Welcoming Historic Mill Loft Apartment Design Delivered In Inviting Blue
All throughout New England, you will find historic mill buildings – remnants of the textile industry that boomed in the mid-1800s in the region. These buildings are gorgeous and have so many amazing features. It is wonderful to see them slowly being restored, renovated, and repurposed instead of neglected until they catch fire or are torn down!
One of the common conversions is to turn the buildings into loft apartments. The mills are well-suited to become residences, as they have soaring ceilings and enormous windows which let in amazing light, and they often have beautiful views of rivers or waterways (since they used to be water-powered mills!). As I have worked with my interior design clients on their historic mill apartments, I’ve honed in on strategies to make these lofty spaces into a cozy, welcoming home.
Let’s take a look at an example! Here are some key elements of this design:
Floor plan. First of all, we need to determine the floor plan, as all other decisions will flow from here. A loft apartment is stunning with the light and views, yes, but sometimes that open-ness is a double-edged sword, because you can see everything from every angle all the time! If you’ve ever worked from home, you know how difficult it can be to differentiate (or hide) the workspace from the space you use for personal time. This layout includes a comfortable work-from-home office, with CLOSED storage to hide everything away at the end of the work day.
2. Color scheme. You can see that we picked a color that carried through the entire space (hint hint: it’s a universally appealing blue 😉). This allows the many connected spaces to feel cohesive and relate to each other.
Here are some before and afters:
3. Balance. Once we had a color theme to run through the whole unit, we then brought in all different patterns and textures and mixed in other materials like wood and metal to make sure it feels collected and curated, rather than matchy-matchy. In loft residences like the mill buildings, it’s also really important to balance out the masculine and industrial with soft furnishings, like curtains, rugs, and pillows.
Here are the Concept Boards of Furnishings and Selections by Space:
As you can see – there are a lot of elements and decisions to bring this space together. How do you know which pieces, sizes, colors, and styles to choose? Having a well-designed plan is the key to finding those answers.
Lucky for you – I have a shortcut! You can shop the furnishings and furniture shown in this plan using the concept boards below! You can order items online through SideDoor and have white glove delivery- this means all the items are brought into the room, unpacked, assembled, and all packaging removed.
You may wonder: if I’m living in a rental, is it worth investing in furniture or furnishings? In my experience, the answer is yes. You shouldn’t have to wait until you purchase a home for the place you live to feel like home.
I work with my clients to choose versatile, functional, and durable pieces, ensuring that they will last and they will move forward with my clients into a future space.
Shop it out through SideDoor - a third party that will handle all the logistics and deliveries.
This widget below shows some of the pieces:
Find all of the recommended items through the SideDoor links below.
Expected investment breakdown by Space (pre-tax) with White Glove Delivery:
Entry $11,948.43 Shop Here
Kitchen & Dining $11,013.03 Shop Here
Living $23,851.22 Shop Here
Office $9,768.02 Shop Here
Whole Space Total $55,136.13 Shop Here (this way saves over $2700 on shipping)
Check out the complete concept in this 360 panorama:
Try this link or a different device if the 360 isn’t working for you.
Are you feeling inspired to make your rental space feel like home? Interested in a customized floorplan and shopping list for yourself? Any questions you’d like answered? I’d love to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
