On my last trip to the US, I spent a month moving between Airbnbs and family homes in the suburbs.

Most days had the same rhythm. You pull into the garage, the door rolls down behind you, and you walk straight into the kitchen.

Keys, bags, and mail go straight onto the kitchen bench. Shoes come off awkwardly by the garage door (or didn’t come off at all 🙄).

Almost every one of those homes had a proper front entrance. Hardly anyone used it.

It seems like a small thing, but how you come home affects the rest of the house more than most people realise.

An entry has a job to do

A good entryway does a few practical things. It gives you somewhere to put things down, keeps dirt and weather from travelling through the house, and marks the shift from being out in the world to being home

Higashiomi House by Heath Architects (left) & Photography by Jessica Antola

In Japan, the genkan is a small lowered area just inside the front door. You take off your shoes at the lower level, then step up into the house.

Older homes often have a vestibule for a similar reason. An extra door between the street and the living space keeps snowy boots, heavy coats, and freezing air near the entrance.

Design by Zoe Feldman. Photography by Michael Clifford (left)

You’ll find the same thinking in a Victorian terrace. Many had a hallway, a hallstand with hooks, a mirror, and a spot for wet umbrellas. Everything you carried in had a place before you reached the rest of the house.

Form without function

Modern homes kept the look of an entry but often lost the job.

The front foyer gets the console table and the nice mirror. The garage door the family actually uses usually opens onto a hallway or laundry with nowhere to put anything.

I see the same pattern in a lot of homes I look at.

So the rest of the house picks up the slack. The kitchen bench becomes the drop zone, and coats end up over the back of a dining chair.

Fix the door you actually use

You don’t need a mudroom to fix this. Start at the door you use most, even if it’s the back door or the laundry.

Then think about what you carry through it on a normal day. For most people, that’s keys, a bag, a coat, and shoes, and each one needs somewhere to go within a step or two of the door.

A few hooks, a low bench or cabinet to sit on while you take your shoes off, and a tray for keys will cover most of it. If you have the space, add a mat or a floor that can handle a bit of dirt, and a light you can switch on as you walk in.

Get that right, and the rest of the house stays calmer, because the kitchen bench can go back to being a kitchen bench.

It also changes how coming home feels. You get a moment to put things down and arrive.

This was one of five principles from my latest video on why Japanese and Scandinavian homes often feel better than much bigger ones. I also get into the higher cost of the garage entrance there, and how it changed the way neighbours meet.

If you want the rest, including how they handle light, open-plan living and materials that age well, you can watch the full video here.

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And I’m curious: which door do you actually use when you come home? Hit reply and tell me.

Cheers,
Reynard