loft style coffee table
The loft style is, first of all, minimalism, functionality and elements of industrial design. Therefore, making a loft table with your own hands is quite simple - no decorations, frilly elements or other excesses. Strict lines, simple shapes and metal details. Or imitation metal, using special paints or stains. Of course, loft-style tables can combine different textures and materials. For example, a structure made of wooden boards, covered with metal corners, aluminum inserts, glass and ceramics can be used. You can make any furniture in this style, from a loft-style kitchen table to a computer and desk. Although the most popular are DIY loft coffee tables , as a stylish element of any interior design. Here is a selection of 17 projects with step-by-step photos, these are simple loft-style tables that you can make today.
What is remarkable about the loft style
This movement appeared in America in the first half of the 20th century. With the growth of industrialization, rent for premises in the city increased, so the owners moved their enterprises to the outskirts, and the buildings began to sit empty.
There was a need to sell these empty premises. Cunning agents purchased them for next to nothing and converted them into housing for the poor.
Such housing was cheap, since the walls remained unpainted, bare, and the supporting beams and pipes were not disguised. In addition, the rooms had no partitions, since these were former factory premises.
Suddenly, the creative elite, who are often attracted by everything non-standard and unusual, became interested in such buildings. Subsequently, living in such houses became truly fashionable. The echoing rooms, huge windows, and high ceilings went well with the freedom-loving nature of the musicians and artists. Over time, they arranged the spaces, making them different from others.
Such premises are currently also decorated in a similar style. The windows are not covered with curtains, the beams are not masked. The walls are brick or plastered in a deliberately careless manner. The interior is close to minimalism, designed in a restrained color scheme based on 2-3 shades.
Furniture and accessories are chosen to be dim, with a distinctly rough texture. These are practical, solid items. Both modern items and items that look like they were bought at used furniture sales, looking as if they have already served several generations, fit into the design. Worn chairs, roughly welded metal tables with peeling paint will fit perfectly into the interior.
The floors are usually concrete, but in living rooms it is more practical to make them wooden from dark wood. Huge spaces are heated by open fire sources - stoves, fireplaces and similar devices. In order for the interior to be authentic, it is necessary to install something like this. At worst, buy an electric fireplace or heater.
A distinctive feature of this style is a combination of sharply fashionable accessories and old things. Futuristic objects and bright accents enhance the urban flair.
Selecting furniture for a new apartment always causes difficulties for new residents. What to sit on, what to sleep on, what to dine on? Sometimes it comes to panic. Furniture stores have a very large selection. And it’s no wonder that young people can get confused at once. But not in our case. The style is defined - loft and rustic. And my first product (let’s call it that) was a dining table.
It was decided to make the tabletop from barn boards. Selecting material for the countertop did not pose any difficulties - on my property there is an old barn that will be “100 years old on Saturday.” I got this barn along with the plot. This is the only property that was available when the site was purchased.
The operation of removing the barn board from the barn did not seem so easy. It turned out that only the gate could be torn off the tabletop from the barn. The board on them measured 45 mm. in thickness and from 130 to 240 mm in width. Moreover, the dimensions of the gate were 2000 x 2400 (1200 mm per gate). The size of the tabletop was determined to be 800x1800 mm. It would seem that 3 tables can be made from such gates. But no, the boards on the gates were crooked. If the curvature of the so-called “bow” can be somehow corrected, then the “propeller” cannot simply be ignored. As a result, I somehow collected material for one tabletop.
All interested parties took part in the process of dismantling the gate. Son and daughter-in-law, your humble servant and Svetik (that’s what I call my wife and the mother of our son). The children and I were dismantling the barn gates, and Svetik was photographing us. Sometimes it’s unsuccessful, but we didn’t pay attention to it, because unclear pictures are not the biggest disappointment. But she fed us delicious food.
But the gates were dismantled piece by piece and they were brought into the house on the second floor. They stayed there for 2 months. This was done specifically to equalize humidity, because... the table will be in the apartment.
After 2 months of resting, the boards were brought to the workshop, where they were marked, cut and slightly processed. The essence of this entire project was to preserve the barn board in its original form as carefully as possible - baked by the sun, spilled by rain and snow, frozen by the winter cold. To slightly even out the curvature of the boards, I had to pass them slightly through a thicknesser. Planed strips appeared on the edges of the boards. But then we will cover them with homemade stain. To replicate the color of the street board, I found a simple way. I scooped out the ash from the fireplace and dissolved it in water to a mushy state. Then I applied this paste to the bright areas. After drying, the color became almost indistinguishable.
I also tried to preserve all artifacts and natural phenomena on the surface of the future tabletop.
Then it was the turn of the legs. In terms of style and design, the children and I decided on the legs. These will be rectangles welded from a 40x80 profile pipe. After welding they were painted black. The table top was coated with table top varnish 3 times.
Now is the time to talk about the materials. When choosing, I didn’t really look for everything I needed. For several years I have simply liked the Leroy Merlin store in St. Petersburg for Testers.
As you can imagine, I found the boards for the tabletop in my garden. And I bought everything else at once from Leroy.
Here is the full estimate for this table:
Profile pipe 40x80 mm. — 6 m. — 2245 rub.,
Corner 50x50 - 3 m - 788 rub., https://spb.leroymerlin.ru/product/ugolok-metallicheskiy-50x50x5x2920-mm-13376859/
Self-tapping screws 6x40 galvanized - 200 grams - 54 rubles, https://spb.leroymerlin.ru/product/samorezy-universalnye-standers-ocinkovannye-6h40-mm-15409909/
Metal paint 3 in 1 - 0.9 l. — 141 rub., https://spb.leroymerlin.ru/product/emal-po-rzhavchine-3v1-cvet-chernyy-0-9-kg-11847557/
Countertop oil 3V3 - 0.5 l. — 600 rub. https://spb.leroymerlin.ru/product/maslo-dlya-stoleshnic-v33-bescvetnyy-0-5-l-18557595/
Carpenter's glue MomentStolyar - 250 gr. — 85 rub. https://spb.leroymerlin.ru/product/kley-universalnyy-pva-moment-stolyar-15603488/
Total - it took me 3913 rubles for the table.
Shapes and colors of tables
As already mentioned, a loft table can be bought in different shapes and sizes. An important condition here is the client’s wishes. At the moment, you can order the production of a piece of furniture at the factory according to your personal measurements. In the order, a separate item is the shape - round, oval, square, rectangular, etc., as well as the height of the product - 50 or 70 cm. Depending on the height, chairs are selected, so it is better to decide on the design features of the kitchen right away.
The company offers custom-made transformers. This is an additional mechanism that is activated when guests arrive. The result is a large tabletop that is comfortable for extended use.
Main features of the stylistic direction
Loft interior design initially combined elements of poverty and luxury. This was due to the industrial crisis in America, which occurred in the last century. Empty industrial and factory buildings with exposed pipes on unfinished ceilings and unplastered brick walls began to be offered as inexpensive housing. The huge buildings appealed to representatives of the creative community, who converted the premises into workshops, galleries, and rehearsal rooms.
“Loft” can be translated from English as an attic, attic, gallery, top floor of a warehouse or factory building.
Gradually, the space was filled with elegant decor, authentic items, and vintage furniture, which made this style non-trivial and delightful. The rough texture of the walls, the abundance of daylight, and concrete floors brought freedom, dynamics and independence to the living space. This new design solution eventually became popular among the elite, intelligentsia, rich and successful people.
Based on the main listed features of the loft, the following characteristic features can be identified in the style of indoor tables with an emphasis on industrial aesthetics:
- big sizes;
- heaviness;
- restraint in details;
- practicality;
- Ease of use;
- simplicity of forms and raw textures;
- no ornate patterns, clear straight lines.
Advantages of using a window-sill table in modern interiors
Usually the table is made using traditional geometric lines and shapes, but more complex atypical interpretations will help to add some negligence to a laconic interior. In this case, the color scheme of the finish should consist of two or three harmonizing or contrasting shades.
Due to the fact that this design direction is distinguished by its originality, several substyles can be distinguished, each of which has special features:
- Industrial is the most popular direction. Presumes excessive straightforwardness and brutality. The supporting structure of the table is made of ordinary metal pipes without any decoration.
- Bohemian type - distinguished by originality and exoticism. It is characterized by a riot of styles and trends. It is allowed to use neutral and bright colors, as well as a combination of decorative details belonging to completely different styles.
- Glamorous direction - looks the most impressive and most luxurious. The basis is taken from natural materials, decorated with tacky prints. Preference is given to cool colors, mainly bed colors, but in unusual combinations: gray with lilac, blue with turquoise.
The choice of a table for the loft style should be approached very responsibly. It is necessary to take into account the color, texture and materials from which other pieces of furniture selected for the decoration of the room are made.
Bohemian
Glamorous
Industrial
