From stoops to wrap-around porches, there’s plenty of creative ways to add style to the entryway.

Showcase Your Style

The exterior entryway says a lot about the home. It’s an opportunity to showcase personal style, display cleanliness and organization, and provide curb appeal. Whether the exterior consists of a mere front door and a small stoop—or a large front porch—design shouldn’t take a backseat just because the entryway is a small portion of the home. These 15 ways to freshen up the exterior include everything from stenciling and painting the floor and stairs to incorporating alluring planters, cozy furniture and even adding privacy.

Layer a Doormat

Skip the same old doormat scene and instead try out a layering technique to bring the inside out. This combination features boho vibes beneath with a fringed rug and a minimalist but bold doormat on top.

Hang a Swing Chair

If your exterior entryway consists of a front porch, hang a swing chair! A trendy upgrade from the classic bench is the egg-shaped chair. This cozy swing features a stylishly wrapped wicker weave and plush water-resistant cushions.

Decorate With a Vertical Garden

Decorate the exterior entryway with fresh herbs and plants. This contemporary, architectural option is great for homes without a lot of outdoor floor space as it mounts right on a vertical surface.

Add Porch Poufs

Outdoor poufs are the perfect laidback look for the exterior entryway. Stack one or two next to some chairs to flank the front door and provide a chic footrest or extra seating.

Incorporate A Bust Planter

A bust planter adds instant sophistication to the exterior entryway. Made of terracotta, this antique-looking bust will age gracefully if left outdoors, developing a weathered patina over time. Create various looks, from a hair full of blooms to classic greenery. 

Stencil the Stoop

Whether for a front porch or a small stoop, stenciling the ground will add a unique, vibrant look to the entrance of the home. Choose a bright and bold Moroccan stencil, or go for something that resembles flagstone, like this patio stencil.

Hang or Lean Faux Gate Decor

Decorate a wall inside the front door with a series of wood and metal faux gate decor. Inspired by stained glass pieces, this option oozes with an antique charm that will make an otherwise bland corner of the interior entryway a beautiful sight.

Hang Curtains

Outdoor curtains add a whimsical element to the home. Set up a rod to section off a larger porch, or add them to the entryway. The curtains provide privacy when needed but look elegant when tied back. 

Install a Screen

For a sleek look, install a screen. This cord-free, semi-sheer roll-up shade will also block a bit of sun while adding some warmth in a natural hue to the patio.

Paint the Steps

Even the most modest front doorsteps can be painted to add a major wow factor to the exterior entryway. Take a look at the hashtag “painted steps” on Instagram for inspiration. This example creates the illusion of a rug running down the three steps

Add a Firepit

If there’s enough space for a couple of chairs or a bistro set outside the front door, there’s likely an opportunity to squeeze in a calming fire pit! This small but mighty outdoor wood-burning faux stone fire column features a removable fire bowl for easing cleaning. The fiberglass console ensures a safe and sturdy base.

Stop Your Curtain from Clinging

The days of shower curtains blowing in during a shower are over. Switch to a weighted curtain—or DIY one of your own. You can use heavy-duty magnets (smaller ones will slide) to hold the bottom of the curtain to the side of your tub, or take a handful of binder clips and attach them, evenly spaced, along the edge.

 Switch out your linens

A new set of towels somehow has the amazing ability to jumpstart any bathroom makeover (maybe that’s just me?). Go for a nice spring color option, or stick to neutrals with some bright whites.

Update your bath mats/rugs

 Old bath mats are, well, gross. Wash and donate the old one and go for something a little more eye-catching. There are so many fun bath mats out there these days, but I typically go the refined route for textiles…even bath mats.

Introduce some greenery

Okay, okay…I’m aware that the whole houseplant trend has the ability to go from fresh and bright to an episode of Hoarders (plant edition) real quick. Good thing the bathrooms are generally small!

Increase the Shower’s Water Pressure

For better water pressure, first, loosen mineral deposits that could be clogging the flow. Unscrew the showerhead and soak in a bowl of boiling water and ½ cup of vinegar for 10 minutes. If you can’t remove the head, fill a plastic bag with full-strength vinegar and tape it over the fixture. Let it sit for an hour, then remove.

Enable Showertime Karaoke

For all of the amplification power without any of the additional tech, slip your smartphone or MP3 player (speaker end down) into a ceramic mug and set it on a ledge in the bathroom. The sound will fill the room, and you’ll be ready to rock with accompaniment to your favorite tunes.

Sort Out Shower Gels

The neck of your shower head is the obvious place to hang a basket of shampoo and body wash, but leaves your supplies sopping wet—and you with an eyeful when going in to grab face wash. No more. Install a towel hook at the opposite end of the shower for a more convenient spot to hang your basket.

Always Have a (Dry) Towel in Reach

A second rod outside your shower curtain puts your towel in better reach and frees up wall space for additional storage. Create this placement using an extra tension rod, or replace your current rod altogether with a double rod.

Prevent Mold Naturally

Follow every shower with a splash of this natural, aromatic cleanser and say goodbye to mildew. Mix up 1 tsp. tea tree oil with 1 cup of water, fill a spray bottle and spritz around the tub. Let air-dry, and enjoy the lingering pine smell. Also leave the bathroom door open to promote better air circulation.

Remove Rust Stains

Does Spot rust ring leftover where a metal can of shaving cream often sit? Remove all bottles from the area, then dip half of a cut lemon in salt and use it to scrub the affected area—you’ll soon see it disappear. When moving items back into place, flip your shaving cream can on its head to store without leaving future rings.

Brighten Grout

Mix equal parts hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, then scrub into tile grout using a sturdy toothbrush. Covering a lot of ground? Consider fixing a small wooden scrub brush to the end of your electric drill for serious power. When your work is dry (and now bright), seal the grout.

Dust Out Your Exhaust Fan

Help your bathroom’s exhaust fan do its job sucking moisture out of the air post-shower (and preventing mold) by wiping out collected dust and towel lint once in a while. Flip off the circuit breaker to the bathroom, then remove and suds up the vent cover. Vacuum any excess inside the fan using your machine’s brush attachment.

1. Lemon balm

Lemon balm is a bushy, perennial herb of the mint family. Though humble in appearance, when lemon balm’s serrate, oval leaves are lightly brushed or rubbed between the fingertips, it releases a fragrant lemony scent.

Beyond its aromatic properties, lemon balm is an eminently useful specimen to have around. Clip the leaves often to flavor soups, salads, sauces, and ice cream. You may also steep the leaves to make lemon balm tea, a therapeutic beverage for lifting mood, improving sleep, relieving pain, and more.

As a houseplant, lemon balm is easy to grow and very low maintenance. Place it on a window ledge that receives up to 5 hours of direct sunlight each day.

2. English lavender

The purple spiked plant beloved by natural health enthusiasts, lavender is another herb with dozens of wonderful benefits for health and home.

Though there are several types to choose from, English lavender is one of the more aromatic varieties. Keep it blooming by providing lots of sunlight and good airflow. It also prefers a spacious pot with a couple of inches between plantings and monthly feedings.

3. White jasmine

A twining vine that produces clusters of star-shaped flowers, white jasmine provides the sweet smell of summer during the winter months. It is also known as pink jasmine or many-flowered jasmine.

Keep white jasmine happy by placing it in a sunny, humid spot. It looks lovely in a pot or hanging basket, just be sure to add a stake or trellis so its clinging vines have something to grasp on to.

4. Gardenia

Although it made our shortlist of the worst plants to grow in your garden, gardenia might be tough but she sure is beautiful. If you are up to the challenge, this gorgeous diva just might reward you with a show of exquisite, sweetly fragrant blooms.

Gardenia requires bright, indirect light and temperatures above 60°F at all times. It prefers acidic soil, bi-weekly feedings, and a consistently moist growing medium.

5. Citrus tree

Lemon, lime, orange, and other citrus fruit plants can add fruity scents to your indoor garden. Dwarfed into miniature trees, citrus needs sunshine and warmth to produce small fragrant blossoms that smell like their fruit.

Citrus plants tend to be thirsty so give them good watering regularly and feed with an all-purpose fertilizer in spring and summer.

While you can grow citrus plants from seed, you will have to wait around six years for it to mature enough to bloom. If you don’t want to wait that long, pick up a 3-pack of orange, lime, and lemon starter plugs here.

6. Twinkle Orchid

Though orchids, in general, are not known for their fragrance, this Oncidium hybrid blooms with hundreds of dime-sized flowers that emit a spicy vanilla scent.

Despite their reputation, orchid species aren’t too difficult to care for provided you give them plenty of bright, indirect light. Choose a spot with high humidity and temperatures between 70 to 85°F during the day and 55 to 65° at night. Because twinkle orchids are epiphytes, pot them in an orchid mix of fir bark and peat moss.

7. Scented leaf geranium

Though scented geraniums bear delicate 5-petaled flowers in summer, their strong fragrance is released when the thick, fuzzy foliage is touched or rubbed.

It comes in several scents – P. capitatum (rose), P. crispum (lemon), P. denticulatum (pine), P. fragrans (apple), P. grossularoides (coconut), P. tomentosum (chocolate mint).

Whatever variety you choose, place scented geranium in a sunny spot that receives at least five hours of sunlight per day.

8. Stephanotis

With attractive dark green leaves that look good no matter the season, stephanotis is a vining plant that produces clusters of waxy, sweet-smelling flowers in spring and summer.

As one of the easier to grow indoor flowering plants, stephanotis just needs a good amount of bright light and support to climb on.

9. Eucalyptus plants

Also known as silver dollar tree and argyle apple, eucalyptus emits a minty, sweet, and uplifting aroma. The silvery, blue-green foliage also provides a nice visual contrast among the pure greens of other houseplants.

Eucalyptus plants are incredibly speedy growers, maturing from seed to shrub in a single growing season. Indoors, they can be pruned into a bushy form or trained to look like a tree. Being native to Australia, it needs full sun to thrive. Feed weekly throughout spring and summer with a low nitrogen fertilizer.

10. Sweet bay

Sweet bay is a non-fussy evergreen tree with thick, glossy, elliptical leaves. Its foliage gives off an herbal scent with slight floral notes. Clip off the leaves from time to time to add flavor to soups, sauces, and stews.

Place sweet bay plants in a spot that receives full sun to part shade.

11. Tea rose begonia

A fibrous begonia, this tea rose cultivar features broad green leaves and ever-blooming pinkish-white flowers that appear along its red stem. Blooms are fragrant with a lightly sweet aroma.

Tea rose begonia prefers medium to bright light when kept indoors, with high humidity, and warm temperatures.

Pick up tea rose begonia plants here.

12. Heliotrope

Bearing tiny violet flowers grouped together in large clusters, heliotrope is a delightful specimen that smells of vanilla. Although heliotrope is typically planted outdoors, it can be tamed for your indoor garden as long as you provide plenty of sunlight and humidity. Deadhead spent blooms to encourage more flowers.

13. Angel’s trumpet

Fill your home with the intoxicating perfume of angel’s trumpet, a large tropical tree native to Ecuador. Releasing its scent in the evenings, angel’s trumpet has numerous, huge, downward-facing trumpet-shaped flowers that are available in white, yellow, orange, and pink colors. But beware, all parts of this plant are highly toxic.

To keep it in bloom, angel’s trumpet needs as much sunlight as you can throw at it, warm temperatures, and plenty of ambient humidity.

14. Frangipani

Frangipani is a small tree native to Mexico, Hawaii, Central American, and the Caribbean. It is most well known as the flower used to make leis. The five-petal blooms – available in red, pink, yellow, and white hues – are incredibly fragrant, especially at night.

To keep frangipani as a houseplant, you’ll need to give it lots of bright, direct sunlight (at least 4 to 6 hours per day). Water the plant deeply but allow the soil to dry out between waterings. Encourage blooming by feeding with a high phosphorus fertilizer every two weeks.

15. Blue passionflower

An absolute show stopper, blue passionflower offers a mesmerizing display of colorful sepals, petals, filaments, stamens, and stigmas. Beyond its complex appearance, blue passionflower emits a minty, fruity aroma.

Since blue passionflower is a woody vine, it needs a cage or hoop support to keep it tidy. It also prefers a spacious pot for its roots to become well established. Blue passionflower loves the sun, high humidity, and household temperature ranges.

Skip the Straw

Half a billion: That’s the number of plastic straws used by Americans each and every day. Those little pieces of plastic are not recyclable, and when they’re not sent to the landfill, they’re often blown into city parks, streams, beaches, and oceans where they’re consumed by wildlife. If you’re not ready to ditch the straw completely, try a reusable option like these reusable silicone and metal alternatives. Use them at home or the coffee shop, then give them a quick scrub with the included straw cleaner, or pop them in the dishwasher.

Go Package-Free

Just how much of your trash is made up of food packaging—from plastic wrappers to cardboard boxes? A quick glance at your garbage bin will reveal the answer. But you may be surprised at how easy it is to reduce the bulk of this waste. Individually packaged fruits and veggies and single portions of snacks or cereals may be convenient but they often cost more than bulk or family-size foods. Next time you browse the aisles, try to steer clear of processed foods, which often come with lots of packaging, or buy nonperishable foods in the largest packages available. Shopping smarter means you’ll save money and eat healthier, too.

Add Some Sparkle

The popularity of bubbly water has skyrocketed in recent years—42% since 2012, according to NPR. The price of popularity, however, is an increase in waste in the form of glass and plastic bottles and aluminum cans. SodaStream water carbonators offer a solution that reduce the junk in your recycling bin and saves you money at the grocery store. With a recyclable CO2 cylinder and the push of the button, you can turn tap water into sparkling water to enjoy plain, with a splash of lime, or a dose of flavored syrup. No trash here!

Tastes Better in Glass

Time was, Americans would receive a regular delivery of fresh milk right to their doorstep. Farm fresh milk was packaged in glass bottles that consumers returned to be reused again and again. Today, you can still get the taste of the good old days (and reduce your waste) by picking up a bottle of milk at your local grocery store or market. These glass bottles often contain local milk that’s fresher than the other stuff, and may even come in a variety flavors from chocolate to strawberry. Return the glass bottles to the store to receive a cash deposit, and they’ll send the glass to the dairy to be sterilized and reused.

Work with Real Towels

How did Americans ever live without paper towels? Well, quite easily, in fact. If you want to spend less and waste less, switch to cloth towels in the kitchen for drying dishes, hands, and other surfaces. On cleaning day, instead of wiping windows, mirrors, and fixtures with paper towels, try microfiber cloths instead. Not only are they effective and waste-free, but they don’t leave paper fibers or streaks behind.

Reuse Your Wraps

Plastic wrap can help you keep leftover foods fresher longer, but it’s not the most sustainable solution. Instead of loading up on plastic wrap every month, try an alternative solution like these reusable wraps made of cloth and food-grade beeswax, or a set of silicone lids that can conform to fit any container in your kitchen—or even a cross-cut watermelon!

Stick to Bar Soap

You may love the scent of your liquid body wash but that luscious soap comes at a cost. Although the plastic containers that hold your cleansers can be recycled, there’s a limit to how much waste municipal recycling centers can handle. Here’s a dirty secret about recycling: Due to contamination, only 60 to 80% of recycling center waste is actually recycled, according to a paper published by Columbia University. So, reduce your waste and switch to package-free (or minimally packaged) bar soap—it cleans just as well as liquid soap.

Recycle

Just because some recyclables are thrown away at municipal recycling centers, doesn’t mean you should stop recycling. Practice good recycling hygiene by rinsing containers, separating materials, and keeping unrecyclables off the curb. Different municipalities have different guidelines about how to clean, separate, and recycle your waste, so check with your local office to get the facts.

Give Away the Goods

It’s incredible just how much junk can accumulate over the course of a year. That’s why many homeowners declutter on at least an annual basis to clear out closets, storage units, and cupboards. Although it may seem expedient to toss all those unwanted items in the trash, the more responsible choice is to give them away to a good home. You can list your items on an online classifieds website like Freecycle to encourage nearby residents to pick up your junk, or call a shelter or organization to pick up any large items like furniture or electronics.

Compost Your Toothbrush

Here’s the good news: Based on the number of toothbrushes Americans use every year, they seem to be practicing good dental hygiene. Now the bad news: That good hygiene results in 1 billion toothbrushes being thrown out every year. If you’re ready to ditch plastic toothbrushes, which most municipalities won’t recycle, you can switch to biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes. These antimicrobial brushes can be tossed in the compost pile when you’re done with them, and will gradually break down in a well-kept compost pile over the course of a few months.

Move Waste-Free

While you can’t take the sting out of an inconvenient move, you can remove the plastic. Next time you’re faced with the reality of packing up your entire life, skip the bubble wrap and instead cushion fragile items with old newspaper or cloth towels. These materials work just as well as plastic wrap and won’t cost you a penny. Plus, it’s one less thing you have to toss when you get to your new digs.

Are you resolved to create less trash? Then you might want to make a symbolic gesture of your commitment by buying a smaller trash can. Keep larger bins nearby to hold recyclables and reserve the smaller can for items that can’t be reused, donated, recycled, or composted. You’re well on your way to a greener and healthier life!