Your front door area welcomes others to your home and helps set the tone of your home. Whether you choose a traditional, contemporary, country or other look, decorating the front door area should reflect your tastes as well as meet your needs. Give some thought to your front door itself as well as your flowers and plants, railings, porch light, address sign, mail box and any other accessories you need or would like to add.
If you want a country theme, consider doing something interesting such as using an antique milk can as your mailbox. Your address sign could have a country look in painted wood, but to avoid too much detail or too many different colors that can look tacky, limit the amount of motifs and colors you use. A cow painted on your address sign may look cute, but that plus farm animal wind chimes and a farm animal welcome mat may just be too busy and too much animal overload to look stylish. When decorating the front door area, keep the color scheme to neutrals plus one basic accent color — such as a black and white cow motif plus a blue painted door and a black or white flower pot with blue flowers in it.
When decorating the front door area for a contemporary look, think of metal accents and clean lines. Keep the metal to one color whether it is shiny brass or polished steel. Large, simple metal address numerals can look stunning, but make sure they are easy to see from the road. Porch lighting should be in a modern glass and metal style and coordinate with the look of the front door. Whatever color you choose as an accent color, try a welcome mat with accents of that color and sleek, metal planters or pots containing flowers of that color to pull the modern look together.
A traditional or classic styled home can use antique lanterns as porch lights or wooden planters or any materials you prefer. However, even when decorating the front door area in a traditional style, care should be taken to match wood tones and limit colors and patterns so that the look stays tasteful. You can get away with many elements near the front door such as stepping stones, railings, planters and wind chimes if you coordinate all of the styles and colors for a cohesive look.