Lighting the way into your home requires lighting that allows your or guests to enter safely. If you are coming in with an armload of grocery bags or your granny is coming for dinner, you want to make sure that there is enough illumination to prevent you or your guests from tripping on the doormat or on some water left on the floor from your kid’s wet boots. Beyond that, you want to make a good impression on all who set foot on your porch and come inside, whether they coming to your home for the first time or are a frequent repeat visitor. With proper entryway lighting outside and in with outdoor wall lanterns and wall mounted lights and interior entryway fixtures, you can meet all your objectives.

Most people have multiple points of entry to their home, but usually it is the front entryway that commands the most attention, which is why outdoor wall lanterns and copper porch lights are a popular accoutrement for illuminating doorways.

Once inside, your home might have a two-story foyer, consist of a hall that leads to stairs, or have an area where people take off their coats and boots. In some houses, there is not formal vestibule or foyer, so that guests enter right into the living room. All of these layouts call for a fixture that does the job, looks appropriate, and enhances the space.

Options For Entryway Lighting

There are four basic types of fixture that people use for entryway lighting:

1. Chandeliers, hanging fixtures that add a touch of glamour to your entryway
2. Pendants, smaller hanging lights that draw the eye upward
3. Ceiling lights, flush mount, semi-flush mount, or truck lighting great for small spaces
4. Wall lights or sconces, mounted by the door can provide just enough light, while taking up little space

What you choose should depend on the architecture of your home, your space, your style, your budget, and your lighting goals. Do you just want to allow safe entry into your home or do you want to show off exterior details or interior art or photos? Do you want to make a statement with your light fixtures? Do you want those who come in the door to immediately remove their costs and boot or shoes or do you want them to quickly pass through the entryway?

Making a statement might call for a larger fixture, but you should not overwhelm the space with something that is too large. Interior designers use this formula to plan the size of fixtures: Measure the length and width of your space, add the two figures, and convert the result frim feet to inches to find the right dimension. For a space 10′ x 12′, your calculation equals 22′, so a 22″ fixture is about right.

Depending on whether they point upward or downward, fixtures can bathe the room in ambient or mood light or provide more illumination for tasks. In a foyer where you might take off and hang up your coat and scan the mail, you might prefer more direct lighting from a fixture that provides light from the bottom. For more light, you should choose a fixture with clear glass that diffuses light or a shiny metallic finish that reflects.

Choosing The Right Entryway Lighting

If you have a roomy foyer or partially enclosed porch that is protected from wind, a chandelier might be your ideal choice. You might choose crystal if you like a more formal look, a drum design, or even an elegant copper lantern proportional to the space. For a 75 square foot or more room you should choose something 12″-18″ so as to not overwhelm the space. For a tall foyer, you can suspend the fixture on a long chain, while for one that normal ceiling height, you need to be concerned that taller guests have enough clearance to walk under it – a minimum of 20″.

For smaller spaces, pendants perform a similar function of adding drama to the room while offering plenty of ambient light. In contrast to chandeliers, they are sleeker, less expensive, and more flexible. You can group them for a bolder look or have them suspended in a row to light up a longer hallway. They can provide adequate task lighting as well.

For maximum head room, a flush mount or semi-flush mount fixture does the job. If your home has a small vestibule before entering a larger foyer, you might pick a small ceiling light that coordinates with a larger chandelier or pendant that you will suspend in the larger area.

Sconces have an important role to play in entryway lighting, as they can illuminate either side of a doorway inside or out, guide guests down a hall into other space, or accent photos or art. Like chandeliers or pendants, they can direct the light in multiple ways – up, down, or multiple direction. With the right design, they act as wall art themselves.

Coordinating Outdoor Wall Lantern With Other Fixtures

The entryway in your home commonly adjoins or leads into a dining room, living room, or kitchen. Especially in homes with open layouts, coordinating fixtures is important for cohesive design. Having lights that match is not essential but fixtures that are visible when one scans a space should at least share some design elements. If you select a beautiful copper chandelier or flush mount light with square lines for your entryway, your lighting choices should pick up the copper tone or the angles even if other fixtures vary in the detail

Copper lanterns from Lantern & Scroll present many choices for entryway lighting that complements other lighting throughout the inside and outside of your home. Offering collections of interior lighting that may include hanging, flush mount, or wall mount styles for exterior and interior locations, Lantern & Scroll custom produces its products, which allows you to order sizes and details that suits you.

With powder coatings available on many styles, you can even use a similar style throughout your home while varying the finish. For example, if you like our Canaan Cities line or our Ashley Street collection, you can choose white, black, gray, silver, or cobalt or saipan blue in appropriate areas inside your home, while choosing porch lights, a massive dining room chandelier, sconces for your foyer, and a flush mount fixture for a landing in traditional copper.

To see our collections and our customization choices for our copper lanterns, visit us online or at our Charlotte showroom.