Interior design inspiration – Industrial

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Ever thought about living in a factory? Fancy sleeping with ducting above your head and rusting machinery in the corner? What if I call it a ‘loft apartment’? Is that a little more appealing?

I personally love the industrial ‘loft’ style and I’ve been pinning more of it than ever on Pinterest. As an interior design style it has been steadily growing over the past couple of years and now we’re seeing more bare brick walls and rusting metal units than ever before, in design magazines, fashion photoshoots and on TV. But what makes this harsh, brash style liveable? How can you get the look in your own home without looking like you’re camping out in a disused workshop? I’ve done my research and here’s what I found:

Bare walls are key. If you’re painting a ‘loft apartment’, you’ve gone too far. It’s all about scrubbed wood, exposed brick, bare metal and faded colours layered over crumbling plaster. Making it neat and uniformly coloured is the opposite of the industrial look. But if you, like me, can’t live with walls that look like they are about to fall down, it’s perfectly acceptable to decorate newly plastered rooms, but stick to muted shades; the greys and greens of traditional factory interiors.

Rust is a must. Again, if you’re respraying a chipped metal lampshade or buffing up a decaying chest of drawers, you’re making it too polished for the industrial look. Age and patina on your homewares is essential, especially when you’re not living in an old warehouse and want to get the look in a suburban home. Even though old industrial furniture it’s a relatively cheap way to furnish your home, the popularity of this style is resulting in a price increase.I personally would rather not have dirty, rusty, rickety cupboards in my home but in reality, you don’t need to go that far. So rather than ‘upcycling’ a rusting mechanics chest, I’d prefer to buy a low-cost replica version instead, such as the one below from pib-home. From a distance you wouldn’t know that the storage unit isn’t the real deal, but up close (where you want your items stored neatly and cleanly!) it’s new, sturdy and rust-free.Colour pops are essential to ensure that your house still looks like a home rather than an industrial unit. This is what adds your own character to a room and you can go wild with colours as everything looks great with such a neutral, rustic backdrop. I love bright colours but they can sometimes be overpowering alongside an equally bright interior so the faded, muted tones of the industrial colour palette provide the idea ideal backdrop to a few bright pieces, such as this red metal chair or these aqua blue lockers, which would be perfect as beside tables.

Design classics You won’t have missed the increase in popularity in this retro metal chair – you can hardly open a magazine or log in to Pinterest without seeing contemporary interiors strewn with this classic design. Based on the original drawings by Joseph Mathieu, the Multipl chair’s design can be traced back to the 1920s and today it’s as popular as it was back in the early 20th century.  Made entirely of metal, this industrial chair is sturdy and lightweight and can be sourced in a variety of bright colours, which is ideal to modernise a rustic interior. It’s this year’s version of the recently re-released Eames chair and is fast becoming a must-have for every interior design enthusiast around the country.

It is my dream to one day live in an industrial loft apartment, with plenty of space for feature pieces such as these old cinema seats – and room for the accompanying cinema screen, of course! What do you think of the industrial trend? Would you use elements of it for your own decorating projects at home? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of this interior design style.

All images credited to www.pib-home.co.uk

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