Aesthetics and Efficiency: The Basics of Industrial Style for Your Home
Industrial interior design is a style that gained more and more popularity over the past few years and is nowadays one of the most requested styles. The seemingly unfinished character of it, paired with polished elements, clean surfaces and neutral colors attracts and inspires a lot of people.
The style that was mostly created when old warehouses were converted into urban lofts left architectural elements of the buildings exposed on purpose: Iron, wooden Beams, brick walls, cement floors, expansive windows and ductwork were left untouched. But exactly those characteristics are also the reason why it sometimes can be tricky to decorate your home according to the style. In Particular, the unfinished character is often harder than assumed in the first place. To help you successfully pull off the industrial style in your own home, this article provides the necessary basics of it for you.
Colors and Textures
As one of the essentials of every interior style, colors and textures are very important to consider and get right when creating a certain style. The industrial style however draws on a rich color palette but mostly mixes muted colors with neutral browns, white and black. Different shades of brown and tan are therefore important to make the space feel relaxed. White elements will give a cleanness to the room, black is bringing in contrast and character.
But not only colors are important. Even more relevant to create an industrial style are textures. If you are lucky and you have stone or cement walls, wooden floors or a chimney made out of bricks, you should keep those materials raw and open if you want to create an industrial style. Another option is however to combine different textures. For example, a leather couch combined with a steel table that has a clean and smooth surface or an industrial storage shelf next to a wooden sideboard.
Mixture of modern and rustic
The industrial design style also lives from a mixture of modern and rustic elements, which creates the industrial aesthetic. Therefore you can use couches that have some distressed leather or tables with scratches. However, you should still pay attention to a modern and clean design of the furniture that you choose and that it is within the color scheme of the industrial design style.
High and low elements
One of the most important characteristics of the industrial design style is the mixture of high and low elements. Best suitable for the industrial design are also apartments with high ceilings and big windows, as that creates the idea of industry. Even if you don’t have such high ceilings, there are some tricks to create a similar impression.
It is for example a good idea to mix both high and low elements. A ceiling high plant next to a low armchair, low hanging lamps but also high standing ones. But also important is an open floor and big rooms instead of many small ones. An industrial living room for example is never complete without a kitchen island that connects the living space with the cooking area.