Industrial Interior Design: Everything You Need to Know
Sep 09, 2024
Industrial interior design is a style that embraces the beauty of unrefined decor elements, with the result being living spaces that are edgy, modern, and historical all at once. This timeless design approach draws inspiration from old factories and urban spaces, and can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it.
In your apartment, the industrial style can inspire a bold-yet-stoic atmosphere where nostalgia and modernity mingle — and get along quite well.
What is the history of industrial interior design?
Industrial interior design originated in the early 20th century, or the Industrial Revolution. The country began to adhere to efficient architecture, using steel, concrete, and brick to bring staying power to the buildings — whether they were factories or residential units.
The style didn’t gain popularity until cities started to convert the factories into housing, in the mid-to-late 20th century. People started embracing the raw materials and unfinished look of their spaces, leading to an influx of designers, architects, and tenants looking for that unfinished look rather than simply having to work with it. Now, it’s a modern design style typical of loft apartments, which will typically have high ceilings, open floor plans, concrete floors, exposed ductwork and pipes, and lots of exposed brick.
Key Elements of Industrial Interior Design
Now, trendy urban apartments, commercial spaces, and even hotels have purposefully industrial aesthetics and architectural elements. Chances are, you’ve seen industrial decor before. Think: large windows with rectangular panes and textured, rough-looking glass; exposed pipes; dark, neutral furniture and paint colors; oversized wooden coffee tables with boldly visible metal accents and hardware.
You can find decor elements in the industrial style for every room in the house, but keep an eye out for these characteristics of industrial interior design in your search:
- Raw materials: Look for unpolished or galvanized metals, concrete or rectangular stone, exposed brick, weathered wood, stainless steel, and piping for your industrial home decor. Bonus points if the piece purposefully (or accidentally) features visible hardware like screws or bolts.
- Simplicity and functionality: If you’re choosing between a funky statement chair with asymmetry and bold colors and a black metal-framed chair with all square angles and leather upholstery, you'd want to go for the latter. Industrial design is all about practicality and minimalism.
- Neutral color palette: Although you can curate your color palette for any interior design style, there’s actually a bit less wiggle room with industrial spaces. You can choose whether you want to skew dark or light for your color scheme, but try to stick to neutral tones like browns, blacks, grays, and taupe if you want the perfect industrial style home.
- Reclaimed items: Industrial is certainly an interior design style where you’ll want to hit the thrift store or antique store to find some of your furniture pieces. Look for old tools and functional items to use as furniture, and decor accents like crates, lanterns, metal lamps, and iron sculptures.
How to Implement Industrial Style Interior Design in Your Apartment
To get started, look for elements that will bring that modern industrial vibe into your space. If you live in a reclaimed building, maybe one that used to be a factory or other type of functional space, start to clue into different parts of the space’s bones that are raw. See if you can find ways to make those structural elements stand out as focal points of your decor.
One of the challenges of renting is that you’re usually stuck with the wall colors, floor materials, and layout that you have. But here are some example DIY projects you can use to bring that industrial look to life:
- Stick-on backsplash: If your backsplash in the kitchen or bathroom reminds you more of your grandma’s house than a chic reclaimed factory, don’t worry. There are ways around it — like peel-and-stick tile. For the industrial style, subway tile in neutral colors will be your friend.
- Swag pendant lighting: Using adhesive hooks and plug-in pendant lights, you can elevate your space in minutes by adding industrial-style lighting fixtures to your space. Look for functional shapes, raw materials, and, of course, lights that look like they came out of a museum.
- Pipe shelving units: Pipes somewhere in your design scheme is an essential element of industrial interior design. If your apartment doesn’t have visible pipes that can be brought into the foreground, you can buy furniture that contains parts that look like pipes.
- Stick-on wallpaper: On any wall where you feel like the energy is lacking, you always have the option to peel-and-stick it back to life. Look for realistic exposed brick wall patterns, tile patterns, and anything with a distressed look.
As with any interior design style, don’t forget that you can make it your own. Add florals if you’d like or put an irregular-shaped mirror on the wall. It’s your space to do what you like, as long as it’s within your lease terms. If you start to feel a sense of timelessness, nostalgia, and history sink into your apartment (and, of course, satisfaction) you know you’ve done it.
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