Habitat plus - making an entrance

If you have the space for one, an entrance foyer is a blessing.

It creates a sense of arrival, it’s a place to pause, and to help lead you to where you want to go next – whether that’s up the stairs or on to other rooms. A hallway or foyer may be just a transitional space, but it sets the tone for the rest of the interior, so it’s worth putting some thought into how it looks. This particular example is roomy and light, thanks to the full-length window beside the front door and the open-riser stairs. The wall behind the stairs is perfect as a feature wall, to offset the sculptural nature of the staircase.

Top tip: In these examples, we used the same bold front door colour that would be used on the outside, but if your front door colour is too strong for your interior scheme, simply paint each side of the door a different colour.

1. The mellow tones of the duck egg grey Resene Tiara feature wall are a great counterpoint to the golden tones of the honeyed timber stairs. This colour is not a classic beige-based neutral but has the same restful characteristics and could easily be used on all of the walls in this foyer. Keeping in the same colour family but in a deeper shade, Resene Ming is a saturated blue-green for the front door. This scheme would look great in a coastal home.

2. A classic pairing of black and red is interpreted here with a feature wall in Resene Blackjack – a leathery carbon black with a heavy, forceful mood – and one of Resene’s all-time favourite reds, Resene Pohutukawa for the front door. Resene Pohutukawa has been a fool-proof favourite for years, creating cheery front doors up and down the land.

3. The warm terracotta tones of Resene Ayers Rock are daringly paired here with a front door in Resene Persian Red, a deep velvety red. Using two quite ‘hot’ colours works here because of the unfussy architectural lines of the house and the coolness of the reflective glossy floor tiles.

4. Taking this space just a little bit retro, a feature wall in the deep-water teal of Resene Blumine pairs up with a front door in the sassy yellow-orange of Resene Meteor. Because of the timeless, slightly modernist look of this space, this mid-century colour scheme works particularly well here.

› Return to Habitat plus 03 - interior colour schemes

Updated 2/17

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