You’re probably thinking that to create a the best urban industrial interior design look you just need refurbished materials and peel some wall layers. Or, that urban industrial style is just for loft apartments in big cities. This trend is growing not only in lofts but also in small and big spaces. Even big industrial spaces are being transformed into sets of apartments that are trying to capture some of the industrial essence.

Urban industrial, or Industrial chic as it’s sometimes called, combines utilitarian design with worn textures and the warmth of raw, aged woods, but there’s a little more to it.

The general lines of an urban industrial interior design

The genesis of urban industrial interiors lies on elements and designs that turn the gritty vibe of the frugal and poor of old working places into an interesting and appealing indoor context. Of course, a lot of experimentation is needed, using what you have from the space itself mixing it with unusual materials and features. Be careful no to get carried away and arrive to a distinctive bohemian look. We have to find the raw root of the space we’re working in and elaborate on the structural features, industrial components and even exposed ducting.

Transforming spaces “in the rough” into precious “gems”

Old industrial and office spaces were not built to be attractive and appealing to their workers. Saving costs and long lasting tough materials were the preferred choice for owners. Of course nowadays, a certain nostalgic feeling makes us look at those spaces with brighter eyes but still, something has to be done if we want to call it a Cozzy Home.

Floating in light colours and clean finishes adds a touch of feminine elegance to an overpowered “testosteroned” environment. In fact, the urban interior usually comes with a hefty dose of artistic indulgence, often turning to the unexpected for answers.

 

Hot to get the urban industrial look

The key to achieving an appealing urban industrial look is simplicity. Excess furniture and accessories might make it look more bohemian that industrial. So keep only what’s needed and remember that depth in the space will be found in the mix of textures and patina.

Let’s start with a neutral colour palette (grey, white, black), then layer in some warm wood tones. Look for woods that have some wear and tear. Scratches, knots and nicks will just add to the authenticity of the look.

Use metal.

Whether it’s metal windows. metal furniture and lighting or galvanized metals and steel will combine brilliantly with wood.

Expose pipes or bricks.

Industrial spaces are often wide, open rooms that feature these elements. Create your own kitchen table with wood from demolition boards.

You have to find some elements in your apartment, or falsely create, to give that immediate industrial look:

• Exposed brick walls
• Cements floors
• Raw, unfinished materials
• Sleek, metal and glass lighting
• Exposed beams
• Stainless steel accents

 

Creating or closing space

Usually industrial spaces are either to closed or too open. They were thought to cram the most amount of workers in an already tight space or they were wide open to have room for big machines and necessary reparations and production outputs. We can create a lighter, more spacious interior using steel and wood to separate or merge spaces.

Don’t hesitate to start picking those walls. First you never know what you might find under several layers of paint and cement after years of changes in that building. Second, wide space and industrial goes well together and there are always clever options of separating spaces with more utilitarian materials than simple walls.

Regarding walls and industrial interior design, remember what Reagan said to Gorbachev in 1989: “Tear down that wall!”

 

Interior decoration for an urban industrial apartment

For the industrial interior decoration, you will need objects that are made from steel, metal or wood. Painted walls with a mix of large pieces of art hanging is perfect choice for industrial style living room and timber or stone flooring are also good finishes that will help you achieve the industrial look.

You can use fabric lampshades made way for industrial steel wire lamps assuming all the cables as part of decoration and not something that had to be hidden away. Of course curtains are an element that does not make sense so, to add that ‘Cozzy’ effect, use plants to create a green, sustainable touch.

With no walls you can use tables, chairs and other more fixed elements like sofas to give a new layout and strengthen the urban look.

 

 

Conclusion

Urban industrial It’s all about mixing raw materials like galvanized metal, glass and reclaimed woods. Although it can appear a kind of nonsense style, we must keep the shapes and silhouettes relatively simple, while making use of vintage and salvaged items. It can have something in common with a modern farmhouse style and is often favoured by fans of “green” design. But it needs to be a lot more edgy, inspired by the industrial revolution.

You can find items that fit the urban industrial look all over the place, like second hand stores and salvage shops. Check also some restoration hardware but stay away from anything too cutesy and stick with items that have clean lines.

While it used to be reserved for converted lofts and factories, urban industrial is now “killing” in all kinds of buildings – both urban and rural.

So what are you waiting for? If we can help in any way, just drop us line.

 

To create a Pop Art interior design you need to be bold, irreverent and funny. Pop Art is instantly recognisable and rarely tasteful.  This is probably the most recognizable artistic style in the world and it never muted. In this post, we are not going to go over “what is Pop Art”, but rather how can we apply this Pop Art style to create a comfortable and stylish Pop Art apartment.

A bit of Pop Art history

As we said, we’re not going to bother you with historical facts. You can learn more about Pop Art History in so many other sites. We just want to contextualize our thoughts. When we’re decorating our apartments we think of every little detail and we like them to be in tune to the style we were inspired from.

In our Cozzy opinion, Pop Art emerged as a combination of a couple historical events. The economic prosperity after the war, probably for the first time in human history, created the highest disposable income for middle classes and lower classes. Combining this extra money with the massive factory infrastructure and mass media advertising, consumption saw exponential growths.

This new obsession with material goods and advertising reached its peak in the United States. Pop Art glorified this “feasting frenzy” to an extreme that was, at the same time, a political and social critic.

 

Pop art applied to interior design

What about today? Did Pop Art evolved through the past decades? The answer is no. Pop Art didn’t mute at all and is still about colour, humour and taking the pop consumer culture to the extreme. Pop Art interior design is not common, but certainly distinguishable.

It is quite easy and cheap to adapt this art movement to an interior design style, turning a standard home into an art gallery with colourful furnishings.

Don’t get us wrong. There’s nothing wrong with an accent colour (or three), but don’t feel obligated to add colour to a neutral room. Shades of white mixed with metallic, mirrors, furniture, and accessories in a variety of textures and materials can have as much impact as a room full of bright colours. In our Pop Art Apartment in Porto we hanged a bicycle on a white bedroom wall. If the wall was red, this piece of art would not stand out as we intended. Moreover, the human eye gets easily tired from bright coloured spaces, so we have to use them wisely.

But having said that, Pop art is a combination of colour and art.  Do not be afraid of colour and do not limit yourself to express your emotions.

Having said this, where do you start?

Have a Pop Art attitude

Pop Art is attitude. If when picking you Instagram filter people say, that’s not that realistic, then you’re pretty much on the right track. It’s not about realism. It’s about Pop. And Pop can be as much a derivative from popular as well and standing out. So, your attitude is what makes something ‘pop’. In fact, Pop Art isn’t really about cartoons and plastic at all. It’s about making the familiar look different. You can go subversive and over the top, but you can’t forget that colours remain crucial.

Pop is never polite and never beige.

So just paint your bed yellow and orange and have a huge ‘boom!’ mural in the living room if you’re in the mood. Warhol would have liked it.

 

Don’t be boring

Taste? Who needs it? Pop Art is defiantly against “good taste”. Better yet, it defies those who create the “good taste” label. The boring and dull houses, where the creeping beigeness transforms a home into a military uniform.

Take this style to extremes and you’re still half way to go. Remember that this contemporary art was designed around cartoonish murals and startling, colourful and completely over-the-top consumer objects or popular icons. We all know that ‘bad taste’ appears when something is shaking up the status quo.

Humour

From why looks at advertising like Richard Hamilton’s 1956 collage Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing? and Dorothee Selz’s recreations of pin-up girls, Pop Art was wry, irreverent and funny. Make a statement with a satirical poster and embed in true Pop style, when bored of it, buy another.

 

Decorating when your renting

If you’re renting and can’t make profound modifications, don’t worry. Pop Art interior design is more about adapting the style to the structure than the other way around. If painting walls is out of the question, there is plenty of paintings and pictures you can hang. There is furniture you can use and misplaced accessories to give the humorous touch. If you want to save money you can just paint a bright pink over a cheap wardrobe and place it in the spot light of your room.

How to choose colours in Pop Art Interior Design

From what we’ve written so far, we learned that it is okay to push and test your colour boundaries. The colour palette in Pop Art style is bright and clashing. Choose two bright contrasting colours and a neutral to balance them out. For example, Roy Lichtenstein’s work renders that comic book style by using thick black lines.

Applying this to interior design we can use colour blocks in furniture as well as in walls with prints and patterns. For example, a couch can become a white canvas turning some pillows the paintings.

Using 60′s style furniture will look great in a Pop Art style interior design. Retro-futuristic chairs, minimalist sofas and egg armchairs can be used in any living room and any combination.

Since colours are often vivid, you can’t go wrong using primary colours. Red, blue and yellow were predominant colours seen in different pop art works. These colours were used to reflect the state of pop culture aesthetics and not the artist mood or emotional state.

Be creative and think out of the box. More than that, leave the box and let this pop art interior designs open your mind and your heart.

Therefore, you can go beyond colours by using contrasting elements. In a painting you’re restricted to shape and colour. But in Interior Design you can use your elements in space like a 3 Dimensional canvas.

 

Neon

Neon lights impacts a certain environment. They help to create a more abstract and unusual world. Neon can have that retro-futuristic that never occurred look that screams Pop Culture. Lamps with bright glossy surfaces and lamp shades, LED spotlights and a coffee table decorated in Pop Art style define interior decorating in pop art style with a fantastic aura and extraordinary light.

Optical illusions

Optical illusions are a pleasant and captivating way to give that different look to the familiar element. You can create optical illusions and stunning lighting effects using plastic surfaces, furniture and decor items, of course, big mirrors in wall panels add that image repetition, giving your apartment that fabulous and original look.

If you want to play it safe, use wallpapers with pop art images, like portraits in the style of Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. But if you’re feeling artistic, you can use graphics, industrial images and stylized female images and giving them your personal combination. Remember, all that is not appropriate in the “normal” home interior design is probably a cool Pop Art scene. The main goal is to create a spatial illusion, making the space bigger or smaller that it is.

Prints and images and paintings

Paintings and prints are the elements most associated with Pop Art Style. It’s common to use famous people pictures, brand logos, prints from comics and pretty images. This gives unique touches and creates a personal design style.

If you have a print that you love, become a Pop artist yourself. Just print it several times and repeat it along your walls. Repetition of the same image (or similar pictures used in chronological order) or even a mixing themes with other attractive images are a simple and creative interior decor idea for your Pop Art style apartment.

 

Best furniture for a pop art interior design style

This is where some times we can make the biggest mistakes in this style. Sometimes a piece of furniture that we love does not fit, literally or aesthetically, in our Pop Art Style plan.

If you have a cheap boring Ikea coffee table, you can ask yourself “what would Andy do”? Would he paint it yellow? Would he saw it in half and place it against a wall? Would he do it all of this? If at the end of the day you don’t like the result, you just lost a boring Ikea coffee table. Probably you did yourself a favour anyway.

If you’re thinking of buying furniture check the Memphis Group, because their trend looks like it’s making a huge comeback.

Look at this art historian quote, about the Memphis Group movement in the 80’s:

“Good taste was the bad thing they were fighting against”

Isn’t this familiar with Pop Art in the 60’s.

You can find a lot of furniture and other interior design elements at the Memphis Milano website.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money or you don’t find the piece you’re looking for, just do it yourself. For example, you can create a cheap metal wardrobe by printing some wallpaper stickers and gluing them to the doors and side panels.

The Pop Art furniture is original and retro and futuristic at the same time. As a rule, it is bright with rounded shapes. Such a geometry and colours can give plastic (the main material used) more exuberant characteristics in Pop Art furniture and other elements.  The 60′s style furniture will look great in a pop art style interior design.

 

 

Materials used in Pop Art Design

Sometimes having no rules, regarding materials, can make it harder to create a good Pop Art environment. Any material as long as it’s not polished wood can either be the enlightenment or the fall of a Pop Art designer. You can use plastic or leather in your elements. You can even mix and combine them. Most of the Pop Art artists used materials derived from new technologies that emerged in the 50’s like foam rubber, polyester and acrylic, so plastic is more commonly used.

Look for curvy elements. Ergonomic furniture, designed for your body is always more in sync with this style. Since this art is a bit ageless in modern terms, vintage becomes more futurist that old.

Maybe the only rule is: Go round! Hard squared shapes are for other more “square” styles.

The shape and colours are the most important thing. They need to be exaggerated but never loosing the comfort. They can be exaggeratedly comfortable.

Some try a more minimalistic style while others go for a more overwhelming exaggerated use of elements. They’re both fine.

Conclusion

The latest big use of Pop Art was in the Barack Obama campaign “Yes, we can!”,  for the presidential race in the US. It represented innovation in visual communication of political campaigns, highlighted the youthful aspect of Obama as opposed to that of John McCain.

If you want to make the same impact with your home as Obama did for US politics, Pop Art is the best interior design for your apartment.

At Cozzy, we are always looking for the best ways to give that charismatic and unique personality to our Portuguese apartments with our original interior design style.

From our experience, we found out that we can save money when decorating your home. And we don’t sacrifice on comfort while creating our Cozzy unique mood.

Throughout the interior design world, there are planned made up homes identical to each other.  We don’t quite agree with this since a home should reflect the personality of the owner.

Cozzy Homes were created for the short-rent market. In each of our apartments, we created a unique personality associated with a particular mood. This way our guests could feel and live a better local experience.

Living in a space that looks cool and is easy on the budget does not have to be out of reach. This some of the styles that we successfully integrated into our apartments.

If you have any suggestions or want to change ideas, please send us an email. We’re always learning and looking for better and trendier ways to create our Cozzy mood.

Boho style

A Boho interior design style is for irreverent people who don’t like to follow rules. Better yet, who like to break the rules.

If you have an unconventional life and like mixing colours, patterns and textures without paying attention to any fancy rules than go for a bohemian style.

If you’re thinking this style can be chaotic, just scroll down and check the next ones. Boho style means finding beauty and order in chaos. As you can imagine, we put a lot of ourselves when we created this unique interior design mood for our Bohemian Apartment in Bairro Alto.

You feel you’re in a bohemian home when you see lots of colours and patterns all mixed together.

–       Remember when your mother said never to mix stripes and checks?

Never say never…

–       Remember when your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend told you to throw that old bookshelf made of pallets?

Bring it to life.

–       Did you have an oriental ceiling lamp that has nothing to do with the rest of your furniture?

Now it does.

The Bohemian interior design is the most personalized interior design as it can get. The style is as diverse as the person who creates it, in this case, you. Every piece, from a door hanging on the wall to an old airplane ashtray, has a history that’s part of your life. So, at a first glance, an outsider may think your home looks weird, but after some time it will feel cosy, comfortable and beautiful.

If you want some pointers to guide you through this style, please check our other article How to create a Boho Interior Design Style.

Trust your gut and go with what you like. More than that: what you love and the Boho style is done.

Posh interior design

Refined, classic, and timeless!

That’s probably the best definition for a Posh interior design.

A Posh style uses framing designs on walls, doors, and even ceilings. Usually, white is the predominant colour with variations in matte and glossy textures, giving the space a subtle sense of depth. When combined with thin contrasty borders it brings out a sleek and classy look.

Whether you are able to travel the world or not, there’s nothing “more Posh” than luxury details, like imported furniture and relics that mimic luxurious pieces. Find antique and vintage furniture, mirrors, artwork and one-of-a-kind sculptures to complement the design.

Some people think that Posh interior design means large houses with plenty of space and overlook this style in urban areas. You can bring a deluxe Posh interior design style into your small urban apartment. Maximize every square meter with designer materials, artwork and furniture that has been hand-selected for your specific taste and urban dwelling. For example, for our city centre apartment Posh Sense, in Lapa, Lisbon, we paired a customized scheme details and furniture like a Chesterfield sofa, a Golden Vanity candles and some fancy pillows.

Fabrics are another important part of a Posh style. They offer comfort and beauty by creating a deluxe design aesthetic. From cashmere and silk to imported and handmade textiles the possibilities are endless.

Opposite to a Boho style, Posh means planning and controlling colour and pattern schemes. There is a clear interior design plan that pairs up window treatments, furniture, accent throw pillows and carpets.

There is nothing more sumptuous than slipping into a cosy bed adorned with luxury linens and posh pillows to make you feel like royalty. We find inspiration in luxury details. From the finest hotels we brought ideas for our master suite and master bathroom like plush towels, bed linen and a designer custom bed.

Pop art interior design

A modern Pop art style is all about colour, bright wall graffiti and Pop art pieces that take you back in time. This bold interior design style turns a standard home into an art gallery with colourful furnishings.

Although this style isn’t a common interior design scheme it’s becoming more popular and it’s a unique way to make your home stand out. For Pop art fans, this style incorporates that love without overpowering the home.

Usually, living rooms have rich dark floors contrasting the coloured walls to pop the space even more.

But just painting one wall with blue and red colours or adding yellow pillows to a couch isn’t an instantaneous fix. Don’t get us wrong. There’s nothing wrong with an accent colour (or three), but don’t feel obligated to add colour to a neutral room. Shades of white mixed with metallic, mirrors, furniture, and accessories in a variety of textures and materials can have as much impact as a room full of bright colours. In our Pop Art Apartment in Porto we hanged a bicycle on a white bedroom wall. If the wall was red, this piece of art would not stand out as we intended. Moreover, the human eye gets easily tired from bright coloured spaces, so we have to use them wisely.

But having said that, Pop art is a combination of colour and art.  Do not be afraid of colour and do not limit yourself to express your emotions.

Tribal Interior Design

In these days the rich, vibrant and diverse cultures of Africa can be an inspiration for home décor. We are seeing a big Tribal trend emerging. Organic materials and rustic luxury with a splash of free-spiritedness are moving interiors to places far away.

Traditional African textiles and patterns like, diamond-shaped rugs and even tribal statues are popping up in some homes. There has never been a better time to delve into the tribal trend.

However, the arrangement of the patterns and pieces must have meaning and tell a story.

Photography and paintings are a major part of this style. Embed the tribal trend without giving up valuable space that large furniture and ornamental pieces need. Good quality photographs and paintings can be a bit expensive. But, remember that limited edition prints and originals are investment pieces and tend to keep, if not increase their value over time. If you want to save money, there are good quality prints and not renamed paintings on the market to suit all budgets.

Regarding furniture, handcrafted makes a big difference. Of course, you don’t need to turn your home into an African Tribal Chief’s home. Be smart adjusting your spaces to a few key pieces and accessorise to complete the look. Speaking of accessories, decorating a Tribal apartment means going crazy for natural hides, weaved rugs, handmade fabrics, horns, beads and any tribal paraphernalia you can think. Smaller furniture can include rattan pieces, carved stools and generally pieces that look handmade like we did in our Native Tribal apartment in Lisbon.

Tribal means handmade. Furniture and pieces that aren’t particularly straight are perfect!

On the floor, a Tribal house has cowhides, sisal/ hemp or jute rugs.

Besides looking good, Tribal is becoming more popular. We want more authenticity and respect for handcrafted elements within our interiors.

Vintage

Modern Vintage

Modern vintage interior design is a mix of old, retro and classical furniture, but in a modern atmosphere. Despite its age, the pieces give a contemporary and pretty look and feel.

Low-cost is one of the main advantages of Modern Vintage décor. Nowadays is easy to reach this mood on a small budget, since the main concept of vintage interior design revolves mainly around the reusing and revamping old holdings at home.

But you can’t just mix old and new at random – that would be plain Boho style. We achieve the perfect vintage look by rejuvenating old furniture and use those items collected from our life, complemented by subtle decorative accessories. There are also some creative tricks like remnant fabrics recovering will create a lovely eclectic room.

But the cost isn’t the only reason for Vintage style popularity. It brings us memories and nostalgia.

You can have the latest technology or kitchen appliances that have a vintage look, but all the modern functionalities. This artificial way to make things older than they are will appeal to those who don’t like used items in their home. However, this combination opens the door to creativity like we did in our Vintage Note apartment in Porto.

Classic Vintage

A classic vintage look is closer to a Posh look. It obeys a plan and interior design scheme that transports us into that specific era. The living and dining rooms usually have warm and soft colour schemes. But the charm in classic vintage style it is not an antique flow, like in the modern vintage. It’s a collection of old historic things that have some sentimental value to ourselves or have a history attached to them. Pastel colours, restrained tones of the walls and wallpapers create incredible combinations. You can find special wallpapers reflecting certain periods, especially imitate aged walls, frescoes and other patterns.

Being old does not mean uncomfortable. Check our Chic Breeze apartment in Bairro Alto. We created a warm and romantic style far from the so often cultivated minimalism.

Industrial

The industrial interior design style is about giving a raw and unfinished look to the most thoughtfully designed homes. This style is becoming trendy in loft apartments, modern and urban homes and commercial spaces around the world.

The result the industrial décor is looking for is a “warehouse look”. You can combine a true industrial feel with a range of other styles, from the earthy to the polished. Use neutral tones, utilitarian objects, wood and metal surfaces and pieces that are as much about function as style. Don’t think that this is just for “unfinished” spaces. There are a lot of upscale spaces that incorporate industrial style, like metal surfaces and vintage furniture.

Proudly display the building materials that many try hide

A signature element of industrial interior design are features that people typically try to conceal, such as pipes, ducts and brick walls. This is a liberating strategy of the warehouse apartment concept gain popularity. Converting former industrial spaces (such as factories) to residential living and other commercial spaces is a challenge. But using a few raw elements exposed is more than a creative dream. It saves money and further construction time while reminds residents of the buildings’ original purpose.

Industrial interior design ideas tend to be minimalist. But there is a lot of room for creativity by contrasting high-gloss metal finishes with rustic or vintage cabinets, open brick walls and furniture.

Form and function are both equally important. We used cement bricks as a bedside table, in our Urban Edge apartment in Bairro Alto.

What was considered unfinished and cold is actually modern, innovative and rather comfortable place you can proudly call home.