Loft-style hallway: design options and original examples

The loft style has not lost its relevance for many years. It is especially popular among representatives of creative professions: artists, designers, writers, and young people who value informality in everything often stop choosing it. Despite the fact that initially the style implies large spaces, it is often used to decorate small rooms. The key to the popularity of the loft is that it allows you to create an up-to-date interior that looks quite neat and expensive. Find out what are the features of this bright and interesting design direction.

The loft style appeared with the light hand of poor students and bohemians. After the crisis of the 1920s, many factories in America closed, and in order to save on housing fees, young boys and girls began to rent production facilities instead of apartments. In order to somehow furnish their modest apartments, they bought old furniture at flea markets or made it with their own hands. The decor in such rooms was also very modest - in the absence of wallpaper, the walls were left in their original form or were pasted over with newspapers and posters. They also did not have money for chandeliers and sconces, so the same posters and newspapers were used.

Such a modest environment did not upset the students, because they did not need much comfort for a fun life. The spacious production facilities allowed them to have fun enjoying music and dancing. When wealthier guests came to one of these parties, they became interested in the concept of such a room decoration and borrowed some ideas. This is how a separate direction in interior styles arose, called "loft".

A brick wall is one of the main attributes of a loft style. It evokes associations with the industrial era. Of course, in most cases it is replaced by wallpaper with such a pattern, but even in this variation it looks impressive. Also, concrete walls, wooden boards or natural stone are often used in this direction. When creating a loft interior, designers use the most natural shades, raw materials or textures that imitate them.

As for the furniture, there should be a little of it. The same applies to decorative items. Lofty décor in the loft is also discouraged. It is enough to use a couple of decorations, which can be both paintings and unusual lamps.

The most popular colors used in loft interiors are brown or brick. Often white and black are added to them. The classic combinations are:

• white and terracotta - the combination visually expands the space;

• gray and red-brown with black - these colors make the design of the hallway discreet and laconic;

• black and light brown - can help to correctly place accents, but it is recommended only for spacious rooms;

• beige and light brown - visually expand the narrow hallway;

• black with beige and brown - looks very modern;

• white and dark brown will create a discreet design.

For many, an important advantage of this style is the optional finish. To create an interior corresponding to this direction, you can limit yourself to brickwork or rough plaster. Materials should be associated with simplicity and reliability.

In one room, several materials of various textures are often combined: stone, wood, concrete, brick. They allow you to add emphasis to individual areas or create visual effects to simulate a space. One material can replace another both vertically and horizontally. You can select one of the walls or corners by inserting another material.

Consider several options for decorating the walls in the hallway.

Since the hallway often collects a lot of dust, the most appropriate and budget option for finishing it will be washable wallpaper imitating brickwork.

It will be more expensive to lay wood panels on the walls, they are quite unpretentious in maintenance and at the same time create a particularly warm atmosphere in the house. There are also cladding panels made of other materials that imitate wood or brick. They also look impressive and help create a loft-style atmosphere.

The actual brickwork can not be done in every corridor, since this material takes up the area. But it will look incomparably more spectacular than materials that imitate it, and in the best way convey the aesthetics of the loft style.

This material is a rather expensive option, both in natural and artificial form. For this direction, it is important that the surface of the stone has a minimum relief.

The most common option for loft flooring is wood flooring. The classic of loft flooring is wood. Parquet is quite expensive and not the most suitable option in this case, as it will visually narrow the space.

Laminate is more suitable in this regard. An expensive and durable material is decking. Matte ceramic tiles are a less popular solution, but they are also suitable for the loft style.

If you decide to use two materials, one for the hallway and the other for the corridor, then it is advisable to choose not too contrasting colors.

Whitewashing is the most economical and appropriate option for finishing the ceiling. An interesting option is to use wooden beams to decorate the whitewashed ceiling. The main thing is to take into account the dimensions of the room, because such a design can visually reduce the space.

If you still want to make a tension structure, then the textures "satin" or "under whitewash" will be preferable. If your choice fell on a plasterboard ceiling, then make it flat. In the case of using a two-level structure, it must be kept in one color. In addition to white, beige, pale yellow, ivory, coffee with milk and similar soft shades are often used.

Minimalistic furniture is what you need for this style. It is good if, with its seeming simplicity, it includes elements of modernism or futurism, but it also fits well into the atmosphere of such a hallway, simple wooden furniture, which seems to be borrowed from the workshop. Shelves, racks can be with unusual mechanisms "from the future" or, on the contrary, be as simple as possible. Both of them will go well with artificially aged wooden cabinets. Unusual accessories are welcome, such as a brightly colored wooden shoe rack.

Soft benches, sofas, banquets, ottomans should be made of natural materials - leather and wood or imitating them. They can either repeat the color scheme of the hallway, differing only by a couple of tones, or be contrasting. For an aggressive style option, a bright color that is not in the interior, for example, red, is suitable.

Remember that both the texture of the materials and the fittings of the products should be as simple as possible, be it a bench or a wardrobe. Ornate pens, monograms, floral patterns will look out of place. But "semi-antique" racks with books will be appropriate in such an interior.

If there is glass in the doors of the furniture, then it should be without patterns and relief - need smoothness and dullness. Clothes hangers are preferable to wooden or metal, ideally floor-standing. A sliding wardrobe can fit into such an interior if it matches the aesthetics of the style.

Choose skirting boards to match the color of the walls or paint them in the appropriate shade. Large, unadorned mirrors complete the loft-style hallway design.

The best option would be a hallway with a large window through which the sun's rays penetrate during the day and moonlight at night. But if we are talking about an apartment, not a house, then this idea is unlikely to be implemented, because typical hallways usually do not have windows. The lighting will have to be mounted using fixtures that fit the style. It can be wall sconces that imitate wrought-iron street lamps, spotlights on the walls, "garlands" of light bulbs, while the wires with the plug should not be visible.

Stylish track suspensions fit perfectly into the loft style concept. They are an aluminum bus bar equipped with multiple flashlights. The height of the tire can vary depending on your wishes, and the shape of the bulbs is also selected according to your taste. Primitive Soviet plafonds are also perfect for the decor of such a hallway.

If you like a more glamorous version of the loft style, then you can safely experiment with stretch ceilings and various lighting. For example, in the central part of the ceiling there can be a futuristic chandelier, and on the second "level" along the edges - spotlights.

There are no strict points that must be followed when decorating a loft hallway. The decor should continue the industrial setting. Door handles for old iron pipes, metal bicycle racks and the vehicle itself, road signs, posters, a subway map, modular paintings and photographs will perfectly complement the "industrial" look of your premises.

If you can decorate the hallway with rare gizmos like an old typewriter or gramophone, then by all means take this opportunity. It is not necessary to use textiles in its design, since rugs and napkins in this direction are not welcome.

An exception may be curtains if there are windows in the hallway. Simple linen fabrics that allow light to pass through, as well as roller blinds or even blinds, will do.

This interior is far from the loft style that was at the beginning of this trend - it is more glamorous. But at the same time, the main elements of style have been preserved in it - a brick wall, smooth leather furniture, a picture resembling a poster. Such an interior will look especially harmonious in the apartment of a young girl.

The next option will be of interest to desperate fashionistas and rebels. It seems that this cabinet was indeed taken from the factory. A chalk wall adds to the ambiance of the production hall. Forged lanterns are one of the hallmarks of the loft style. In this performance, they look very brutal. All these elements give rise to a truly spectacular interior in the best traditions of this direction.

Lots of photographs on the brick wall and light bulbs hanging from the ceiling create a creative atmosphere and special comfort. Once in this house, guests will immediately feel that extraordinary people live here.

The wall in this interior looks like it is at least a hundred years old. Antique chairs, as if migrated here from the workshop, pipes, a lantern - all this creates a single harmonious interior in the loft style.

Summing up, we note that loft-style interiors give a lot of room for imagination. They can combine antiquity and cutting edge trends, work environment and glamor. With them, your house will be filled with the spirit of modernity and rebellion, because it is not for nothing that this style was "invented" by the youth. We hope that you have learned many interesting ideas from this material, and it has inspired you to create your own exclusive interior in the loft style.

You can learn how to equip a loft-style hallway with your own hands from the video below.