint should be pastel colors, it is not recommended to use rich colors. After painting, protect the walls from “injuries” for a month, until the paint sets completely, acquiring the wear resistance stated on the label.

After complete drying, it is not recommended to clean the surface with powder or abrasive pastes, using brushes and iron sponges, a warm solution of a neutral detergent of medium alkalinity is sufficient. Average alkalinity - no higher than 9pH.

Beautiful color combinations (2 videos)

Hallway design options (28 photos)

what color is best to paint a small hallway or a large one, color options

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05/25/2018

Various materials are used to finish the corridor. A good solution would be to paint the walls. Finishing should be taken with all responsibility, since the hallway is considered the hallmark of the house. This is the first room that guests enter when they cross the threshold of the monastery. There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed in order to get the job done right. So, how to paint the corridor?

How to paint a corridor correctly

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Before they start painting the hallway, they solve many problems. This applies to the preparation of the work surface and tools, and most importantly - the choice of color. The quality of the final result directly depends on the choice of paint. When choosing a shade, it is worth considering your preferences and the size of the room.

Small room and color choice

Finishing a small room requires a special design approach. The main task is to visually expand the space. With this in mind, it is not recommended to make plain walls. It is better to opt for horizontal lines. They will make the hallway more spacious. If there is a need to increase the height of the room, then vertical lines will optimally cope with this task.

When designing a small room, it is worth abandoning too dark colors. A good option would be beige or light brown shades. The use of light colors in the design will visually enlarge the small hallway. You can achieve this effect with the help of mirrors and metal decorative elements. It is recommended to opt for a glossy ceiling and floor.

Large entrance hall and color options

The presence of free space makes it possible to use almost any design ideas for decoration. If you want to create an expressive environment, then you should think about decorating the walls in one color spectrum. It can be classic light green or green, turquoise or olive.

For bold and creative people, the best solution is the contrast of colors. Shades should be combined with each other. It is best to entrust the solution of the problem of choosing a color to designers. After all, here we are talking not only about the combination of paint used to paint the walls. Contrasting design involves combinations of floor, ceiling and wall finishes.

Features of work

Before proceeding with the choice of paint and finishing, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the operation of the room. The walls in the corridor are subjected to increased stress. Temperature fluctuations, dust and mechanical damage can reduce the life of the coating. To prevent this, you need to properly approach the repair of the hallway.

Which paint to choose

It is recommended to use a waterproof and resistant material for painting the walls in the corridor. It must be safe and not contain substances that are toxic or harmful to human health. Given these requirements, the following paints can be used for repair work:

  1. Polyvinyl acetate. The paint has low water resistance. The main disadvantage is the low resistance to wear and mechanical damage. Therefore, it is used extremely rarely.
  2. Butadiene construction. Aqueous dispersions are characterized by high resistance to moisture, as well as good wear resistance. With the help of the material, you can create an original decorative coating.
  3. Acrylic. Acrylic-based paints resist moisture, wear and mechanical damage well. They are flexible and have a long service life. Acrylic dispersions are available on the market in a wide range of colors.

Alkyd enamel is a good solution. It should be borne in mind that the substance contains harmful components and when dried, it will stink strongly. Therefore, when carrying out repairs, it is worth ensuring normal ventilation of the room, as well as using respirators.

How many colors to use maximum

If the question is how many and what colors to use, then here it is worth considering the dimensions and geometric dimensions of the room. If the room is small, then use only two shades as much as possible. And this despite the fact that the design will be made in the form of horizontal or vertical stripes that visually increase the space.

As for the spacious hallways, it is possible to use a combination of different colors in them. They are used for decorating and zoning a room. Despite the presence of free space, do not overdo it. Using many shades will make the interior less attractive.

Choice of stylistic direction

The corridor is decorated in any stylistic direction:

When choosing a style direction, the dimensions of the room are taken into account.

Interior designer tips

When carrying out repairs in the corridor, it is worth considering the advice of designers:
  1. The right way of painting will hide the imperfections of the room and emphasize its advantages.
  2. In small corridors, it is recommended to use all available ways to expand the space. Particular attention should be paid to the use of light shades and mirror surfaces in finishing.
  3. Using stencils will create a unique interior. The main thing is to combine them with the overall interior.
  4. In spacious hallways, it is recommended to use a combination of colors. With their help, the space is divided into zones.

What determines a positive result

To design a corridor in an original way, take into account its size, shape, number of doors, as well as lighting.

Learn more