Comments
How to Make a Great First Impression With Your Front Door
Put your personal stamp on your front door, especially if it's in a corridor with neighbouring doors
Chiquit Brammall
30 July 2019
Design journalist and freelance editor. Dollhouse architect. Serial renter.
In an interview with The Straits Times about designers and homeowners personalising their HDB flats over the past weekend, I shared how many more homeowners are putting their mark on their apartments these days. Well, it’s not just tweaking the standard-issue layout by hacking internal walls or commissioning a characterful interior design that homeowners are putting their personal style statement on their flats with; some bold, creative ones are also including the front door.
1. With colour
A bold hue makes your home easy to spot if it’s in a line of similarly designed doors in a condo or HDB corridor. Pick up the colour with accessories, such as a coordinating welcome mat and topiaries.
A bold hue makes your home easy to spot if it’s in a line of similarly designed doors in a condo or HDB corridor. Pick up the colour with accessories, such as a coordinating welcome mat and topiaries.
In this maisonette, the front door is a bold pink, seen from within the foyer. A bright orange ceiling contrasts the pink in a delicious ice-pop combo.
7 elements of a welcoming apartment entrance
7 elements of a welcoming apartment entrance
Here’s the door viewed from the outside – still bold pink!
This lime green door is layered with a wire mesh screen door bearing the flat’s unit number. Quirky bird decals add to this pop of fun in an otherwise utilitarian-looking corridor.
Take the quiz! What colour should your front door be?
Take the quiz! What colour should your front door be?
2. Follow a theme
In this white-on-white-on-white foyer, a metal gate with horizontal lines comes before the tiled foyer space and a barn-style front door. All these design elements provide a clue to the minimalist-industrial style of the apartment’s interiors.
In this white-on-white-on-white foyer, a metal gate with horizontal lines comes before the tiled foyer space and a barn-style front door. All these design elements provide a clue to the minimalist-industrial style of the apartment’s interiors.
Intricately carved wooden doors are protected by a metal gate in this modern Balinese-style condo unit. The green, white and black colour scheme in this front door combination reflects the interior’s colour palette, too.
3. Go industrial with wire mesh
A popular choice among hipster homeowners, wire mesh gates allow for gate customisation where the unit numbers are laser-cut into the metal plate.
Read more about this home
A popular choice among hipster homeowners, wire mesh gates allow for gate customisation where the unit numbers are laser-cut into the metal plate.
Read more about this home
In this flat, the house number is spelled out in discreet but contrasting letters on the metal plate of the wire mesh gate.
A wire mesh gate is semi-transparent so whether it’s the generic front door or a customised one, you have an entrance that makes a sleek impression.
Take it up a notch with custom-designed wire mesh.
4. Make your numbers count
Laser-cutting allows you to imprint even a simple front door/gate with your house number. In this apartment, it’s in keeping with a sleek minimalist interior.
Read more about this home
Laser-cutting allows you to imprint even a simple front door/gate with your house number. In this apartment, it’s in keeping with a sleek minimalist interior.
Read more about this home
5. Keep it old school
Folding gates are both retro and industrial – perfect for a pre-war Art Deco flat…
Read more about this home
Folding gates are both retro and industrial – perfect for a pre-war Art Deco flat…
Read more about this home
… as well as a maisonette.
Another old school touch: The retro style of this flat shows through, and in, its retro geometric metal front gate.
And in this corner-unit maisonette, the old school look is brought in with the use of ventilation blocks that semi-screen the actual front door and create an entry nook.
Read more about this home
Read more about this home
6. Don’t let a private lift lobby stop you
Even if your apartment door isn’t one of a few along your floor, you can (and maybe should) still have a personal style statement at the entrance. This contemporary timber screen-style sliding door provides both transparency and privacy should the lift door accidentally open to this unit.
Even if your apartment door isn’t one of a few along your floor, you can (and maybe should) still have a personal style statement at the entrance. This contemporary timber screen-style sliding door provides both transparency and privacy should the lift door accidentally open to this unit.
Here is a view from inside the apartment looking out to the private lift lobby.
TELL US
Do you have a distinctive, designed front door? Share a photo in the Comments section, or share with us if you think all apartment doors should remain generic (and why).
Do you have a distinctive, designed front door? Share a photo in the Comments section, or share with us if you think all apartment doors should remain generic (and why).
Related Stories
Living Rooms
Yes, You Can Do Without a Sofa in the Living Room!
This is how to create a more appealing and cosy atmosphere in your living room without the need for a sofa
Full Story
Wardrobes
14 HDB Walk-in Wardrobes to Copy
In a housing typology that's not designed to have walk-in wardrobes, these designs are just the solution
Full Story
Interior Design
4-Room BTO Flat: 1 Floor Plan, 3 Different Looks
By Jasmine Goh
Think you're limited by your flat's cookie-cutter layout? These three homes – and their designers – show otherwise
Full Story
Kitchen Guides
The Key Measurements You Need to Know to Design Your Kitchen
Understanding spatial relationships, building dimensions and work zones will help you get the ideal kitchen setup
Full Story
Bedrooms
Why Build a Platform Bed
Need more reasons to ask your designer to custom-build a platform bed for your room? Here are six
Full Story
Bathroom Guides
Key Measurements to Make the Most of Your Bathroom
Fit everything comfortably in a small or medium-size bath by knowing standard dimensions for fixtures and clearances
Full Story
Small Spaces
Space-Maximising Lessons from 5 3-Room HDB Flats
Can a 3-room flat ever feel luxurious? These 5 designs demonstrate how
Full Story
Kitchen Ideas
40 Fabulous Kitchen Islands
By Niki Bruce
The kitchen island has become a staple in modern homes and indispensable when it comes to entertaining
Full Story
Safety & Maintenance
How to Deep-Clean After a Renovation
Before you bring in the boxes and unwrap your furniture, check that all's really clean
Full Story
Bedrooms
Best of the Week: 36 Platform Beds for Sound Sleep Plus Storage
By Niki Bruce
Platform beds give a modern twist to your bedroom decor and offer lots of extra storage
Full Story