The industrial-style boom
Industrial Chic’s roots lie in the boom of converting historic commercial buildings, warehouses, and factories into residential spaces.
But instead of hiding the original structural elements, they’re celebrated as part of the interior design. These elements include raw architectural features like exposed brick, pipes, concrete, wood and metal. So it’s no surprise these elements live on today.
These industrial spaces and interior features were at first a hit with the creative community (name-dropping one Andy Warhol, who set up his studio in an abandoned warehouse.)
While people were revelling in the unfinished, shabby chic-ness of it all, they were also bringing their original creativity, personality and home comforts to spaces.
This led to adding softer elements, comfortable textures and pops of colour in the Industrial style, drawing influence from Mid-Century Modern design. And so over time, the industrial look evolved, becoming a style in its own right. Making it accessible to homes of all kinds, not just cool loft spaces in big cities.
It’s a style that’s open to everyone to dial up or down the industrial vibe as they please.
What is the Industrial Chic style?
If you’re thinking that your home decor needs a little edge, but minimalism isn’t cutting it… Industrial Chic could be for you. As we’ve said, you don’t need a fancy loft space or a sense of unattainable coolness to achieve it.
This style is about reimagining raw materials into warm, homely and chic features to build a space that fits your home and style.
Within Industrial Chic, you'll notice an abundance of robust wooden furnishings and warm lighting elements.
This infusion creates a cosy environment that always feels uncluttered, spacious and uncomplicated.
This is helped by smooth finishes, clean lines, and simple silhouettes taking centre stage.
These elements combine to create the perfect blend of organised and functional spaces, effortlessly blending practicality with aesthetic charm.
Don’t be intimidated by the word “Industrial”
Exposed brick, metal pipes and concrete… on the surface, these signature elements of Industrial style can conjure up images of chilly lofts and abandoned factories.
Not the most welcoming of visions. But the reality is very different. The truth is that “Industrial” needs just one vital ingredient to banish any intimidating factor: and that’s you.
The human connection and warmth you can bring to this style immediately soften the edges, adding home comforts and cosy textures.
Industrial Chic isn't about sticking to rigid rules.
It's about embracing, experimenting, and personalising raw, vintage or weathered materials.
It's a style that can evolve with you and your space, with as much or as little of these industrial details as you like.
So, you can confidently shed the intimidation, add your warmth, and discover how "industrial" can become “intentionally chic.”
Key style points of Industrial Chic
We’ve talked quite a bit about Industrial Chic’s focus on exposed brick, metal and leather sofas, but it’s not all about that. What makes it ‘Chic’ is the careful curation of raw materials, cosy contrasts, and unfinished beauty. Here are 5 key points that make this style tick:
Authentic Beauty
Embrace the authentic beauty of exposed brick, concrete, and metals, celebrating their unique textures, colours and even imperfections. Think unfinished walls, wooden floorboards, weathered beams, and industrial accents.
Instead of hiding imperfections, amplify them with strategic lighting. While this may seem strange at first, casting light and shade on weathered beams and textured walls, can transform flaws into captivating marks of beauty.
Cosy Contrasts
Balance the rawness with plush textiles and mood lighting. Think throws draped on leather sofas, warm rugs on exposed floors, and dimmable, spotlights, and pendant lights to create cosy zones.
Even your choice of lightbulb can help. For example, dimmable Edison bulbs will cast a honeyed shadow across the space, turning every nook and cranny warm and inviting. Surprisingly, a sprinkle of fairy lights strategically tucked into beams or plants will soften the industrial edge even more, creating a welcoming shimmer of light.
Natural Palette
Let the materials speak for themselves. Focus on the inherent hues of silver metallics, dark woods, concrete, and leather, carefully choosing bold pops of colour for an authentic industrial feel with personality.
Instead of vibrant wall art, think about black and white photography. The monochromatic nature of them will mirror the textures around you. Plus, a curated collection of vintage industrial style pieces, and rusted or salvaged metals will bring even more authentic colours while adding sculptural elements to the space.
Unfinished Chic
Don't shy away from rough edges. Embrace a sense of work-in-progress, incorporating vintage and upcycled pieces for a unique, layered look.
Think about incorporating the raw beauty of salvaged wood and the patina of weathered metal. While these elements may not scream “perfection”, how they are incorporated into your design can make the whole look perfectly imperfect.
If you would prefer a more polished finish, then you can always include Industrial Chic design through larger pieces of furniture. A wall-length fitted wardrobe with a wood or concrete finish creates a more refined version of the trend, and it is also a great way of achieving this bold look in a smaller space without being overwhelming!
Form and Function
Blend aesthetics with functionality. To emulate industrial chic furniture, choose pieces with clean lines and exposed hardware. Depending on how far you want to push the industrial look, you can also utilise industrial elements like pipes and metal shelves for storage and display.
For example, repurposed metal shelving becomes both artwork and storage. While sleek glass tables, resting on exposed metal, blur the lines between structural design and functional support.
How to style a room the Industrial Chic way
Now it’s time for the fun bit. Everything we’ve spoken about can come to life in your space simply by following these 7 steps. Ready to get started?
1. Create a neutral base
Industrial Chic can be a big change for some, especially if your home doesn't have some of the naturally occurring features to use as a starting point.
This can leave you feeling apprehensive and questioning how it can be achieved in your space. Creating a neutral baseline gives you a blank canvas to start experimenting with this trend.
Keep your bigger pieces of furniture neutral and useful.
Give awkward spaces a purpose with neutral fitted furniture, utilising the space to keep all clutter cleared away.
2. Start small
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so start small by introducing less permanent elements that encapsulate this trend.
Edison Bulbs, leather draw handles or furniture created from exposed metal are good places to start as they can adapt to many trends.
As your confidence grows you can begin to introduce bolder elements into the space, comfortable in the knowledge that you always have that neutral baseline to return to if something isn't working for you and your interior.
3. Edit your space
When you feel ready to take a bolder step into this trend, it’s time to think bigger, like exposing the brick under the plasterboard (certainly a more involved job, but the outcome can be rewarding.)
Alternatively, a printed wallpaper or paint effect is a less permanent way to create the illusion of a distressed wall.
Either way, these elements draw the eye as a feature, so balance must be retained.
Bigger pieces of furniture like wardrobes or media units can feel like they dominate the space, keep colours neutral and natural, and find subtle ways to include industrial elements like leather drawer pulls or brass handles.
Reeded glass perfectly complements the industrial look, and has a subtlety that allows your bolder elements to shine.
4. Settle on a colour scheme that suits you
Depending on what kind of “industrial” look you’re going for, the colour scheme you choose can bring it all together.
Bear in mind that raw materials bring their feeling to a space. For example, metals can feel cold and exposed brick can be overwhelming.
Are you the classic cool type? If your eyes are set on incorporating metals it can start to bring a cold edge to a room.
However, counterbalancing the greyness with copper or brass touches and bringing yellows, greens, or terracotta into the mix will warm things up effortlessly.
Maybe rustic warmth is more you? If your vision fits a more brick wall or original wood level of industrial style, the boldness of the natural terracotta can be a feature in itself. To make sure you stay in control of the colour scheme around the room it’s worth considering a solid base colour that is more muted such as an off-white.
Doing this allows you to take full control of the amount of colour you inject around the rest of the room.
5. Place furniture to fit your layout
It’s natural with the Industrial Chic style to incorporate heavier furniture with more rigidity and squared edges.
That’s why it’s important to think about the placement of your furniture pieces to create the perfect flow of hard and soft edges.
Think about mixing and matching textures to create this hard and soft flow. For example, in the dining space, a hardwood table is complemented by soft leather seating.
While in the living space, a metal side table sits beside woven fabric armchairs. It’s all about balancing materials to achieve your perfect level of Industrial Chic comfort.
The broader view of furniture placement in an Industrial Chic space sees big and small pieces working together, not fighting for attention. For example, a large leather sofa takes pride of place in the centre of a living room, this gives you the anchor to proportionally figure out the right size of everything from your rug and coffee table to your throw pillows. This is also why open shelving works so well in Industrial Chic spaces. Being able to see ornaments, books and decorative items creates an open and airy feel.
As soon as anything is closed in, you start to create barriers in the space.
6. Create zones with textures
Wood and concrete can create definition in spaces while keeping them open and breathable. Experiment with warm lighting to drench every corner in a cosy haze.
Also use textures to diversify the atmosphere of different rooms or to create different zones for different functions: reading, concentrating, and relaxing.
Doing this can create balanced and tonally interesting spaces that reflect your personality and how you use your home.
But if you don't have these textures as part of your room, you can bring them in through your furniture.
Everything from wood finishes to textured concrete effect furniture can help create these different zones in your space. The beauty of using your furniture for texture is the ease of elevating it even further with the addition of metallic accents such as brushed brass or gold handles.
And across wall spaces vintage gold picture frames can help tie everything together.
7. Create zones with textures
Even the most meticulously curated Industrial Chic spaces run the risk of being overwhelmed with clutter!
However, the great part of this style is how embracing function and utility is all part of the look. By this, we mean adding storage, lots of it and in different ways.
Fitted furniture is often a go-to choice, especially when you want to maximise storage space around everything from awkwardly shaped walls and beams, and other industrial features you don’t want to hide.
For example, a brick chimney breast flanked by alcove storage is the best of both form and function. Or creating a feature wall of open shelving with a mixture of sizes and depths. This allows the natural wall to show through the back.
Equally, if lots of open storage isn’t your thing, there are always mirrored finishes to explore. As well as creating storage that disappears behind mirrored doors, light is also reflected around the room, brightening corners and adding a glint to darker materials in the space.
Begin your transformation with Sharps
Is Industrial Chic the style for you? Here at Sharps, we will help you create your dream Industrial Chic space, taking inspiration from the exposed and natural materials theme. Our range of bespoke bedroom fitted furniture can make the perfect pieces for storage and organisation, giving you the space to explore this style completely.
Book your Free Design Visit today!
