The (modern) entrance furnishing that will
make for a first great impression with your guests

The anteroom is the first housing space that welcomes us and our guests at the entrance. That’s why you should choose the anteroom furnishings very carefully: they are the business card of our house, the image that we give of ourselves and our lifestyle. So never underestimate the importance of the anteroom: you should pay the same attention to it that you pay to your kitchen, living room and bedroom.

An antechamber is usually wide enough to include a storage unit, a wardrobe, a few paintings or a small welcome-book case, shelves, a coffee table and coat hangers. The most important thing is that you choose the furnishings carefully, with an eye for sizes, style and colours.

Amsterdam storage unit by Bontempi Casa: storage unit with a wooden structure, two hinged doors, two push-pull baskets, cover, sides and doors made in lacquered wood or wood inserts.

How to choose your entry room furnishings

The entrance is the housing space that, compared the other rooms of the house, gets a little attention, although the furnishing here plays an extremely important role.
The solutions to furnish your antechamber are different, but are they all practical? One of the main features of the environment that welcomes us, as we enter our home, needs to be practicality. No frills, and many functional pieces of furniture, chosen according to size and disposition of the room depending on windows, heaters and power sockets.

Characteristics of the anteroom pieces of furnishing  

The furnishing for anterooms needs to be practical, convenient and personal. This space, in fact, is the business card of the house owner: from the entrance you can understand the style, habits and the way of life. Usually, these rooms are furnished with umbrella stands, coat hangers, coffee tables and modern storage units. All, though, depend on the availability of space, the arrangement of the walls and the quantity of light – natural or artificial.
Furnishing an anteroom is not easy as it seems, but it’s possible to transform it into the nicest room of the house with a few simple tips. Often, modern houses – built from the ‘90s onwards – haven’t any anteroom at all, so, coming in, you can directly reach the living room. In these cases it’s necessary to have an angle dedicated to an umbrella stand and a coat hanger, in order to avoid spoiling the living room with wet or dirty clothes and shoes.
So, if this is your case, you can play with separation walls to create a corner or a decorated screen that can become an original coat hanger.

Coat hanger Hula by Bontempi Casa: coat hanger with a geometric and asymmetric structure made of lacquered metal.

And when it comes to the colours of the anteroom furnishing… What colour should we pick for the storage unit, the coffee table and the bookcase? Keep in mind that a warm colour will make the environment homey, whereas lighter colours will make it brighter. Striking a balance between shapes and colours is not always easy, but you can follow a few tips that will help you to find the best solution.

Bright or pastel colours for the anteroom pieces of furnishing?

Surely, warm colours make the space cosy and homey, but they are not very bright. Entrances are usually dim, so what should we do? The advice from interior designers is to paint the walls white, not to experiment any other colour such as apricot or robin’s egg blue – fantastic alternatives for bedroom and living room, instead. White lightens, widens and brightens the space, so it’s best to choose this colour-not-colour for a small entrance without windows (that’s also a tip to follow to furnish small spaces).
Modern pieces of furnishing are often joinable, so you can play with different heights and choose the two-tone – a pale colour on the sides, and more powerful colours for the doors. Differently, the anteroom pieces of furnishing can also be minimal, leaving more space to the room and intensifying the light.

Ideas to furnish the entrance

The Internet is an inexhaustible source of ideas, inspirations and suggestions, even for furnishing. Before taking a risky step and choosing modern hallway furniture that does not suit your home, it is important to get a precise opinion on what you want and what you are looking for. Having a designer or architect who creates a scale drawing of your own entrance is a good starting point to understand how to furnish it. When you have identified the furniture that interests you, draw the shapes on a cardboard of the colour of the piece of furniture you have chosen, and try to put it on the floor plan of your anteroom. Doing so, you can get an idea of the final result. On the Bontempi Casa website you can try the special Configurator  to preview the product with the desired materials and colours. For those who love the minimal-chic style, there are creative solutions that play down and require very little space, such as, for example, a steel hanger in the shape of a tree.

Alga coat hanger by Bontempi Casa: lacquered metal coat hanger, available in different colours, with modular hooks.

Many people also use shoe racks at the entrance. In fact, going into the house, being able to take off your shoes and comfortably putting on your slippers, besides being pleasant, is very practical. For this purpose there are shoe racks that are also bedside tables, so as to make a piece of furniture versatile. Furthermore, a mirror will not only give the illusion of depth, but will reflect light, so it is an essential furnishing accessory for your entrance (also very practical to check your look before rushing to the office). Take advantage of the opportunity to choose an aesthetically appealing mirror, very large and with a refined frame.

King mirror by Bontempi Casa: floor mirror with a wall hook, structure in lacquered metal

Finally, the anteroom pieces of furniture can be completed with wall shelves and coffee tables, where to empty pockets, key rings, magazines and other everyday life objects. For the shelves: choose wood, or glass, because they are solid and elegant materials that can match the coffee table or other pieces of furniture placed at the entrance, such as sideboards and hangers. For the tables: prefer models with a captivating and original shape to attract the attention of the guests who just came in. If there is a window in the anteroom, adding one or more green plants is a decorative idea that not only completes the refined image of the entrance, but also conveys positivity and tranquillity to those who cross the threshold.

Osaka shelf by Bontempi Casa: wall-shelf made with curved crystal.

Tower coffee table by Bontempi Casa: coffee table with lacquered metal structure, top in veneered or lacquered wood or marble.

Last but not least, the chandelier for the entrance must be chosen with care because the artificial lighting – especially if there is no window – will determine the overall effect of the room. It is therefore better to prefer a hanging lamp, possibly open, so that the light can radiate all the space without remaining “closed” in dark ceiling lights. Light will definitely be decisive for the entrance furniture. Et voila!

Olimpia Lamp by Bontempi Casa: suspended lamp with lacquered metal structure.