When interior designer Ashley Izsak purchased her ranch-style home six years ago, she had all of the common areas—including the entryway—painted classic white, and kept her ideas for the entryway decor simple. “While I normally love a good white wall, our entryway never felt pulled together and definitely lacked personality,” she says. “It just felt wrong to have guests step into our home and be greeted with such an underwhelming space.”

After some light renovations, Ashley used patterned wallpaper, our rich denim blue paint color, Good Jeans, and eye-catching entryway decor to transform the formerly humdrum area into a chic, multifunctional space that greets guests in style. “The only major changes included ripping up the old tile floor; everything else was cosmetic,” she explains. “Now the space oozes personality and throws out a modern-yet-retro kind of feel.”

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Curious how you can score a similar monochrome look at home without a ton of heavy lifting? We asked Ashley to share some of her savvy entryway ideas and here’s what she had to say.

1. Start with statement wallpaper

After being smitten by and ultimately installing a palm-patterned wallpaper, Ashley decided to use the fanciful print as inspiration for the entryway color palette. “The wallpaper feels a bit whimsical and not at all serious—something that resonates for this stage of life we find ourselves in these days with three young children,” she explains. “I was drawn to the subtle metallics, the almost hidden hints of pink and the overall blue tones.”

2. Play up architectural features with affordable entryway ideas

Impactful ideas for entryway decor don’t have to be expensive. Using our Good Jeans wall color, Ashley painted the architectural moldings throughout the entire space in this medium shade of grayish blue that draws from the hues of the wallpaper to help open things up. “Because it is such a small space I wanted it to all be the same color family, as opposed to a more traditional application of white paneling and wallpaper which always makes me think of a bathroom,” she says. “We decided to paint all of the paneling, doors and trim in this color to make the room appear larger and to really make the blue feel intentional.”

3. Use neutral colors to break up a monochromatic space

To help create a visual break from the adjoining living room area, Ashley painted the stairs in a crisp coat of white paint and added white decor elements to the entryway. I didn't want to be overwhelmed with color so this felt like a necessary balance,” she explains. “We also added white framed art work and a vintage white woven plant stand that I actually found on the curb in our neighborhood.”

4. Dress up the floors

To freshen up the floors and integrate some linework into the entryway, Ashley replaced traditional marble tiled floors with a more modern herringbone pattern. “I love that this is the floor that greets us when we enter our home,” she says. “The floor tiles are a warm gray laid in a herringbone pattern that makes our 1980s bungalow feel a bit more current.” To pull the colors of the room together, she also added a rug with hints of pink and blue that play up the shades of the entryway wallpaper and paint.

5. Metallic details FTW

For impactful finishing touches, Ashely incorporated brass hardware and accessories throughout the entryway, including a brass-lined mirror with a built-in shelf. “We originally considered matte black hardware but ultimately went with brass to help lighten things up visually in the space,” she explains. “The brass details also bring out the metallics in the wallpaper beautifully.”

Related: Want more ideas for entryway decor? Read 8 Incredibly Stylish Paint Ideas For Doors.