Many designers wholeheartedly believe that the industrial style is born and cannot be made.
Industrial interior design is so reliant on specific architectural features, like large gridded windows and artful brick walls, that it is remarkably difficult to achieve an industrial look in a home that was not expressly built to demonstrate that aesthetic. However, difficult is not exactly the same as impossible.
If you want to achieve the industrial look in your home, you will need to alter many aspects of your design — but with diligence and attention to detail, you can make any space into an industrial paradise.
Remember The Industrial Color Palette
Perhaps the most important foundation for an industrial-style home is the color scheme.
The industrial aesthetic is characterized by its palette which combines earth colors from honest, natural materials and neutrals like black, white and charcoal.
As soon as possible, you should rid your home of any colors that do not fit this scheme, as they will interfere with your ability to achieve cohesive and beautiful industrial design.
Create Warehouse-inspired Feature Walls
Among the most iconic imagery of the industrial aesthetic is the bare brick accent wall — but not every home has brick walls to expose and utilize in interior design.
Fortunately, you can pay homage to this important architectural element of industrial design by creating an accent wall utilizing warehouse materials. It is relatively easy to fake a brick wall using wallpaper or veneer bricks.
For a slightly different warehouse look, you might cover a wall in distressed wood paneling, square moldings, pressed tin plates or corrugated metal sheeting, depending on your taste and DIY abilities.
Simplify Open Shelving
Industrial spaces tend to be minimalist, with few large furniture pieces crowding rooms. Thus, bulky cabinets tend to look out of place in industrial-style homes.
While you can keep your lower cupboards in your kitchen, you might consider removing some or all of your upper cabinets and replacing them with open shelving.
This helps increase natural light, lending your home’s interior an attractive industrial airiness, and it gives you more opportunity to inject unique industrial décor into your space.
Replace Fixtures And Hardware With Industrial Options
In interior design, details matter. Though you might be more excited about making major changes to your space, like erecting a faux-brick wall or tearing down your upper kitchen cabinets, you should take the time to consider how you might further your industrial aesthetic in the details of your home design.
A good start is your light fixtures. Industrial lights tend to be extremely simple, to the extent that they showcase the beauty of bare bulbs.
Task and accent lighting can easily be replaced with incredibly industrial fixtures. Industrial ceiling fans with light kits can also provide general illumination in your rooms.
Next, you should look at the hardware around your home. Replacing cabinet and drawer pulls, door handles and other hardware can be relatively easy DIY projects that you can complete at your own pace.
The hardware you choose should probably be matte black and perhaps reminiscent of an industrial material, like metal pipes or brackets.
Once you start identifying smaller ways to integrate the industrial style, you will start to see the industrial aesthetic come together as a whole.
This process can take time, and rushing through it will likely cause you frustration as you continue to notice details that have been overlooked.
Slowly shifting your home toward an industrial look is a more practical strategy and will result in success.
Many homeowners assume that if you want to live in an industrial home, you need to invest in an industrial space that you can remodel to fit your residential needs.
While doing this certainly does make industrial interior aesthetics more authentic, it is far from essential that you invest so completely in the industrial lifestyle to achieve this look for your home.
With a few changes to how you decorate, you can develop the industrial space of your dreams.
Invest In Secondhand Décor
The industrial aesthetic tends to fall into the category of eclectic design styles, which is to say that a wide range of décor styles fit beautifully into the overall industrial look.
Vintage and retro furniture tends to look amazing in industrial rooms, and rustic decorative items also blend well into this design style.
You might be able to keep your decorating costs low by finding secondhand décor that suits your industrial ideas perfectly.
Certain spaces lend themselves more easily to the industrial style, but in truth, you can achieve an industrial look in any home with commitment to the right elements of industrial design.
