By Pat Allin

For my first appearance in The Montrose Monitor, I'm going to talk about entrances. The entrance to your home welcomes you. It helps you unwind and start to relax after a long day.

While some entrances are quite grand, others are non-existent. Some doors dump you directly into the living room with no transition at all. But, guests and homeowners appreciate an attractive entrance.

There are two sides to an entrance: the public outdoor approach and the inner transition to private space. Both should give you pleasure on entering and will influence the way you feel inside the house.

The path from the street should provide a graceful transition between the street and the house. It might be a bend in the path through a gate and past the forsythia on the way to the front door. Changing the texture of the path can also contribute to the feeling of transition. Perhaps you step from the sidewalk onto a stone path through a sheltered garden, then up a step and under a trellis covered by an ancient vine.

There are, of course, practical considerations. Be sure the entrance can be clearly seen and that guests are not confused about where to park and enter. Family entrances should be close to the kitchen for carrying in packages.

When you come home, you want to forget about the work day and settle down into the sanctuary of home. People want their homes to be private, set apart from the street and the world beyond. Having an entrance, a transition between the street and the interior establishes this feeling of privacy. An abrupt entrance robs you of a feeling of arrival and takes away from the feeling of a house as an inner sanctum.

The experience of entering your home influences the way you feel inside it. It should let others know a little about you and what's inside. An entrance sets the tone for the house-formal or informal. An old chest with your grandmother's gilt-framed mirror lets a visitor know you love antiques and carrying on tradition. A bench with coat hooks above and a place for boots says this is an informal house. An entrance should be a pleasant, light and beautiful place.

Your entrance should include a coat closet and enough space to welcome guests. A five-foot clear space is enough room for people to take off their coats. The worst entrance I ever had was a split-level foyer. You entered onto a landing and either fell up or down the stairs. I say this because the kids used to come home from school and dump all their boots, coats and school books on that landing.

An entrance needs a window or side light so that when you answer the door, you can see who is there. The natural light of entrance windows makes the foyer feel spacious and welcoming. They also allow plants or perhaps a waterfall to set the tone of the house. People entering may need shelter from the weather while they are waiting. It is nice to have the outside entrance enclosed on three sides of a covered space. Provide at least 20 square feet outside the front door, perhaps with a railing or low wall, for people to step out onto.

Have a shelf outside near the entrance so that you can set down your package while you look for your key to unlock the door. A shelf or chest inside the entrance allows you to set down the package while you hang up your coat.

In sum, the main entrance to your home should be a light-filled area that straddles the boundary between indoors and outdoors, enclosing some space outdoors and inside. The outdoors part could be an old-fashioned porch, the inside a plant-filled transition from garden to home.

Some tips: Paint your front door a bright color. According to feng shui principles, bright colors attract good fortune. Red is especially auspicious.

If you are stuck with a house that has no entrance, try placing a bookshelf or tall bench next to the door to offer some privacy for the room beyond.

Let your entry tell people who you are: decorate the walls with your favorite art or family photos.

Above all, make your entrance say, "Welcome Home!".

Published in The Monitor, Montrose, CO. Copyright © 2005 by Pat Allin