Style Spotlight: Urban Loft Design Secrets
Learn how to bring this downtown look to your home.
Open-concept living used to be limited to bohemian apartments in repurposed factories and warehouses. This versatile design has become so popular, it’s now commonplace in real estate listings for properties of all types — from city lofts to suburban ranches. Watch any home improvement program, or flip through the pages of a decorating magazine, and you’ll see designers tearing down walls to create big, airy spaces.
An open layout has plenty of advantages — it’s great for entertaining, it keeps families connected, lets in natural light, and has an all-around good “feel.” Professional designers make it look so effortless, but understanding how to decorate — and make the best use of — an open floor plan can be a challenge. We borrowed some techniques from downtown loft design that will make you love living without walls.
Considerations for Open Floor Plan Living
Homes with an open concept layout often combine the kitchen, the dining & living rooms, and the entertainment areas. When your primary living space is one sprawling, open room, it’s important to define its separate uses. One way to do this is to create zones by carefully placing furniture, lighting fixtures, and accessories. Here are some design tips to add focus and function to each area.
Define the Space with Lighting
Light fixtures have a job to do, but they’re also an important design element. Chandeliers create focal points, and are favorites for adding pizzazz above dining tables. Hanging lights can also be centered over a seating area to help define the space. Consider lining up three or more pendants over a kitchen island to add visual separation between the kitchen and the rest of an open concept room.
How Low Should You Go?
Vertical placement is an important consideration with hanging fixtures. If you’re working with tall ceilings, it can be tempting to hang lights too high, but the fixture height should be measured from the floor up, not from the ceiling down. Allow about seven feet of clearance from the bottom of the fixture so people can walk below it without bumping their heads. If you’re placing a chandelier over a dining table, allow 30” to 34” from the tabletop to the bottom of the fixture. That’s low enough to visually connect the fixture to the dining area, and high enough that it won’t block sight lines when diners are seated.
Make a Big Statement
Choosing the right size chandelier can make or break a look. The rule of thumb is to choose a hanging fixture that has a diameter equal to (in inches) the sum of the room width plus length in feet. For example, for a room that’s ten feet long and ten feet wide, you’d want a chandelier of 20 inches in diameter. It becomes a little trickier in an open floor plan where the overall measurement of the room can be huge. Instead, consider the measurement of the zone the chandelier will be installed in. For example, to calculate the size of a fixture that hangs over a conversation area in an open floor plan, measure the length and width of the seating area — including any furniture and the area rug — then apply the above formula. In an open floor plan, if you’re trying to decide between two fixture sizes, it’s usually best to choose the larger one.
Coordinate the Look
Consider how all visible fixtures — including chandeliers, pendants, lamps, and wall sconces — will look together. Choose a similar style and finish for each piece. Curated collections are a great way to add a cohesive look in any home, but they’re particularly useful in lofts apartments and other open living spaces where several fixtures might be visible from one vantage point.
Loft Inspired Lighting Styles
To get that downtown loft vibe, you can choose to go glam or gritty. Contemporary and modern light fixtures give a chic, polished uptown look. Industrial and rustic lighting are great choices if you prefer an edgier, downtown converted-factory aesthetic. Whichever style you choose, make sure the pieces are big enough to work in an open space.
Furniture Placement
Defining spaces without walls can be a challenge. Consider how the room will be used, then arrange furniture to create zones. Area rugs are a great place to start. Use our Area Rug Buying Guide to choose the right size and style, and learn how to arrange furniture around your new rug.
Open Space Dining
In an open space, the kitchen and dining areas often run together. A well-placed chandelier and an area rug can help frame the dining table. Make sure the area rug extends at least 24 inches beyond the dining table on all sides so the chairs can be pulled out and still stay on the rug. Remember to place dining tables close enough to the kitchen to make transporting food and dishes convenient.
Create Conversation Areas
For seating areas, imagine a square or rectangular space, then place the furniture within its boundaries. To encourage conversation, you can set matching sofas or loveseats across from each other and add coordinating side chairs and armchairs to the ends of the seating rectangle. A coffee table in the middle provides a place to set drinks or add decorative accessories. Furniture orientation should take into account focal points in the space. Is there a fireplace or television in the room? If so, make sure the seating is arranged for comfortable viewing. Freestanding fireplaces and media console fireplaces can add coziness to a wide open space and help anchor living areas. Learn how to choose one in our Fireplace Buying Guide.
Moveable Partitions
Finally, you can define spaces with room dividers. It might seem counterintuitive to break up an open floor plan with room dividers, but it can be an effective way to delineate uses. Solid dividers completely obstruct your view, and are a good option to hide clutter and add a little privacy to areas like home offices. Choose a folding screen with an open design, as seen in this chic gilt bronze room divider, to create separation without blocking sight lines. Open shelving, like this industrial style iron and pine shelving unit, can also be used to divide spaces, and they have the added advantage of providing storage, as well as a place to display decorative accessories.
A Place for Everything
Storage is one of the biggest challenges in open-concept layouts. Closets are usually built into interior walls, so when there are no walls, you guessed it, there’s less room to store your stuff. With a little creative decorating, you can add style and storage to your open floor plan.
Consider adding coat racks, hall trees, and storage benches at the entry to corral coats and footwear. In living areas, choose furniture that doubles as storage, like chests, trunks, and storage ottomans. Check out our storage and organization guide for more tips.
Decorating Open Spaces
Oversized Artwork
Big walls call for big artwork. And, in a large, open space - whether an urban loft apartment or a suburban open-concept ranch home — it’s important to provide a place for the eye to rest. Those blank surfaces are also a great place to create a gallery wall. To learn more about choosing and placing art, check out our Wall Decor Buying Guide.
Accessorize Wisely
Open concept floor plans are very versatile — you can configure the space however you wish, and easily rearrange things when you need a change. However, DIY interior decorators should resist the urge to fill up all that space with decorative accessories. In fact, because this type of layout is so open, you need to be very mindful about everything you bring into it. Sight lines are different in open concept homes and too many little tchotchkes will make even a large space look cluttered and chaotic. Carefully choose pieces that are large enough to make a statement on their own, or gather smaller pieces together in cohesive groupings. For example, a matching collection of three vases grouped together on an end table is much more pleasing to the eye than if the three were scattered throughout the room.
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