Industrial Style: Furnishing in industrial style – furniture, decoration, kitchens and more, trends & tips

Industrial Style – The trend from Great Britain and the USA: Living like in an old, modern factory. When you think of the interior design of an apartment in New York City, you immediately think of the industrial loft style. It features a striking look with dark colors and raw materials like red brick walls or untreated concrete. No matter what apartment or type of house you live in, the industrial style of decor is not just for a loft! Learn more about the interior style that is currently so trendy here and find out how you can also design your own four walls in the industrial look! Back to the overview of many styles here: Furnishing styles.

Industrial Style: Modern living in the industrial trend look

The industrial style is becoming more and more popular. Especially for cool Instagram pictures, for modern offices or for photo shoots, the industrial style is particularly well suited. The clean and modern ambience that the industrial style embodies is what many want for the look of their interior.

There are two types of industrial style:

• Industrial Cozy: The cozy industrial interior style with warm colors
• Industrial Vintage: The somewhat cleaner, but cooler Industrial Style

The USA and Great Britain are leading the way: Industrial buildings and lofts

The style comes from the 1930s and has its origins in the USA and Great Britain. There, the interior style spread further and further and then spilled over to Germany in the 80s and 90s. The style has developed mainly through the industrialization in the late 19th century, as there were many new factories and industrial buildings were built and now stood empty. Old factories were first used as studios or offices, before it was discovered that they are also perfect as living space.

In the USA and Great Britain, it all started with people converting old factory buildings into residential complexes and remodeling and furnishing them as new homes. Here, of course, old factory elements were preserved, from which the new style Industrial Style developed. This new style then quickly received a lot of attention and therefore quickly spread throughout the country and the world. The style has enjoyed special attention since the 2000s and has continued to do so in the 2010s and until now. Especially through social media the style gets more and more reputation and use.

Features & Characteristics: Wood beams, concrete look and brick

The Industrial Style or Industrial Chic is characterized by the furnishing of old industrial buildings and factories. The aim is not to falsify the charm of old factories and to complement it with modern furnishings. The mixture of modern and old, makes every interior a real eye-catcher. The perfect mix of natural materials, such as wood, leather and stone with materials reminiscent of craftsmanship and industry, such as metal, steel, etc. make up the flair of an industrial style lift.

Does your apartment or your house have high ceilings, old pipes and is loft-like or open cut? Then these are the perfect conditions for the loft style, or industrial style. The ambience of the room and the conditions of the living space are particularly important for the style to have the right effect. Classic for factories and industrial buildings are high ceilings and an open cut floor plan. Pipes should also be visible to bring the industrial style across. An open cut room, makes the high ceilings and classic loft look work even more. However, if you don’t have the space, there are enough style elements to bring the loft look and industrial chic to your home.

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Industrial style flooring: concrete, wood & stone flooring

A classic loft style floor is a poured concrete or vinyl floor (used more today than in the past), which is insensitive and reminiscent of the interior of a factory building. This floor was chosen mainly because of its insensitivity and the possibility of laying it over a wide area. A concrete floor can be quickly and easily poured in the construction process and quickly covers a large area.

In general, however, any floor is suitable for the industrial style. Whether it is a glazed or matt wooden floor, a stone floor or similar, everything is suitable for the loft style. More important here are the typical features, such as the inclusion of matching accessories and materials.

Walls & wall colours: unplastered brick, concrete walls & grey tones

There are also many options for the walls to bring the industrial flair into your home. The mix of natural walls and normal wallpaper is appealing. Stone walls or concrete walls are well suited for the industrial style and look particularly authentic. If you then mix these with grey tones, you have the walls in the right look and only the right furnishings are missing.

If you don’t live in an old house or an old factory building, you can also mimic a concrete or stone wall by putting in wood or satin look wallpaper. However, these are then not original materials, however, the wallpapers help to implement the style in your own home anyway.

Design: Kitchen, living room & bathroom

If you want to furnish your home in the industrial style, you must also recognize this in every piece of interior design. The main materials are steel, metal, concrete and wood. The focus is on the not perfect. So even surfaces that don’t look perfect are welcome in industrial style. The mixture of industrial materials and natural materials is a must.

Tip: Take a look at our article on planning and furnishing a kitchen to find out how you can plan and realise your dream kitchen!

Kitchen: Wax sink, Faucet, Kitchen island

Material reminiscent of factories and industry should stand out as the main component of the kitchen. That is, the front of a kitchen should be as much as possible steel, metal or wood. Here, it is not important that the front should be ornate or romantic. A clean, cool and modern look is what industrial style is all about. As an island, for example, you can convert an old filing cabinet and install a sink in it and add a cool countertop. From the colors, you should use the original colors of the metals. However, if you choose a wooden kitchen unit, you should glaze it in grey or black to match the interior.

The worktop can be made of stone, stainless steel or wood. Like in the picture for example, where brushed stainless steel was used. The sink should have a cool faucet to match the sink, which convinces with matte colors.

Checklist: What you need for the Industrial Kitchen

In addition to the matching kitchen unit and front, matching accessories are particularly important to support the loft flair. The accessories should be restrained, but still striking enough to complement the furniture perfectly.

A big focus is on using the right lamps. In industrial buildings or factory halls, large lamps were always used, which provided enough light for a large room. This function and the size of the lamp should be combined with the appropriate look. So brushed steel lamps in grey or black are especially in demand. The bell shape is the classic shape for lamps in industrial style. In addition to the lamps, the following accessories are also important:

• Plants, but no flowers, as flowers have a romantic effect
• Matching pots in grey tones or stainless steel look
• Fruit bowls made from single metal wires
• A rug with cool vintage pattern and understated color
• Wooden beams on the ceiling, for the right flair

Living room: sofa, leather couch and matching accessories

The focal point of the living room is the couch, which must have an upholstery of natural materials. Means, especially leather comes into question for this. A cool leather couch in a brown is best suited for this. You can vary from the shape of the couch, means one L shape or several 3 or 2 setters, everything is possible. The most important thing is not the comfort of the couch, but the look. The higher the quality of the leather, the more the couch comes to the fore.

Next to the couch, a matching coffee table is of particular importance. Here you can choose a table made of wood, steel or metal. But also a table top made of glass in combination with steel or wood is a real eye-catcher and the perfect material mix.

If you now connect the leather couch and the coffee table with matching decoration, the living room shines in the trendy and modern, industrial look. Matching decoration could be for example a carpet, plants, old books (hip are books with designer label, like Chanel) and DIY decoration (more on this later).

• Furnish living room

Tip. Are you interested in luxury brands, interior design and furniture? Then take a look at our Interior Guide, where you’ll find more than 30 trendy brands for interior design!

Bathroom: clean lines, natural materials & matching decoration

If you want to furnish your bathroom in industrial style, only a few small pieces are usually necessary. As a floor is suitable stone or concrete floor and on the walls makes old stone, masonry or tile particularly well. If you have this basis, it is easy to achieve the industrial look. As a sink, you should not use a normal sink but one made of several materials. Here you can also do it yourself and create the right sink. A sink could look like this, for example:

• Brushed steel
• Marble
• Stone
• Wooden panel

Of course, a mirror should hang above the washing device. A mirror with a stainless steel frame is super trendy and a real eye-catcher.

The shower should also be characterized by straight lines. Means uniform floor and wall with tile in white, gray or black. The door of the shower should be glass. If you keep a curtain for the shower, it should also be in plain and dark colors. However, a rain shower is a must and the perfect addition to the bathroom.

Tip: Furnish the bathroom

Inspiration Video: This is how the industrial look can look in your home!

Chip and Joanna Gaines are known from the series Fixer Upper, which runs on the television channel Sixx. They are actually known for refurbishing old houses in the city of Waco (Texas). Here you can see the process of decorating an apartment in the industrial style. The interior has been perfectly done in the industrial style. Get some inspiration on how to achieve a loft look in your own home here:

DIY – Industrial Style Lamp & Mirror

In the Industrial Style there are many possibilities to integrate DIY decoration or furniture into the interior. Here is especially the mix of steel and wood in demand. Do you have some old clamps or other craft materials left over? Perfect, because you can incorporate these super in the interior design with.

Traditional lamp made of steel & wood: Industrial Chic homemade

Especially trendy are lamps in industry style, which remind of a loft and past times. They embody not only craftsmanship and tradition, but are even a real eye-catcher and look cozy despite stainless steel. As a suitable complement, you take here light bulbs, where you can see the glowing wires.

The housing of the lamps you can get in almost any hardware store, furniture store, or even online. If you have bought the basis, the housing and the bulbs, the next purchase is a wooden board. This is then attached to the ceiling with wires. Now you just wrap the cables of the lamps around the wooden board and you can also decide at which height each lamp should hang. Et voilà, ready is your lamp in industrial style, which is perfect in the dining room.

Industrial mirror DIY: hip mirror on social media

Totally hip are mirrors in industrial style, which you can easily make yourself. The mirrors are reminiscent of the windows of an industrial building. Here are two different options to bring the trend mirror with little money and effort home:

Take a wooden frame that is already the right size and buy several small, square mirrors of the same size. Now you buy thin wooden boards, which will be the partition between the mirrors and spray paint or wood varnish. You can buy the paint in a metal look or in a classic dark grey or black. If you have bought everything, you can already start. First you draw a ground plan on the big wooden board, where the mirrors will be glued on. Then you spray or paint the wooden boards in the desired color and cut them to size. Once you have done that, you glue the mirrors on the marked fields. The last step is to fix the wooden boards vertically and horizontally between the individual mirrors.

What goes from wood, also goes from steel or metal. The implementation is about the same, only you need here directly the right sizes, which are best ordered online or in the hardware store. The practical thing about steel or metal is that you can buy the right color directly. If you now have everything together, the feed-through is exactly the same as with the mirror made of wood.