End to End

Comprehensive Interior Design Guide on Foyer

What is a foyer?

Foyer stems from French origins. It refers to an entrance hall or an opening in a house, flat, apartment, or common public space. The word foyer has become interchangeable with entryways, entrance halls, and hallways with time and use. It is a space where you can welcome a visitor or a guest when they enter your house. Foyers are also spaces where you can ask people to wait. 

Typically, foyers were used to allow people to wait to meet the owners of the house. Butlers or maids asked guests to wait in the foyer while they fetched the homeowners. Nowadays, foyers are used as spaces in large houses and apartments, such as an opening aesthetic to the entire space's decor. 

Foyer and entrance

An entrance to a house may or may not have a foyer. Not all entrances are designed to look welcoming. The difference between an entrance and a foyer is given below.

• Foyer entrance

When an entryway has been redesigned to have elements to allow guests to sit, wait, or browse around.

Many people use the entrance of their home or apartment as a foyer by building in a design that can optimally utilise the space in this manner. 

Most foyers contain a large light, bench or chairs, a table, a coat rack, etc. In the lobbies of hotels, foyers contain elements to help entertain people while they wait.

An entrance does not necessarily need to be decorated. It simply can be an outlet or inlet into another space. 

• Foyer length

If you consider building a foyer, then take the rule of thumb when it comes to foyer dimensions, should be roughly 2-4% of your home's total square feet. 

• Large space

Usually, foyers are quite palatial and spacious. A large home would have a large foyer, especially depending on whether the house is single or double-storeyed. Large and grand sized foyers are sized anywhere between 20-30 feet. Medium-sized foyers are often scaled at 6 feet.