Loft is one of the three best bathroom styles. Scandinavian and ordinary contemporary design are good too, but loft is stylish, rough, and… varied at the same time. Although people talk about it a lot and it may seem that it has already become too popular, in practice everyone is afraid of it and never carries it out. For no good reason. It is a worthwhile style, and the chance of messing it up is small. Let’s sort it out.

The Ideas Behind Contemporary Loft

Loft absolutely does not tolerate conservatism. Forget the classic idea of old large buildings, former factories, and so on. That is only the history of how it appeared. In an authentic form, a loft-style bathroom would look approximately like this:

original bathroom in loft style

The meaning of loft is much broader now. It is a unique contemporary style with its own features and essential attributes:

  1. A cult of concrete.
  2. A combination of ultramodern and old objects.
  3. Highlighting and emphasizing the beauty of technical solutions that other styles usually hide shyly.
  4. Rough textures.
  5. Dark colors, but with details.
  6. A great deal of different light.

And most importantly:

The main enemy of loft is ordinary.

This applies specifically to the objects: the sink, faucet, towel warmer, toilet, and light fixtures. In colors and geometry, a loft bathroom is very strict: natural colors and proper shapes. But the objects should be interesting. A loft bathroom uses concrete- and metal-look tile and belongs to industrial design in general.

Either finish the bathtub apron with tile – a plastic panel will ruin the atmosphere – or give up the bathtub and use a shower. About showers in bathrooms.

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Both retro objects against a contemporary background and, conversely, super-contemporary ones can look interesting. Compare these towel warmer options, for example:

dark gray concrete-look tile bathroom design chrome towel rack in loft style bathroom ultra-modern loft style bathroom design

The first does not work at all, the second is more or less okay, and the third is great. But it is expensive. In general, a loft-style bathroom is not a cheap pleasure. The finishes can be inexpensive, but everything else will cost money. The effect matches: understated luxury.

Whether you can keep the bathroom orderly depends on how practical you make it, primarily how much closed storage you provide. And loft does not tolerate a mess because all those tubes and jars stand out sharply from the overall style.

loft bathroom with errors

Also read about a loft-style kitchen in an ordinary apartment.

Loft Ideas for a Bathroom

Concrete

The main material that makes loft so unique is concrete. Its uniqueness comes from variety. Dark or light. Covering a plane in one continuous outline or divided into blocks. Smooth or porous and deep. On the walls, floor, or ceiling. A concrete countertop or sink. If you want, you can roll the entire bathroom in concrete, although it is better not to:

concrete-look bathroom in loft style Concrete walls in the bathroom in a loft style fully gray concrete bathroom

Choosing loft as the bathroom style opens the door to an enormous variety of concrete-look tile. But not all of it is good. What to look for:

  1. The larger the size, the better it looks.
  2. The edge should be rectified, or the grout joints will be too wide.
  3. A matte or semimatte texture. Gloss is bad.

I covered this in detail in the article about choosing bathroom tile. Also see finishing a bathroom with tile.

Smooth concrete-look tile in the bathroom tile in gray stone-like pattern for loft bathroom Mosaic and decorative plaster in a bathroom – interior design, bathroom

And most importantly, a loft-style bathroom does not have to be dark. Light gray tones are no worse. Because most bathrooms are small, they are even better. About small bathroom design and many photos of bathrooms with toilets.

light loft-style bathroom white, gray and wood combination in loft bathroom

The second way to get a concrete effect is decorative plaster. A bathroom-rated system handles humidity well and is perfect for a bathroom, but not on walls directly beside the sink and bathtub. There is still too much water and dirt there. The plaster can be divided into panels with imitation rivets. The effect is great.

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A poured floor is another interesting concrete subject. A poured concrete floor is usually used in industrial buildings, home-improvement stores, and other places with heavy loads. But it can also be considered for a loft bathroom.

cast concrete floor in bathroom

Wood

Gray in general, and concrete in particular, work beautifully with wood. The second required feature of a loft bathroom is wood-look tile and other wood textures.

Notice that the wood color should work with the concrete color. Light yellow wood suits light gray shades. Dark brown is better with dark gray and black. Do not forget to read how to choose grout color. The joints should not be white.

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Whether it is tile or a laminate countertop, the wood should be imitated as realistically as possible. Besides the pattern of cut knots and wood grain, there is texture, which should not be flat either. The more uneven the texture, the better the material feels both visually and to the touch.

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Solid natural wood looks best, for example in the countertop under the sink. No imitation will look like that.

countertop from solid wood in bathroom in loft style

Although it may seem that wood brings retro notes into the design, this is not true at all. Loft has many variations, and even in the most contemporary versions moving toward high-tech, wood remains current.

bathroom in high-tech loft style

Wood elements are also standard in a Scandinavian-style bathroom, only there they are combined with white.

Fake Brickwork

Standard red brick is associated with old classic lofts. It is used less often now, and rarely in bathrooms at all. Whether we create the effect of old masonry with real brick or thin concrete veneer made to resemble it, the surface will not be practical.

An impractical surface means it is inconvenient to hang or build in anything, even outlets. Because the surface is extremely uneven, everything mounts with gaps. The only way to build something in properly is to cut an opening to size and attach it to the wall. This is labor-intensive and hard to do perfectly.

Brick is also not waterproof and is subject to dirt and mold. Sealer helps partly, but not 100 percent. In short, use red brick only if you are ready to take the risk, and keep it outside the direct wet area.

authentic loft-style bathroom with red bricks white color and bricks in the bathroom in loft style Brutal loft-style bathroom with brick wall red brick in the bathroom combination of black, white, and red brick in a loft bathroom design bathroom

More contemporary loft bathrooms usually use brick painted white. The paint is applied imperfectly to create deliberate carelessness. This painted brick is not only much more practical but also works better in real bathrooms outside the direct wet area. With red, the chance of making a color-combination mistake is too high. Depending on the surroundings, white brick in a bathroom can look either rough or gentle.

rough white brick in the bathroom in a loft style combination of white and red brick in the bathroom combination of white subway tile and red brick in the bathroom

Light

Lighting is the main feature separating unsuccessful loft bathrooms from the great online photos. Dark, uneven, rough surfaces look great under light. Good lighting is important in any bathroom style, but in loft it is the main character. Without it, everything else is meaningless.

A large amount of different light is a required loft feature, not an addition.

We are used to overhead light being the main light. Build recessed lights into the ceiling and forget about it. In reality, that is the most boring and primitive, almost technical light. Overhead light really is needed for cleaning or grooming. But when we are simply brushing our teeth or lying in the bathtub, recessed lights and bright light in general only irritate us.

bathroom in a loft style Ceiling light in the loft-style bathroom loft-style shower design a loft-style bathroom mirror with backlight industrial loft style bathroom beautiful loft style bathroom in an apartment small loft-style bathroom

Two other kinds of light are hidden LED strips and wall sconces. If you like contemporary loft bathrooms, make as much hidden light as possible. For old themes, there are many great retro sconces styled as copper pipes and other steampunk objects.

bathroom lighting in loft style

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The main thing is not to use standard mass-market light fixtures. They destroy the rough, timeless image created by loft design.

Sink and Faucet

The easiest way to ruin the proper atmosphere is to install an ordinary sink and single-handle faucet. The desire to save money can easily lead to this. A photo of what not to do:

There are two proper sink types for a loft-style bathroom:

  1. A vessel sink.
  2. A themed concrete sink or countertop.

The first option is clear, simple, and inexpensive. Just go to a store and buy a ready-made sink. Fortunately, the choice of vessel sinks is enormous, and the prices do not bite. You will have to spend more on a countertop and wall-mounted faucet. But I warned you that loft is not a cheap design style. It is worth it anyway, and wall-mounted faucets are good to use whenever the budget allows.

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The concrete sink and countertop option is not simply expensive. It is complicated and exclusive. Some ready-made options exist, but as a rule you will have to find a fabricator yourself. If the budget allows it, do it. A concrete sink is one of those style-defining objects that leaves no one indifferent. Details like this are exactly why the effort is worth it.

Concrete-looking bathroom furniture in a loft style concrete sink on wooden countertop concrete sink and countertop in a loft style Self-leveling concrete countertop in a bathroom in a loft style Brutal concrete sink in loft style bathroom with art deco and loft elements cast sink with stone countertop

Colors

The obvious main color of a loft-style bathroom is gray. It is very cool and multifaceted, but giving up additional accent colors is a mistake. The standard loft accents are variations of light and dark blue. Like gray, they have a million shades: azure, aquamarine, muted blue, and navy. They fit the loft palette perfectly:

gray tile with a pattern in a loft-style bathroom blue glass blocks in a loft-style bathroom loft-style bathroom color combination fashionable and trendy loft-style bathroom Dark blue tile in a loft style with metal look bright loft-style bathroom

With no additional colors at all, the bathroom interior will look a little too simple:

fully gray bathroom in loft style gray mosaic tile in loft style in the shower black stone-effect tile in loft style

But you should not be afraid of that. It is easy to add color to a bathroom even after the remodel. Towels and a bath mat in the right color may already fix the situation.

Do not be afraid of loft. Just follow the recommendations and freely borrow ideas from the photos.