Get the Look: Industrial Chic
I love to add an element to a room that's rusted and crusted. It's probably not very feng shui -maybe that's why I keep losing stuff lately? I digress. With the huge popularity of lofts, found objects, the need to be sustainable and reuse/repurpose, the return to crafting with big old hand-cranked machines like letterpresses, the yen for vintage ephemera (think sfgirlbybay style), rusty and crusty has gone from being a con to a pro!
What gives a space industrial style? It can be exposed brick, ductwork, or pipes; it can be furniture made from pipes; it can be furnishings that came from a factory; it can be metal accents on chairs or big fat gears used as door stops. Let's take a look at some examples from around Houzz;
*SIDE NOTE: When I first made this ideabook, I realized I had swiped about half of the photos from The Lettered Cottage's "Tossed and Found" ideabook. It must have been her ideabook that gave me the industrial inspiration in the first place! Anyway, I cut out most of the pictures that were double-dippers, so as not to be a repetitive copycat, so
What gives a space industrial style? It can be exposed brick, ductwork, or pipes; it can be furniture made from pipes; it can be furnishings that came from a factory; it can be metal accents on chairs or big fat gears used as door stops. Let's take a look at some examples from around Houzz;
*SIDE NOTE: When I first made this ideabook, I realized I had swiped about half of the photos from The Lettered Cottage's "Tossed and Found" ideabook. It must have been her ideabook that gave me the industrial inspiration in the first place! Anyway, I cut out most of the pictures that were double-dippers, so as not to be a repetitive copycat, so
This is a true industrial space. What you can learn from it is how to arrange an open space, and you can also pull ideas like exposed brick and beams.
Consider adding wood and metal chairs. These vintage industrial hightop chairs here add scads of personality to this eating area.
Recycle and Reuse! This detail is from a wonderful repurposed old door on a track. It's the perfect example of rusted and crusted.
Show off your utilitarian items. Here, big metal fireplace tools become sculptures.
I am pretty obsessed with ABMWOOD and all of their beautiful woods that they repurpose in all sorts of great ways. Here it is the beams that they reused. Also, those custom made industrial iron windows are TDF. Check out some more gorgeous windows like these at House Beautiful dot com - search "Jill Brinson" and the story will come up.
I feel like I saw this in an '80s Grace Jones video. In a good way.
Consider all materials. These gabion walls are a nice combination of rural and industrial styles.
Think about industrial materials for your exterior. This is one extreme example...
Not all industrial style is rusty and crusty; rather, it's futuristic. Doesn't this almost look like a creature that would give you a retinal scan from "Minority Report"? I totally love it!
Sometimes a peeling-paint wall can add huge amounts of character to a space. It's funny, the industrial space peeling paint reminds me of 500 year old peeling Italian walls in Venice.