Entryways are frequently overlooked in the home, rarely redecorated, or given some design attention. However, the room that welcomes you home—and your guests—is crucial to decorate and create to the best of your ability.

Balancing practicality and beauty is one of the fundamental challenges of putting together some excellent entryway ideas. A well-organized entryway closet or some shelves can help with the utilitarian side, but you still need to hit a balance between making your foyer a welcoming area for your visitors and family.

Fortunately, there are a plethora of clever foyer ideas to help you arrange your doorway while also making it lovely. The secret is multitasking: designing a room that provides all of your household’s storage and clutter-management needs while still appearing appealing (and welcoming). Here are some of our best entrance décor, lighting, furniture, and other ideas to help you design a room you’ll adore.

1 Use Vibrant Colors in the Entryway

While choosing the appropriate paint colors won’t help you organize your doorway, it could distract guests enough that they don’t notice any leftover clutter. Plus, entering a color-coordinated environment like this foyer, with its matching door and ceiling painted olive green (similar to Sherwin-Williams’ Rock Garden), is likely to calm the soul.

2 Choose built-in storage.

Built-ins suggest that a place was designed to be coordinated and neat. Few home decor items or entrance ideas appear as effortlessly brought together as built-ins: they hint that space was produced to be coordinated and tidy. True built-ins are expensive (and permanent), but you can always fake the look of built-ins—and built-ins provide superb storage with a high-end, personalized aesthetic. This example, which features a polished door option from Diamond cabinets, provides multifunctional entrance storage space for all family members.

3. Add Wainscoting to Your Entryway Walls

Entryways are high-traffic areas, therefore they should be able to handle the constant foot activity (and the bumps, dings, and scratches that come with it).

That’s why wainscoting is such a great option for foyers and entryways: The molding conceals blemishes, the surfaces are easy to clean, and the coating protects the wall underneath. The pristine white paneling is especially eye-catching when paired with a softer tint (here, Sherwin-Williams’ Drift of Mist).