Loft Characteristics

Open Floor Plans

• Traditional lofts are made up of one sweeping room with no interior walls. In hard lofts, individual living spaces are situated within this sizable area and run from one into the next. Privacy for spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms was traditionally provided with things like strategically placed bookcases, large folding screens, and armoires. However, these older lofts can be designed to feature actual bedrooms and bathrooms with wall partitions that, while not as high as the ceiling, provide privacy. Soft lofts, because they are built from the ground up with no prior history of commercial or industrial use, have more flexibility for privacy and usually have dedicated bedrooms and bathrooms.

Floors

• The original floors in an industrial loft were generally made of wood, concrete, brick or stone. Replacing the original floors is also an option. Use materials like tile, vinyl and carpet. Some lofts feature more than one flooring material, like tile in the kitchen area and wood or carpet in the living areas, but this tends to break up the loft's flow.

Walls

• A loft converted from an industrial space has brick or concrete exterior walls that are at least ten feet tall and lined with the large floor to ceiling windows original to the space. New lofts also feature high walls. Some of these soft lofts are built to mirror the rusticity of the older lofts with lots of exposed brick while others are plastered and painted. Newer lofts also offer more window options since they are not designed around existing architectural features.

Ceilings

• The ceilings in a loft soar at least ten feet from the floor and often quite a bit higher. If the space is on the top floor, it might feature sky lights. Hard loft ceilings are circumvented with open duct work, exposed pipes, and beams, which are characteristics often mimicked in new loft designs.