Loft

Before you decide on a loft interior designer, you have one major decision:  how lofty do you want your loft design to be?

Do you want to walk in and feel the impact of high ceilings and miles of floor space with only building struts and pillars separating you from those wonderful industrial-sized windows? Or do you want the luxury of dividing a space to your personal needs?

Because a loft is often created from a previously commercial or industrial space, some architectural elements you might notice include exposed beams, ductwork, water pipes and a minimum of interior walls. Structural materials tend to be a combination of concrete, metal, brick and wood. Large windows or skylights are not uncommon.

A loft takes the idea of an open floor plan to the max and is one of the reasons for its appeal. With your choice and placement of interior elements you can create distinct living zones in your loft to build a greater sense of cohesiveness.

Some methods you can use to create living zones   within your loft interior design plan include:

• Color

• Area Rugs

• Furniture Positioning

• Visual Cues

For example, you might define a lounge area by painting an accent wall that is the focal point for a U-shaped or parallel arrangement of seating anchored by an area rug. Even though it is not a separate room surrounded by physical walls, the grouping visually indicates a living zone.

Placing a sofa with its back to the dining zone effectively separates the spaces visually without disrupting the overall openness of the loft. Positioning the sofa this way also provides the perfect backdrop for a sofa table or sideboard which can help you further maximize the function of the space.

Incorporating a long bookcase that is partitioned into square nichescreates a non-permanent divider between a lounging zone and an adjacent bedroom zone. The front side of the book case might serve as a displayfeature in the lounging zone while the solid backside of the bookcase could be painted to create a sophisticated gallery wall in the bedroom zone.

If privacy isn’t a big concern you could choose a bookcase without a back so the display niches are available on both sides and the openness of the space flows through.

A loft’s edgy and often industrial atmosphere lends itself nicely to interior design elements that have a modern or contemporary feel. This doesn’t mean your furnishings need all be ultra modern…unless of course that is the look you are specifically going for.