Entry Foyer Lighting Ideas: For Large and Small Spaces

The foyer area is an important part of the home, since it is the first area people experience when they step into the house. Great entry lighting can play a big role in how the space looks and feels – even during the day.

Good lighting not only makes it a more pleasant space when you enter, but can help make things a lot easier to do. Like putting on your shoes at night, finding the keys, or checking the mail.

Lighting for Small Foyers: A lot of homes will have a standard sized foyer. Here the ceiling height can be normal height or double heighted. Either way, you’ll probably only need one ceiling light in a compact foyer to light it up. For a standard height ceiling, recessed lights or a flush mount light will work best. For a 1.5 or double height ceiling, you’ll want to bring the light down and away from the ceiling. So something like a pendant light is ideal – like the lights in pictures (1) and (2). If you have the space, then a nice mini chandelier can make a grand statement.

Foyer Lighting Ideas for Large Spaces: If you have a larger foyer space then you’ll probably need more than one light fixture to properly light up the area. A lot of people with a large foyer like to have a chandelier hanging down (or grand pendant lighting) – but this doesn’t have to be the classical crystal styled chandelier. It can be a more lantern styled chandelier (3), or more modern like the one in picture (4). In the same picture you can see that other foyer lights are being used too – like the table lamp and wall lights. You can also get more decorative lighting, like the display shelves in picture (5). Or another decorative lighting idea is to fit cove lighs like in picture (6)

Daytime Lighting: In the daytime you don’t want your foyer area to be a dark place – one where you’d have to turn on the lights. Instead, look to having windows that bath the foyer in natural lighting. Some ways to have windows and still keep privacy include fitting thin windows on the sides of the door like in picture (7), having a window panel above the door, using frosted/curtained windows on the door (8), or if you have a double height ceiling, a skylight would be a major design addition to have.

A Helping Hand – Having a side table would be a good idea. This can be a place for putting mail, keys, and having a table lamp. You can have a mirror hanging above (9), or sitting on top (this will make a smaller spaced foyer feel much larger). If you have a large foyer, some stools tucked away under the table can be useful when putting on shoes. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9