This “Cold, Sterile, & Uninviting” Entryway Gets a Colorful Makeover for $200
ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER
HOME TYPE: Apartment
PROJECT TYPE: Entryway
STYLE: Colorful, Contemporary, Modern
SKILL LEVEL: DIY
RENTAL FRIENDLY: Yes
Whether you live in a large home with a grand entryway or an apartment with an old door that’s seen better days, it’s possible to make your home’s entrance feel special. Katie Nielsen’s (@thingsbykit) apartment entryway was “was cold, sterile, and uninviting,” and she decided to take matters into her own hands.
“The small coat closet didn’t offer a ton of storage, and the builder-grade boob-shaped ceiling light didn’t give off a lot of light,” Katie describes. “The retro white marble floor tiles were the only thing I liked about the space.” She upgraded the door, walls, and furniture in the entrance.
The door got a larger frame and a bold paint color.
“The door transformation made the biggest difference,” Katie says. “Adding trim to the door gave it character, and painting it green made the space feel bright, fresh, and welcoming.” And the trim and door frame were the easiest and hardest parts of the project, respectively.
“I bought a few $10 pieces of wood trim from the hardware store, cut them to size with a saw and miter box, and attached them to the door with wood glue before painting it,” Katie says of her DIY trim project. “It was a cheap, low-effort step that made a big difference.”
And regarding the paint color, she says she wishes she went with something more muted. (Although, this color is really leaning into the brat green trend!) The current color is Behr’s Pistachio. “It’s bright and fun, which is what I wanted, but … I may end up painting over it with a slightly softer shade of green sometime in the future,” Katie says. “I didn’t want to spend extra money on samples and decided to risk buying a color after only having seen the paint chip.”
A textured wallpaper adds interest but doesn’t overwhelm, color-wise.
Katie used leftover textured wallpaper on the wall below her newly added hooks, which creates the look of wall paneling for less. “It was my first time using any kind of wallpaper, but luckily my boyfriend, Liam, had a lot of experience applying vinyl, and the application wasn’t too different,” Katie recalls. “The biggest difference was that we had to soak this wallpaper in the bathtub to get it wet enough to stick to the wall, and we had to be very careful not to rip it when smoothing out air bubbles.”
After applying the wallpaper, Katie painted it in Behr’s Grey Mist. “I wanted a bright color for the door, and a light, neutral color for the accent wall,” Katie says. “The two colors would be right next to one another and surrounded by bright white walls. It was harder than expected to choose colors that fit my criteria, looked good together, and looked good on a white wall.”
The entryway makeover adds much more storage.
After figuring out the walls, Katie turned her attention to upgrading the storage in the entryway, especially after Liam moved in. (Think: added coat hooks, a hanging storage basket, a letter holder, a key hook, and a shoe cabinet.) “The goal was to maximize storage space and functionality without making the space feel cluttered,” Katie says.
For the picture frames, she wanted black squiggly frames to match the new mirror but couldn’t find any in her price range, so she bought gold ones and spray-painted them. She also sanded and stained a piece of scrap wood and used that to add a shelf to the top of the IKEA TRONES shoe cabinet. The runner on the floor is from Facebook Marketplace.
Her project total came to about $200, and the entryway has come such a long way. “I have more space to store coats and shoes, designated storage spaces to organize small items plus additional storage for small miscellaneous things, a place to put things down when I come in, and a mirror to make sure I’m ready before leaving the apartment,” Katie says. “It also feels much warmer and homier, is more inviting, and puts me in a good mood every time I leave the apartment and again when I come back home.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
Further Reading
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said
