Christmas Entryway Decor Ideas: 14 Looks for Small Halls and Console Tables

If the entry already has a mirror and a console, add three things. Tie a velvet bow or a small swag to the top of the mirror. Fill a large vase with pine and red berry branches. Stand three taper candles and one or two small figures, reindeer or a ceramic tree, at the other end. A stack of two books lifts a small piece to the right height. Stools pushed under the table stay where they are.

For a wider console: two small lit trees at the ends and a row of white ceramic houses between them, set on a strip of faux greenery. In front of a large round mirror, the lights double. This is the most festive option on the list, and it works best where the table is not needed for anything else in December.

Keep the lamp you use every evening and build around it: lean a small winter print against the wall, put one candle and a pair of small ceramic trees in front of it, and stand a vase of greenery tied with a ribbon at the other end. Baskets on the lower shelf carry on holding shoes or scarves. Nothing practical has moved.

Fix a slim lit garland along the front edge of the console, with a few baubles hanging below it, and the top stays almost clear: two brass candlesticks, a bowl of baubles and a pair of reindeer. The lower shelf takes lanterns, a small tree in a basket and a few jars. Use removable clips under the edge, not tape on the finish.

No room for a tree by the door? Lean a print or painting of a snowy tree on the console, as in the photo at the top of the page, and stand a vase of branches wound with micro lights beside it. A long wooden bowl of baubles and greenery on the lower shelf fills the gap underneath.

On a narrow shelf or a radiator cover, put everything on one small tray: a candle in glass, a sprig of pine in a bud vase and one ornament. The tray lifts off in one move when you need the surface.

A tabletop tree in a basket at one end of the entry bench leaves the other end for sitting down to pull boots on. A folded blanket beside it and a bundle of firewood or a basket underneath finish the scene. With a plain garland looped along the stair rail above, this is a whole entrance from three pieces.

Hang two or three plain wreaths with dark velvet bows from the stair spindles at different heights, with a garland along the handrail above. A woven bench below takes a small tree and a few wrapped boxes, and a basket underneath holds a throw. Tie the wreaths on with ribbon; nothing needs a hook.

A garland wound with warm micro lights along the banister lights the hall in the evening without a lamp. Fix it with reusable ties or garden twine around the rail, never tape, and keep it on the outside of the rail so hands can still hold on. Battery strands with a timer avoid a cord across the floor.

Two tall baskets at the bottom of the stairs, one holding blankets and one holding wrapped boxes, look like decoration and work as storage. A small tree in a pot on a bench opposite and a strand of lights around the next door frame carry the eye down the hall.

When the hall is a strip of floor inside the front door, the door is the display. Hang a wreath on the inside with an over-door hanger or a magnetic hook, or run wide ribbon top to bottom and tie a bow in the middle. It takes no floor and no wall.

Tie a small evergreen swag with a bow to the first hook of the coat rack, or run a short garland along the top of the rack. Hang one Christmas stocking or a lantern on the last hook. The hooks keep doing their job.

A slim garland around the frame of the front door, or of the doorway from hall to living room, fixed with removable hooks at the two top corners, decorates the hall without touching the floor. Add a strand of battery lights. Our guide to hanging Christmas decorations without nails lists the hooks that hold on painted walls.

A shelf ten to fifteen centimeters deep is enough for a row of small bottle-brush trees, a candle in glass and a bowl for keys. Hang a small wreath above it. It is the console formula at a quarter of the size.