How To Decorate A Loft

An authentic loft apartment is spacious — the ultimate open floor plan — with stylish throwbacks to industrial roots like exposed brick walls, high ceilings, and concrete floors. Many celebrities, including Vanessa Carlton, call lofts home. Lofts are highly sought after and can be hard to find. However, if you appreciate loft spaces, it may be worth the effort. According to Realtor, authentic lofts come from upcycled factories and industrial sites. Lofts took off in the '60s and '70s in New York City's SoHo district when developers saw big bucks in converting industrial places into apartments. Lofts were such a hotcake item that builders constructed loft-style housing to fill the demand. As Beverly Hills sales agent David Kean said to Realtor, "Converted loft apartments have more of a cool factor than a typical condo does." Of course, not every apartment claiming to be a loft is authentic, so those on the trail of this living space should dig into the home's roots and industrial features before purchasing (via Quality Bath). 

What makes a loft so cool is also what makes it a decorating challenge — blank space devoid of dividing walls. Wondering how to tame a super-sized open floor plan and make your living quarters cozier and allow for privacy? Here are the best ways to decorate your loft and make it feel like home.

Furniture should be more than a place to land yourself for a day of binge-watching. Sure, you can pack plenty of couches, chairs, and tables into a loft's vast space, but if you don't have a design plan, the apartment will have all the warmth of a warehouse. Brrr! According to House Beautiful, cozying up the place with furniture groupings creates the effect of individual rooms. Each room within a room should stand on its own as a gathering area yet still be in concert with the loft's overall vibe. This tip is like decorating an open floor plan, another potentially massive space that gains a comfy feel from furniture clusters. Or you can think about the lobby of a posh hotel, where different seating configurations each have their own sense of individuality without clashing.

In any home, space is a commodity and not something to waste. For that reason, think about your lifestyle and how to create rooms that best match your needs (via Crate & Barrel). Do you entertain often? Does working from home demand office space? The answers to these questions and more should shape the configuration of your new loft apartment.

To cut down on clutter and crowding in your loft, confront storage issues head-on. If you dream of a spacious walk-in closet, a one-room loft space probably isn't for you. Lofts are notoriously lacking in closet space. According to Crate and Barrel, you can tackle this problem with coat racks and wall hooks. Use them to hang up jackets, hats, and handbags. You can create more storage by using shelving units as room dividers and furniture with plenty of drawers. Create a room divider by floating storage units away from the walls. Remember, lofts typically won't feature built-in bookshelves, but furniture storage units will compensate well.

For an affordable option, you can stack crates to create a decorative storage center or use baskets as a handy hide-all on shelves (via Architectural Digest). Pegboards are another creative storage idea. They can get the job done in the office and the kitchen. A clever choice is to stash out-of-season clothes inside a raised platform. Typically, it takes a tall ceiling to accomplish this, but no worries, you have a loft.

Complementary colors such as a neutral palette will soothe the eye and create a harmonious, comfortable loft space. According to Homedit, you're not locked into neutrals as long as the colors don't clash. Before embarking on your color journey, chart a style course. For instance, classical style may thrive on black and white contrasts, while a mid-century modern or contemporary interior design can be neutral or vibrant. One thing to keep in mind is that your loft is one big room.

While you can divide it into different areas for work or play, it's still one big room that aesthetically needs harmony, not extremes. Once you have decided on a style, limit your color choices to two or three complementary hues and get your contrast from accent features, like metals. An easy way to decorate with color might be pillows and accessories (via Crate & Barrel). They pack a punch without upsetting the cohesive feel that a loft demands.

When decorating your loft, it's best not to get frilly with your decor. Focus on celebrating its roots by going for an industrial style. According to Quality Bath, the days when factory workers labored in the great big room you now call home are long gone, but you can still connect to the past. While you may want to cover over features like exposed brick, beams, cinderblock, plumbing or ductwork, or concrete floors, these are part of the loft's personality.

Another hallmark of the loft is an open floor plan, so consider retaining its charm and not getting boxy with room dividers. The same goes for authentic factory-style windows. Don't hide their charm behind heavy draperies. Neutral tones better highlight a loft's unique vibe, although a pop of accent color won't spoil the character. Emphasize a loft's high ceilings with hanging pendant lights or swinging seats in a breakfast zone (via DigsDigs). Adding concrete panels to the design also helps celebrate industrial roots.

Since lofts are large and open spaces, you may feel doomed to a life with no privacy. Even if you love the airy nature of a loft — it may be what attracted you in the first place — some areas cry out for privacy. Who wants guests congregating within sight of a bedroom? According to Apartment Therapy, there are solutions. One way to achieve privacy in the bedroom area is by using a custom bi-folding door. Some people use floor-to-ceiling draperies to conceal a bedroom closet. Draperies are a great hack and can be extended almost anywhere with the help of tracks or tension wires. If you're looking for a less severe break in the loft's open space, create a room divider from a wall of potted plants, tall bookcases, or low-slung shelves with a raised platform.

As Boston interior designer Brenda Be said to Bob Vila, an alcove works wonders in a loft, creating a place where "people can be both together in the same space and yet individual and participate in their own activities." Get the look with furniture, 40-inch-high knee walls, or divider walls that extend a few feet. Folding screens can add privacy and interest with unconventional metals or a more delicate Japanese Washi paper.

As with any interior design, lofts can rise to style perfection with the right mix of metals, patterns, and more. According to Elle Decor, you can accentuate a beautiful brick wall by mixing metals, especially if working off an otherwise neutral backdrop. Make your loft a class act with a combination of patterns for pillows, upholstery, and even an upholstered coffee table. Your designs can be subtle or bold, like a wallpaper that packs a punch. Additionally, patterns can team up with textures, like in a great area rug. Remember, even with a good thing, too much is a spoiler. As they say, less is more.

Mixing metals for variety can be particularly tricky. However, New York designer Courtney McLeod provided some pointers (via Better Homes & Gardens). First, select the primary metal, then choose one or two accent metals, ensuring they don't clash. Variety can also come from the finish of the metal. "Softer, more muted finishes that don't have a lot of shine are easier to mix than polished ones," McLeod said. With these hacks, the loft can be a showcase for sophistication.

Big open spaces with no walls and tall ceilings can distort sound in a way that's far from home-like. According to The Spruce, you can silence the cacophony with pieces like sound-absorbent floor tiles. There's no need to suffer because soundproofing doesn't have to break the bank. One of the simplest ways to reduce reflected noise is carpeting with thick padding. The padding gets the job done better than carpeting alone, so no skimping! If the walls are your problem, consider acoustic panels consisting of boards or fabric hung on the wall.

There's no such thing as a simple phone conversation inside a loft. "They thought I was in an airport hangar," New York loft resident Bob Weinstein told Bob Vila. "It's a little disconcerting." To keep sound from affecting your sanity, use fabric everywhere, including window coverings, bedding, wall hangings, or cushy seating. Severe noise problems might call for sound-control matting like the type seen in a recording studio or custom-upholstered panels. Once more, use fabric to ease those sound waves for the ears.