How to Achieve True Industrial Style in your Home

Bringing a touch of cool into your space

Industrial design takes the materials of traditional construction and uses them to create beautiful living space. You can use industrial design in lofts and condos and use it sparingly for kitchens or recreation areas in your home. Regardless of where you use it, there are certain design criteria that makes for true industrial spaces.

Concrete Floor Polishing
An absolute must have of industrial spaces are concrete flooring. Concrete can be honed into a high polish or left in a soft matte finish. Concrete sounds cold, but the colours of concrete floors can be warmed with many choices. These floors are the ultimate in industrial design and look smashing with highly textured rugs to warm up conversation areas, thrown in front o fireplaces and added to entryways.

Exposed Ducts and Plumbing
Although this sounds like an underground parking garage, exposed ducts and plumbing are another must for the industrial space. You will find the metals offer a touch of interest and you can also elect to paint them out. White and black work well with opposing affect. Most industrial spaces have extremely high ceilings and the exposed ducts bring a sense of coziness. High ceilings add drama when painted a deep colour and a feeling of infinite space when painted white.

Raw Wood and Exposed Brick
Raw wood offers warmth and helps take away the urban edge of an industrial space, as does exposed brick. When left raw these materials actually add a homier feel and when painted out give a gallery vibe. These textured materials add both architectural detail and visual interest to what can prove to be a very sterile, cold space.

Openness and Separation
You can embrace the openness of the industrial loft and choose to create small areas purposefully designed with the appropriate functional furniture pieces: beds and dressers for sleeping, sofas and chairs for living space and kitchen cabinets and counters for cooking. Or you can elect to separate your space using interesting touches such as columns, bookcases and partition walls. Glass brick is also still used in industrial spaces as are glass walls frosted for privacy.