It would seem that a loft and a small apartment are incompatible concepts. After all, this style involves large spaces and the absence of walls. In fact, you can apply a number of techniques to visually increase the space and fit the loft style into the interior of a small apartment. You need to start from the ceiling.
Design of the ceiling in a loft style
The first thing to do is finish the ceiling of a small apartment in white. This technique will immediately “raise” it. White color in loft style is mandatory.
Now you need to decide on the lighting. You will have to give up the chandelier once and for all, although it is typical for a loft-style interior, but not in a small apartment. You will have to place lamps around the perimeter of the room or build in lighting.
Under the ceiling itself, you can hang several black-and-white photos, paintings, or write graffiti-style inscriptions. Frames should not be massive. All of them should be the same or as close as possible in terms of style. This technique will help to visually pull the walls of the apartment up.
Beams will help visually raise the ceiling – another characteristic attribute of the style. They can be placed in the shape of a cross, the point of intersection of which will be located exactly in the middle of the ceiling. That end of the beam, which will be located in the center, can be made narrower than the opposite. This will also help to “increase” the height of the ceiling.
In order to bring the design of the ceiling of a small apartment as close as possible to the loft style, you should not make its surface perfectly smooth. The appearance of the surface will be much more natural, as if plaster was just applied to it and painted, without resorting to sanding.
Walls and windows
The walls of a small apartment should look as if their decoration is minimal. For example, it can be textured plaster under concrete or brickwork on one of the sections of the wall. To visually increase the height of the wall, one of the walls can be decorated with wall panels of two shades: darker on the bottom, lighter on top. In the same way, you can perform brickwork or its imitation: dark brick at the bottom, and wall panels of a light shade on top. Such a solution will be especially successful for the wall where the TV panel will be placed. And if sunlight will still fall on this wall, the small room will seem more spacious.
A loft is a rejection of additional partitions in favor of space. However, not every apartment, especially a small one, can combine rooms by removing the walls. But you can combine several functions in one room. For example, to create something like a floor under the ceiling and place a sleeping place on them. Sufficient ceiling height is required for this. And under the stairs to the improvised second floor, you can place a dressing room or an office, if you add lighting devices.
Large windows will add the maximum approximation to the loft style. It is ideal if they are to the floor. The sun’s rays will add light to the interior of a small apartment, and with it, space. Windows can be hung only with blinds or curtains without a pattern, preferably ones that can be rolled up, like blinds.
Colors and materials
If we talk about materials for decorating walls, ceilings, floors, as well as for upholstering furniture in a loft style, then there are the following materials for this: leather, brick, shiny metal, plastic, rough plaster, exposed concrete, brick, glass. Crystal, suede, and stone are also found.
As already mentioned, it is preferable to paint the ceiling in white. The floor should contrast with the ceiling, so it should be painted in dark colors.
As for the walls, it is better to use no more than two colors for their decoration, as well as for furniture upholstery, and after choosing, vary their shades. Usually these are shades of blue or brown.
Ways of zoning space
Despite the absence of partitions or their minimum, zoning of space in the interior of the loft is still expected. Translucent light screens, racks, walls made of glass blocks, and furniture on wheels can be used for this purpose.
Sometimes zoning in such an apartment is only conditional. No partitions are made at all, and in order to separate, for example, the living room from the game room, different colors or finishing materials are used.
The central figure of the loft interior is a sofa, preferably leather. It can be installed in such a way as to demarcate the comfort zone and the work zone in a small apartment.
Tips
- If leather is used in the interior, it should be slightly worn.
- If a massive sofa is installed in a loft-style apartment, then cabinets, racks and shelves should not be conspicuous.
- A coffee table must be placed next to the sofa. It can be made of the simplest materials, for example, pallets.
- The walls should not be covered with furniture, but a bicycle or sports equipment will be a good solution for their decor.
- The loft allows the use of live plants in the interior.
- Open pipes made of shiny metal, large mirrors and a plasma panel on half the walls are welcome.
- The TV can be successfully replaced with a media projector aimed directly at the wall.
As you can see, using the tips on decorating the room, as well as the color scheme and arrangement of furniture, you can create a loft style in any, even a small apartment, regardless of its size.