This discussion reminds me of the one about wearing shoes indoors lol. Those of us from the East Coast, Midwest, and colder locales can’t imagine doing that because you’d track in so much dirt and slush. Maybe having the front door inline with the entire living and dining area is a space saving + west coast thing? If you opened the front door here in the winter while someone was chilling on the sofa (like Elle’s setup), they would get blasted by cold air within seconds. You’d also step right into your living room with dirty, wet shoes. But maybe out in Seattle, the weather is much more mild so people don’t care as much.