I want to show you how to create the most welcoming entryway. Of the four different homes we’ve lived in our current home has the most amazing entry.
The first home we built didn’t have an entry at all. The front door opened right into the carpeted living room. Not my best plan but no worries no one ever used that door anyway.
The second home we build had a nice tiled entry but it really wasn’t very big and got tight when a family was trying to come in and take off their shoes.
Our first home in Arizona was a spec house. The entry for that home was just a long tiled walk way that went from the front door the full length of the carpeted living room to the kitchen and family room.
Our current welcoming entry
The entry in this home is pretty dreamy. I love it so much. It is a designated entry and a good size. There is plenty of space for people to come in and not feel like they are in a tight space.
We started by painting the space and living with it for awhile. It has a beautiful tray ceiling that I wanted to accent plus make the whole space warm and welcoming.
A beautiful tray ceiling
The tray ceiling is a beautiful way to add dimension to the space. Because it was so beautiful and unique I really wanted to elevate it.
I knew that adding shiplap and crown moulding to the ceiling would be a great way to create the most welcoming entryway. Not only would it be unique and pretty it would be memorable.
Because the space isn’t huge it really didn’t take a lot of time. I love the way it looks. For a more in depth description of how we created the beautiful ceiling check it out here.
To complete the welcoming entryway we wanted to create we added this gorgeous orb chandelier. It was purchased from overstock which has a gorgeous selection of orb chandeliers in various sizes and prices. This one is similar to the one we purchased and about the same price point.
Painting the door
The next step we took in this entry was the quickest and least expensive. In fact it was free because I had the supplies from a different project. All I did was paint the door black. The original white door didn’t do much for the space.
Painting it black was pretty simple and made a major difference to the look of the entry. I loved the way it looked instantly. Well let me take that back I was a little nervous before I got it all painted. It was looking pretty horrible to begin with.
Painting the door added so much depth in the space and really elevated our entry. We were able to create the most welcoming entryway just by painting the door. For more pictures and details about painting the door check it our here.
How an accent wall creates the most welcoming entryway
I love love love adding an accent wall to a space. It makes such a huge difference and usually doesn’t take a lot of time or cost a lot of money.
We had done some shiplap in different areas of the house but I decided I wanted to add board and batten to the entry. There were a couple reasons I leaned toward board and batten instead of shiplap. I wanted to save a little money and time but I also wanted something a little simpler but still beautiful.
I had some ideas about the decor I was wanting to change up so I wanted to keep it simple and clean.
Supplies
You will not believe how inexpensive this project was. The wood used for the board and batten was less then $40. I wasn’t going to the ceiling because I wanted to be consistent with the height of the shiplap we’d previously installed. Because we have 10 foot ceilings it goes decently high up the wall but adds character by not taking it to the ceiling. Taking it too the ceiling would have looked fine I just wanted to do something a little unique and was liking the look of it not all the way up. Another greater way to create the most welcoming entryway.
I also wanted to keep the spacing decently large. These primed trim boards are really inexpensive and readily available. We picked them up at our local Home Depot.
- two 8 foot 3 1/2″ boards
- six 6 foot 3 1/2″ boards.
Prep work
Normally I would give the trim boards a coat of paint before installing. Since I was planning to paint the wall the same color as the trim boards it wasn’t necessary. So there really wasn’t any prep except patching a couple holes in the wall. Made me love this project even more.
Installation
This project went really quickly. We did it on a very busy Saturday. We got going first thing in the morning and were still able to finish the accent wall plus all the items on our to do list.
Monte began by marking all the studs so he knew if we’d have something to nail too. The horizontal piece wasn’t going to be a problem because we were running the full length of the wall and were bound to run into studs. We just needed to know where they were.
We began by running the horizontal top piece. The height of this was dictated by the height of the shiplap we’d installed in a different space but could be seen so we wanted it to be consistent. One end of the horizontal piece was going on the end of the wall and would leave a raw edge. To make this look better Monte cut a 45 degree angle on the end then did a return creating a finished edge. A simple trick that made it look custom and professional. The look we’re always after. He glued the small piece and nailed it with a small nail. After it was hung we used caulking and paint to hide the seam.
Because the wall we were working on was longer then 10 feet we were forced to have a seam on this piece. It wasn’t a huge deal because caulking and paint can fix that problem pretty easily and quickly.
Vertical Installation
After the horizontal piece was up we added the two size pieces. Because these pieces were on the edge we were able to find studs to nail too. These were the easiest to install. Cut the boards to size. Put it in place and nail.
The next step was measuring and figuring out how to space the boards evenly. This took a little time and discussion. I’m sure there is a math formula for this but I didn’t know it so I had to figure it out my own way. We took the full length of the wall. Subtracted the total width of the boards we were going to use and divided by how many sections we wanted. This told us the space between each board. We then started on one end, measured and installed the next board. We did double check our measurements before we nailed them up.
Because we were not going to hit studs we used liquid nails to adhere the boards to the wall plus nailing them in place. The liquid nails is super cheap and dries quickly. The only problem we had was it kept cunning out of the gun after we quit squeezing the trigger.
Figuring out the spacing was the trickiest part of the whole project.
Caulking and paint
We didn’t realize the depth of some of the boards we purchased and our existing baseboards were not the same. The board and batten was a little deeper and stuck out over the baseboard. We decided to sand it back just a bit so it was flush with the baseboards. It wasn’t too tricky but made it look a lot better.
After everything was installed and sanded we caulked all the edges and nail holes let it set for a few minutes then gave everything a coat of paint.
The caulking is ready to paint in 20 minutes so it doesn’t take long. I used my brush to paint all the edges.
I then rolled between the boards and on the face of the boards. After a couple coats of paint it was finished and looked amazing.
This was such a fun, quick and inexpensive project. My favorite kind.
This simple inexpensive project helped us create the most welcoming entryway. It really is a show stopper when someone comes to out home.
