Humanity came up with the idea of decorating a home with paintings many years ago. They began to transfer visual images, thoughts, and emotions onto canvas with the help of paints and brushes literally at the beginning of the last millennium, while drawings on walls using improvised tools were done by cavemen.
In the modern world, the variety of graphics, painting, decorative and applied arts allows you to choose a suitable image, a whole series of them, for any room. Paintings for interiors in the loft style have many interesting features that highlight the unique design.
Features, style features on the canvas
The loft appeared in the 40s of the twentieth century in America, when, due to a sharp rise in prices for renting industrial premises, many owners of factories and factories were forced to move production out of town. Artists, musicians, actors, and other artists began to occupy the vacated workshops, hangars, and attics, setting up their workshops and studios there. The cost of renting part of such a building was slightly lower than the price of a comfortable dwelling of a similar area; high ceilings, panoramic windows, and an abundance of light were a pleasant addition. By the mid-50s and 60s, such housing acquired elite status. Now quite wealthy people live in these premises, luxury offices and night rock clubs are equipped.
The paintings of this era did not pretend to create a radically new style of painting or graphics, but most clearly reflected the surrounding reality and the attitude of various artists to it. The vast majority of paintings are characterized by cold colors, strict lines, and the absence of unnecessary details. Many of them will also fit neatly into a minimalist interior. It is important that what is depicted in the picture does not create dissonance with the objects located in the interior itself, and is not “superfluous” here.
Other design features of loft-style canvases:
- the colors are predominantly light and cool, but individual bright compositions are allowed as single contrasts;
- for a black-and-white interior, a portrait in red-brown tones is suitable, and gray-beige abstractions will organically fit into the environment of red brick walls, refreshing it;
- the paintings should be in harmony with other loft decor - oak ceiling beams, shiny pipes, numerous wires, concrete walls, panoramic mirrors in simple frames;
- minimalism in design - the fewer lines, colors, details on the canvas, the more primitive the image, the better; detailed paintings by realist artists are completely inappropriate here.
The location of each interior element must be carefully planned - everything unnecessary should be removed immediately.
Industrial style and paintings for loft-style interiors
Industrial style originates in the 50s of the twentieth century. He came to us from overseas, where during the recession they tried to adapt old factories for housing. And if its origins were the need to fulfill social needs in conditions of an economic crisis, today loft-style interiors have become a sign of luxury and exclusivity.
The main characteristics and features of the style are as follows:
- cold;
- severity;
- minimalist aesthetics.
Today, the character of this unique style can be created using various materials and decorations. Below are a few steps that will help you create a beautiful industrial-style interior and match it with paintings, posters and other decorative elements. Introducing paintings into the interior with reference to the loft style is a very simple, fast and very effective way to transform your home without much expense. This method is especially suitable for those who are simply passionate about the industrial style, and for those who, for various reasons, cannot afford to radically change the decor of an entire apartment or room.
However, it should be remembered that it is important to maintain consistency in all interior elements; we cannot overwhelm the lofts with too many additional elements. A win-win solution would be to rely on minimalism and a sense of spaciousness. Achieving exactly this effect should be our priority when planning decor - especially if we do not have a “loft” amount of square meters.
Large bright space
Industrial-style interiors tend to be tall and spacious. Room separation is limited to a minimum. Everything is complemented by large windows, which also create the impression of open space. A painting or poster can be placed on a large white wall, somewhat contrasting with it.
Loft colors
Light and cool colors predominate here. White and gray tones are the foundation that must be present in the room. Sometimes the heaviness of the interior color scheme is complemented by a stronger, more lively accent. Graphics, paintings and posters on the walls can become this color accent or act as an element that harmonizes all elements of the interior if the plot includes elements of the color of furniture and decor.
The harsh charm of the loft style in wall decor
In such an interior, something is put on display that, as a rule, they try to hide when decorating the apartment. Here pipes, wires, damp concrete walls, bricks play the first fiddle. The main materials used to decorate a room are concrete, brick and metal. There is also no shortage of wood here. What paintings to choose for the wall in the loft style? On a raw concrete wall, you can place a bright accent or choose an image that fits into the character of such a wall - a foggy morning, gray posters and modular paintings.
A poster with a futuristic motif, graphics with geometric patterns, a sheet of metal on a brick wall - there are many ideas.
Minimalism
Another important aspect is simplicity. The number of elements should be kept to a minimum. One large painting in the loft style will become a real decoration of a rough wall and will add warm notes and character to the interior. Plot? Something minimalist, in subdued colors, in harmony with the surrounding environment.
What will decorate a cool and harsh interior? Large lamps made of aluminum or metal, styled to match factory lighting, come in handy here. Furniture can also be made from leftover factory equipment, beams, and pallets.
Canvas options
Paintings for loft interiors are made on almost any materials:
- on traditional linen canvas;
- rough or completely smooth board;
- any fabric stretched over the frame;
- on transparent, frosted glass;
- plain or photo paper;
- on the remains of wallpaper;
- on primed cardboard, fiberboard, chipboard.
Many painting options are easy to make with your own hands, even without being an artist. Collages from pieces of glossy magazines, children's drawings framed in a homemade frame, abstractions from threads and nails stuffed along a certain contour, colored stamps and macro photos will perfectly decorate an interior in a loft style.
Selection of paintings
Artistic canvases are selected depending on the taste preferences of the owners of the house or apartment and set the mood for the entire room, periodically being updated and replaced with others. When choosing interior paintings by size, you should take into account the area of the living space - not everyone can boast of hundreds of square meters, ceilings, like in a palace. The smaller the home being decorated, the smaller decorative items are placed in it, but very tiny pictures do not look very out of place.
There are no overly strict rules here, but it is preferable that the paintings create a strong contrast with the space around them. Since the main colors of a loft-style interior are white, gray, brick-brown, it is easy to place a huge variety of artistic canvases, almost any posters, against their background. The main thing is not to overload the interior with unnecessary details, especially small ones that are not too expressive.
Retro, vintage, baroque – paintings of these styles look very shocking in standard “post-Soviet” interiors. However, individual elements in the design of loft paintings will be very appropriate. Three-dimensional paintings made of iron parts, remains of motorcycles, pipelines, alarm clocks are often played out very advantageously, especially in rooms of sufficient area.
Portraits
Most often these are reproductions of famous artists of the middle of the last century, such as:
- Kazimir Malevich;
- Marc Chagall;
- Pablo Picasso;
- Gustav Klimt;
- Vincent Van Gogh;
- Frida Kahlo;
- Salvador Dali;
- Zinaida Serebryakova;
- Paul Gauguin.
Many portraits created by modern hyperrealists or amateur artists will also fit into the theme. These can be wide-format images of the face or part of it, half-length portraits or full-length portraits, including group ones. Framed photographs of household members and just some beautiful people are suitable.
Graphic arts
From graphics, including photographs, the following motifs are suitable:
- a modern metropolis in gray and blue tones;
- black and white contours of trees, silhouettes of people, animals, birds;
- contrasting geometric shapes, checkerboard patterns, stripes, zigzags;
- letters, numbers, inscriptions, slogans;
- signs, framed logos;
- images of cartoon characters;
- fragments of safety instructions with pictures;
- Soviet propaganda posters;
- pin-up photographs;
- wide-format multiplication table, black and white stand for vision testing;
- works by artists Robert Banksy and Andy Warhol.
Large bright posters depicting famous rock musicians, pop stars, and political figures will be very appropriate. Silk-screen printing and screen printing will complement the interior in an original way.
Abstraction
It’s easy to draw a colorful or black-and-white simple abstraction yourself, simply by choosing the colors you like. This may be an uneven gradient transition from one bright color to another, a pile of cubes, balls, curls, blurry faces overlapping each other. One way or another, some paintings by famous cubists, fauvists,
The following are suitable reproductions of paintings by artists:
- “Black Square” by K. Malevich;
- “Yellow-red-blue” by V. Kandinsky;
- “Fiery Evening” by P. Klee;
- “Painting” by H. Miro;
- “Harlequin with a Guitar” by J. Braque;
- “Island” D. Ismailov;
- “Numbers in Love” by D. Balla.
Paintings that depict in detail working mechanisms, various textures, and space scenes in all colors also look good.
Modular pictures
Segmented or modular paintings are gaining popularity every day. They consist of several parts of the same or different sizes and shapes, representing diptychs, triptychs or polyptychs. To create them, any image is “split” into several separate fragments. The parts are mounted on the wall at an equal distance from each other or slightly chaotically, but the image should still be guessable.
Diptychs and triptychs imitating rusty metal canvases are very popular.
Image of cards
A modern or ancient geographical map of the world will decorate the central part of the wall. The map is printed from an old book or the Internet using a laser printer, attached to the wall with double-sided tape, or inserted into a frame. The map looks interesting, where the texture of the continents and islands is made as if from brick. Modular, abstract maps of the world, individual countries, continents, lands of “Middle-earth” or “Seven Kingdoms”, bright, slightly worn “antique” will fit perfectly into an industrial interior.
A star map is also a good solution. It is made on a solid canvas, from separate modules, in the form of two separate hemispheres - the southern and northern sky.
Wooden paintings
Paintings on wood are made using decoupage, string art, burning, drawing with pencils and paints, and UV printing. Such images do not require frames, and the quality of the wood does not have to be good. A canvas whipped up from boards from old Euro pallets will look even more organic than a well-polished fragment of solid wood.
Volumetric carved panels, hand-painted, depicting industrial and cosmic scenes also look appropriate. Modular paintings with carved ornaments will create a harmonious ensemble with wooden furniture. They can also be slightly artificially aged.
The image on the wooden surface of the world map, to fully match the interior, is made “antique” - pale, with missing fragments, on a cracked, bug-eaten canvas.
About furniture and equipment
Bright and irresistible photos of a loft-style living room demonstrate in all its glory all the attractiveness of urban design, in which furniture is the central design element. Her choice is not limited by conditions: bold combinations and unimaginable experiments are allowed.
However, there is still one rule that the furniture in this interior must obey. It should not cover everything that is usually hidden behind doors and facades in traditional styles. The usual wardrobes and functional chests of drawers are absolutely inappropriate here. Instead, the space is complemented by original niches, small floor hangers and furniture elements equipped with wheels, revealing the veil of secrecy on personal belongings. Mobility, compactness and exclusive design are the distinctive features of the furniture, emphasizing originality and originality.
interior in loft style.
Another condition for creating an urban design is the presence of modern technology, which in all its glory demonstrates the most progressive achievements of scientific and technological progress. It is the main decoration and addition to the loft interior, highlighting the original design and style of the living room.
Paintings for the kitchen
In the kitchen, the dining area is decorated with one bright canvas, a whole series of pictures. They are placed above the dining table on the wall, hanging shelves. If the kitchen room contains such a complex element as a ventilation duct, which would be in order for the loft style, it is also decorated with one or two paintings. These can be images of vegetables, fruits, bouquets, various protrusions pasted onto a canvas or board.
Empty frames that contrast with the walls can also be a decorative element in their own right. An alternative is to insert blank sheets of paper into them or stretch shiny contrasting fabric.
Decor and accessories
You can decorate a room in a loft style very boldly. This style accepts many of the most original options.
For example:
- in the recreation area a large hammock or swing is hung on chains;
- a wide-screen plasma is placed on a rough brick wall;
- a chaise longue with a large modern floor lamp is placed in front of the full-height window of the wall;
- in the kitchen, stumps are placed instead of chairs, complemented by a metal barrel or an open fireplace;
- chains are hung under the ceiling and on the stairs;
- natural road signs can be installed in front of the bathroom and kitchen;
- use a bench and a street lamp instead of chairs;
- A charcoal drawing on the wall can also be considered decor.
If such proposals seem too bold for you, then you can get by with more traditional decor:
- paintings or posters in pop art style;
- decorative pillows and colorful runners;
- vases and table lamps.
For living room interior
Large canvases are most appropriate in the living room interior. A colorful diptych will make a striking frame for a flat-screen TV, and a series of small paintings will decorate the mantelpiece. Around the sofa you can hang colorful photos, pictures in the shape of an oval, rectangle, or abstract figure.
All images are placed at eye level of a standing or sitting person - the middle of the work is then located at a height of about one and a half meters. If they are hung in a row, then they are aligned along the top or bottom edge. Large canvases are illuminated with individual lamps and LED strips.
Huge floor paintings will wonderfully decorate the interior, but they should be placed in such a way that it is convenient to view from a distance equal to at least one diagonal of the canvas - for this, the room should not be too cramped so that it does not stand “butt” against the wall. When floor structures are not secured, their safe placement must also be considered. If possible, everything that should not be excessively mobile is strengthened with the help of specialists.
Loft-style design often includes a fireplace. Most often it is “fake”, but some amateurs create a completely functional one. The mantelpiece in most interiors is quite spacious - framed black and white photographs of the family are placed here, as well as photos of recent years from the best resorts in the world.
If there are mirrors in the room, you should avoid repeatedly reflecting paintings in them - this leads to a colossal reduction in space.
Paintings and more
Circus, theater and advertising posters from famous, popular films were often used as decoration. For factory residents, this solution was ideal: colorful and free on the one hand, fairly large in size on the other. Entire compositions were made from them. A photo of a painting in the loft style of this type is presented below.
Framed old maps are another attractive and stylized solution for loft-style interiors. In a modern design, these can also be modular paintings, consisting of three or more sections. The Soviet world map is not very suitable for these purposes; a map that contains two hemispheres or the American continent is ideal.
Industrial style in a modern design has long ceased to be an economical option for interior design. Sometimes this is a very expensive pleasure. For example, attic apartments in America are always more expensive than ordinary ones.
For this reason, loft-style wall decor in our time implies higher quality workmanship and the use of expensive materials and technologies. For example, paintings on boards can easily replace large-format black and white photographs framed in expensive wood. Or an alternative could be professional graffiti directly on the wall, as in the photo.
Photo wallpaper covering an entire wall with a black and white image of American cities or an imitation of a view of a city or industrial area from a large window. Both options will perfectly highlight the loft style in the interior.
If you have paid attention to the interior decorations in which American films are filmed, you will often notice that in place of framed paintings and photographs, some inscriptions are placed. These are usually slogans from factory walls, quotes from famous people and even information boards - for example, a canteen menu on a chalk board. You can also place this decor in the hallway. This way you can leave notes for other family members.
Selection of paintings for the bedroom
It is not advisable to place many paintings in the bedroom, especially those made in aggressive colors - red-green, yellow-violet, black-orange, giving preference to pastel shades, monochrome compositions, sepia.
A large canvas is placed above the head of the bed. If this is the bed of newlyweds, the theme of the picture should concern love - multi-colored hearts, verbal confessions in different languages, graphic images of a pair of swans, lovebirds.
The bedroom often has a dressing room - a small room, a niche behind a partition. This screen also usually has its own pattern that matches the general background, but the paintings outside it are also selected to be contrasting.
It is advisable to place the paintings in places out of reach of the sun, otherwise they have a chance of fading too quickly.
For children's
A children's room in a loft style, in terms of the choice of paintings, provides enormous scope for creativity. Picture decor here can be made not only beautiful, but also functional. A realistic, detailed map of the world, posters with letters and syllables for teaching children, a multiplication table or road signs would be appropriate here. The brightest children's drawings, panels of pine cones and daisies are inserted into a frame and placed on a shelf, and collages from pieces of glossy magazines are placed on the back of a bunk bed. The interior can be complemented with silhouettes of your favorite cartoon characters or large black and white photos of the children themselves.
DIY loft style decorations and paintings
Pictures on wood in the loft style are easy to make with your own hands. To do this, you will need several boards of the same thickness, screws, paint, varnish, a brush, rope, and a stencil with an image. It is popular to include images of countries or continents on the boards, but they can also be any other image that the interior decorator likes. In order to secure the boards to the walls, you will need screws and a little skill. Then you need to drill holes for the rope. Then paint or varnish is applied, and on top - the image you like through a stencil.
A flat, untreated wide board or a cut of timber can serve as a space for creativity. Images can be applied to it with black paint or by burning.
Options for the arrangement of paintings
You can place paintings, posters, photo collages anywhere, it is important that they do not clutter the interior, interfering with normal movement. The most convenient places for these purposes:
- shelves - any will do: wall, in cabinets, racks, above the fireplace. They will accommodate not too large framed images. It is possible to post an entire conceptual series;
- walls - in any rooms, corridors, above stairs;
- ceiling – a wide-format image of the starry sky or any discreet abstraction is placed here;
- protrusions, niches - framed canvases are simply placed there or mounted on the wall;
- floor – huge images in heavy frames are placed on the floor, leaning against the wall.
It is not recommended to place them where there is a risk of being touched and dropped, for example, in the hallway or children's room.
