apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cow!!! :D

That cow looks like it has a white heart on its head! super cute!

When I see the top picture, I wanted to say, shut the door, were you raised in a barn? ha ha ha ha!

I don't really have an entryway, it's just come in. There's about a four inch gap between the door and the wall, it's wide enough for coats. I like most of what is about the last one except with the picture and the sconces, in spite of the peacock feather wallpaper and the assortment of other representational items, it's sort of funereal. Welcome to the memorial service for guy wearing sunglasses.

hey, that's the cowntess arriving for a visit.

I think the photos from domino are disappointing. I expected to see the view into a house from a doorway. These are mostly tightly cropped vignettes that could have been shot in an entry... or in almost any part of a house.

I do think the entry is important, and I think that's part of the reason why split foyers went in and OUT of fashion so quickly. Talk about a dead-end feeling right inside the door. Bad feng shui for sure.

But more to the point, this can be hard if your front door opens right into a room. Creating a landing space or pretty vignette behind 'door number one' takes a lot more creativity in those cases. I've got an odd entry myself, but at least because of a shift from wood to carpet, there's a semblance of a foyer. I'd like to put a great chandelier in this space!

Can anyone identify the red pendant lamp (modern chandelier) in the second photo?

The entrance to our apartment is in a corner of the living room pretty much - when you open the door fully, it sits up against the wall next to it. So we don't have an entrance that I consider. The best we've done is add a tray table with a place to put keys and such. No coat closet or coat storage (beyond using the bedroom closets as such) - so guests coats and things tend to go on our bed til they are ready to leave. Always interesting to have to remember who had on which coat - LOL.

Never mind guests, it's the first thing *I* see when I come in the house. My front hall was the only room in my house I had a complete vision for, for years, and now I am nearly satisfied with it. It's also the only part of my house that I strive to keep completely orderly (not always easy with lots of recycling going out). But I breathe a huge sigh of relief every night when I come home through my beloved front door.

Is it sad that I noticed the coatrack before I noticed the cow?

That reminds me of a book on my to read list, "A Buffalo in the House":
http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-House-Story-Animal-American/dp/1595581650

I noticed the coat rack first too!

I'd love to see a post on how to create an entry when you don't have one, a situation many of us are faced with.
(I am considering buying a house with a tiny living room with no foyer, so need some encouragement).

I'd also like to see a post on how to create an entry when you have none. Like ChrisGal, my front door opens into a corner of the living room, right up against the wall.

When I had the living-room-as-foyer problem, I positioned the sofa with narrow console table behind it at a right angle to the door. It gave a slight sense of separation, and the table was handy near the door. It also directed incoming traffic through the shortest point of the living room instead of through the middle.

Same, Myshkin! My door opens right into the space where the living room meets the kitchen. The first thing you see is a wall, approximately one or two feet away from the door when it's open all the way. We currently hang coats and scarves on the wall, on hooks, so it's not the prettiest view; and we have a little table to the left of the door, on the living room side of it (and the side that opens), for putting mail and stuff on. But it's a kind of hectic way to arrive home, trying to take off your shoes and hang up your coat and deal with your bag and put down whatever else you're carrying all without tracking city grime off of the little entry rug that we've set down to visually separate the area, or setting your bag down without dropping it in a puddle of slush that you just dragged in.

It's a high-traffic area, too, because you need to cross it to go from the living/dining area to the kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom; and it's only about four feet wide or so, for maybe three feet in length (basically the length of the door). So even just the coats hanging there make it kind of closed-in, visually, and with shoes and other various daily clutter it's just sucky, as a central and focal aspect of the apartment.

Yes, it is sad that someone saw the coatrack before the cow. That cow says "don't eat me". I love that cow.

A foyer in an apartment is a luxury, but in a townhouse or house I think it's a necessity. I never feel right when walking directly into someone's living room. In my odd house I have an overly large foyer that I thought was a waste of space at first, but it's a good place to drop things, dry the dogs, shed the shoes, receive guests. It's a mudroom crossed with a foyer. I try to keep a Chinese table and mirror arrangement looking spiff, but it's usually messy. I love the last Domino entryway, with the Peacock feather wallpaper. But I would remove the photo and replace it with a tray for keys and things. I see no place for photos in an entryway.

Myshkin - I would love to see posts for our situations but for the most part I tend to find foyers a waste of space. I'd love to have a coat closet (I hate coatracks - it looks messy to me).

For the couch idea, can't do it with a living room only 10 feet wide. Once I take off the minimum of three feet for the door and the almost three feet for the width of the couch, I'm only left with four feet for my coffee table and TV stand (I'd only have a couple inches left).

Here's my floorplan for anyone who wants to give it a shot to make a foyer. My living room furniture includes my couch (3 feet by 7.5 feet), my TV stand (2 ft by 3ft), a chair (about 2 ft each way), my coffee table (1.5ft by almost 4 ft), and my desk (2ft by 4ft). [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/evilgirldawn86/SandstoneCourt.jpg[/IMG]

Whoops -- here's the link -- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/evilgirldawn86/SandstoneCourt.jpg

Myshkin, I have seen people hang a curtain from the ceiling some distance from the front door and parallel to it, and tie it back, and put a narrow table on or against the wall in that created enclosure. It gives some privacy when you answer the door as well.

The solution the farmhousemoderne suggested works well, too. Especially if there is something tall on the table, like lamps or a flower arrangement or plant or sculpture.

I've seen screens used, but that tends to make me think of Chinese restaurants (the feng shui thing). You can also hang plexi panels with steel cable. I'm sure I've seen that done here on AT.

Forestdweller -- I think from what Myshkin has said, the door (when opened) hits the wall - as in no space. At least that's my situation. As in when we decided to put in the tray table for keys, it's literally in the living room.

ChrisGal, oops, so it is. Maybe the curtain or panels would still work, or those curtains of capiz shell that were featured in the Target post? I thought those looked interesting. With a narrow, elongated basket or box underneath. Just thinking out loud.

This is the capiz curtain. I don't know why, but it appeals to me:

http://www.target.com/Capiz-Curtain-Blue/dp/B001BO245I/sr=1-10/qid=1233087601/ref=sr_1_10/184-6676504-0011145?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Acapiz&page=1

Forestdwellers - I have a desk not four feet from the door under the windows. I refuse to move it mostly because I love being able to sit at my desk and look out (granted I only get a good view of a parking lot). Even if I moved the desk, I'd have to move a bookshelf there. We have a vaulted ceiling so curtain panels wouldn't do at all.

I guess with the desk being where it is and the tray table being to the side of the door, it is almost a foyer. I've considered trying to find a small rug that would almost perfectly fit the 4' by 4' square that has formed around the door. I considered putting an short ottoman by that side of my desk as a small place to sit to put on shoes or layer things guests have like purses - but I do have a small shelf system on my desk there and I'd be blocking it.

Mostly it's been left alone since whoever comes in the door is walking into the living room and I can't really create a second space in that weird corner.