Hello AT,
I have a few big design challenges ahead with an old brick loft that I just bought in Belltown (Seattle). Lots of great brick, but there's an odd concrete fill in that used to be a bank of windows before they built an adjoining building.
What should I do with the brick / concrete wall, or the rest of the room for that matter? I haven't chosen a color for the room yet, and the shag carpet is probably a gonner. I'm Looking for visually interesting suggestions that aren't overpowering. I can work out the color later.
the furnishings in the photo are from the previous owner - they're gone now. But, the salmon wall / shag still remain, at least for now. That wall color will for sure be changed.
thanks for all the design inspiration.
-Seth
Link To All Good Questions
Two Possible Ideas:
1.) You could paint all of the walls (including sheetrock, concrete and brick portions) all the same color white. This would unify the space, make it bright and would be quite neutral. Bright designer white would look great against black ebony hardwood floors - keep the raw steel railing and the timber ceiling beam natural and unpainted. This look would be pretty versatile with all sorts of Mid-C furniture styles too --but alas is not a look for everyone's taste.
2) If you don't like the white and like the texture of the brick, you could build a bookshelf which frames the concrete panel. This could allow you to keep the back of the bookshelf open so you could see the concrete texture. This look could really work with something made out of either natural steel (like the railing in the foreground of the 2nd pic) or natural wood (like the one ceiling beam near the far track lighting).
Overall a great space. I'm jealous.
what about using the space on the wall as an exterior frame for a really oversized canvas/piece of art. I would have someone stretch a custom sized canvas to allow 5-10" of concrete "frame". paint it a solid color for splash or have an artist buddy do something funky.
cool ass space.
chalk damask pattern on the concrete area...
Very cool space. Some people would kill just to have bricks. If it was me, I'd paint the entire loft white, keep the bricks and incorporate the gray or rust of the brick into your decorating (in rugs, pillows, or accessories). The concrete fill part should be painted white also. You can put cool shelving there for storage or large bright canvas. I like Kindbud1's idea of using natural wood to bring warmth to the space.
what about chalkboard paint? you can doodle while you lounge.
I like the bookcase and the chalk ideas.
Wow, all good suggestions - wish that I had more than one room of living space. A friend suggested something like RS, which would be to use use the concrete as a frame. They suggested attaching 4 pieces of rebar to frame a canvas against the concrete. Another idea was to use a grid of smaller textured paintings - not these images exactly, but a good point of reference.
But, that Trump L'Oeil is a very interesting idea. time to do some homework
if you remove the carpet, you will probably find the same concrete you have on the wall, which combined, will create a whole new other shape in the room. that would be very interesting.
in that case, i would place one level of shelving (vertically centered and maybe a foot wider than each side of the wall concrete) to create a space to lean art on....
you will then have an opportunity to soften the room up with an maybe organically patterned (to balance out all the industrial) area rug.
love a good challenge!!
Your groovy new digs remind me of this makeover:
http://tinyurl.com/elyrn
Check out the far wall, where there is an accent of color. I'd do the same kind of thing in your place. And you can change it as often as you want.
I'd leave the weathered brick, it looks great. Check out Jane and Darko's Cozy Thicket to see how the brick looks in their place. That's in the Smallest Coolest Contest area.
Look at all your LIGHT! Look at that sun coming across the floor! If I took up the carpet, and found concrete, consider the acid stain. I used to have a bunch of acid stain links, here's one to start off with at Kemiko:
http://www.kemiko.com/
they changed the site since I was last there, and the photo gallery doesn't want to open up for me. Maybe it's just my Safari browser.
It's relatively inexpensive, and is permanent, it won't wear off like paint would. You can then use area rugs for spots of color or additional pattern, or leave it as it is. Because I think the concrete acid stain is beautiful. If you're interested, let me know and I'd be happy to look up the links again, I need to rebuild them anyway (after losing a hard drive).
What a great pad. You are going to love working on this place because the fruit of your labor is going to be relatively quick to come by. I don't see this as presenting much of a design challenge, you can easily replace the flooring and do something with that wall.
If you want drama, use that section of the wall for installing art work.
If you look on my blog (click on my name) I posted some art that I installed today. I know they are only 12 x 12s, you need larger scale work, but I'm sure you could go to dick blick on line and grab some large canvas and go to town. Maybe you could grab some spray paint and do something industrial to them, like buy 6 huge canvas and spray them all metallic gun metal gray. Then, cut out shapes using poster board and lay the shapes on each canvas. Maybe half of a guitar, I don't know, thing of something. Then, spray paint the entire surface with something like, I don't know, burnt umber or red or something bold. Remove the poster board so that the images are still silver and the color is on the rest of the surface. This project is fun for those that don't know how to paint. If you do know how, you can grab a brush and do something fun to them and put them in that space. Either way, I totally see that as a very strong focal point opportunity in that room (the cement section) and would love to see you do something funky with it. Think Sarah Cihat plate images, that style - it would look cool. You could even do a few silhouettes of pin up girls on them. How fun.
Here's what I mean by Sarah Cihat if you've not heard of her.
http://www.showlifestyle.com/productpages/product%20lead%20pages/homegoods.html
Post photos as your project comes along, I'd love to see them!
Best,
Holly
Okay, found some of the sites I used to go to, check out the great mottled look here:
http://acid-stains.com
I love the mottled look the best, personally, but there are more even toned colors (a lot will depend on your actual concrete and how it takes the color).
You can also browse the gallery areas at each site. Here:
http://www.decosup.com
http://www.acid-stain.com/index.html
http://www.fabcrete.com/
Fabcrete has that main picture that shows the brown tones against the brick, lovely, isn't it?
I made you THREE pictures of your loft. They all have a mottled brownish acid stained floor (yeah, that's what that is supposed to be).
The window trim I changed to be a neutral tone that ties in with the brick colors. I added black molding around the window and around the base of the room. Then I added a dark deep grey molding around the section of concrete on the wall.
And gave you three different colors of paint. Change it to match your mood, some accessory, the other wall, whatever. Just to give you an idea on ONLY PAINT on the wall. It LOOKS like a majestic art item, doesn't it? Well, *I* think it looks like a majestic art item, and it's just molding and paint.
Check out your newly designed digs here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/
Okay, found some of the sites I used to go to, check out the great mottled look here:
http://acid-stains.com
I love the mottled look the best, personally, but there are more even toned colors (a lot will depend on your actual concrete and how it takes the color).
You can also browse the gallery areas at each site. Here:
http://www.decosup.com
http://www.acid-stain.com/index.html
http://www.fabcrete.com/
Fabcrete has that main picture that shows the brown tones against the brick, lovely, isn't it?
I made you THREE pictures of your loft. They all have a mottled brownish acid stained floor (yeah, that's what that is supposed to be).
The window trim I changed to be a neutral tone that ties in with the brick colors. I added black molding around the window and around the base of the room. Then I added a dark deep grey molding around the section of concrete on the wall.
And gave you three different colors of paint. Change it to match your mood, some accessory, the other wall, whatever. Just to give you an idea on ONLY PAINT on the wall. It LOOKS like a majestic art item, doesn't it? Well, *I* think it looks like a majestic art item, and it's just molding and paint.
Check out your newly designed digs here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/
Oh, for crying out loud, it SAID it didn't go through the first time.
And I forgot to score the floor like in the pictures on Fabcrete. Well, anyway...
I redid the floor in the green slate color from Acid-Stain.com, it's kind of a verdegris look, you can see it in the gallery. That works with the window trim. Then I went nuts on the concrete wall area. And there you are, not wanting overpowering. Oops. Well, it was fun.
After reading your site, I see you've already chosen a bunch of potential colors, and a steel floor? So I took the darkest of the aqua/green colors and did the framed in area and the opposite wall. It never looks as green once the whole thing is painted, as there is no point of reference to compare to.
I'm guessing you've already got your furniture so there will be no problems working with it and whatever paint color you are going to choose. As furniture should be chosen first (paint can be made to match anything).