The entry to a home must be one of the most important in terms of design consideration.
If space and budget allow, I love creating a proper entry vestibule where you can answer the door without those outside seeing too much of inside.
Of course if they are welcomed in, then the house can be revealed!
The direction that a new visitor should take after entering the home can, and should be, dictated by the entry layout. From the front door, the 'flow' of a house should be intuitive and good design makes this possible.
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| our current project: entry |
I've posted once before about my penchant for practical stair location
HERE. I believe that stairwells in second story homes
should not
automatically be visible immediately upon entering a two storey home (in moi opinion) but located where they
functionally make sense. In this project, I
did place them in the entry, as I wanted the visitor to be
drawn upstairs to the main living areas which are
unusually, on the top floor.
The entry in this house was complex; becoming a crucial segment that joined two diverging planes in the house. (F*%& I'm impressing meself!!!)
In ordinary 'speak', we had two sections of the house that joined at an unusual angle in the entry.
It was an awkward arrangement and one I really struggled with. If our budget was more generous we would have engaged an architect. Any how, it's now done. To make the odd shaped space more visually palatable, I plan to 'square' it up with joinery. The cupboard on the LHS of the entry door will achieve this and also enclose a very bulky sub-board electrical box. Clever. *pat self*
I'm envisioning joinery that will be 'invisible' thus creating a 'wall effect'.
Wall-coloured doors, push-to open-catches....
If I had the luxury of increased ceiling height in this area, a lowered or heightened ceiling following a more rectangular shape would have been ideal but a step up in the floor made this impossible, more's the pity...
David's study is located to the left of the entry. He occasionally has clients and employees visiting and this location supported family privacy. Likewise the guest suite is accessed from here to enable immediate welcoming of guests and settlement into their rooms whilst affording seclusion from the residing family (US! LOL!) if desired. (probably!)
A double width
Cavity Sliding Door on the right of the entry will further isolate family (teen) activity (noise) if required or open to a guest self-sufficient area with lounge, kitchenette and laundry facilities.
Multi-functionality really drove the design of these areas.
The stair-well to the
lower ground level; garage, storage and cellar is also located to the immediate right of the entry, centrally located between the three levels. I planned for a
dumbwaiter to be installed between all three levels but the cost proved prohibitive. ($15 K!) Perhaps a future buyer may realise this intention as the space is still allocated for a retro-fit.
The front door is a massive commercial thing with two fixed side-lights and a over sized centre pivot door. We chose clear glazing as the view was too good to obstruct however we ensured no internal privacy was compromised in doing so.
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| Entry door 2011 |
I'll leave outside for future posts....
Oh, and it now looks like we need some re-glazing too...the wind blowing a 'stop' sign (
don't ask!) over and smashing a side-light! #!*@ !!!!
Thank God I've got a sense of humour!
x KL
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