concepts, design elements and iconic pieces that you find within stylish bohemian lofts are readily transferable to other styles.

With over 15 years of experience working with scaffolding and industrial materials, we have seen them be used next to a wide array of exterior architectural styles and interior design approaches. 

This is part of the reason why our benches and tables made from scaffold board have proven so popular in a remarkable range of homes.

Now we are celebrating the aesthetic appeal of real industrial materials in the home, where else would the clean lines, authentic materials and bold textures inherent to industrial design work in the interior design world?

To shed some light on this, we need to explore the core features of industrial design, how a few simple tweaks and clever furniture choices can help you marry them with other interior design styles and top tips when adding a piece of industrial chic to your home.

Synonymous with artist lofts and bohemian lifestyles, industrial interior design is the incorporation of authentic industrial features into a comfortable, stylish, bold living space.

It combines sleek flourishes and stylish accents with rugged raw materials, authentic industrial features seamlessly styled into the room and a distinctive charm that embraces everything that made the Industrial Revolution great.

Whilst we often associate industrial interior design with former industrial buildings, such as factories and warehouses, you can incorporate an industrial style into any home through the use of authentic fixtures and furnishings such as our range of scaffold board tables and desks.

The Core Elements Of Industrial Interior Design

• Truth To Materials - An industrial room relies heavily on exposed wooden beams, beton brut, unplastered brickwork and exposed steel elements, without any attempt to hide them.
• Embracing Mechanical Aesthetics - Alongside scaffolding, gears, exposed pipework, and rivets, scaffold piping creates a unique flourish to your room.
• Rugged Textures - From varnished woodgrain and painted brickwork to patina-laced metal, industrial design celebrates raw materials in all of their forms.  

Here’s how it could potentially work with other design styles:

The most popular and common design combination is to pair stark and striking industrial design with the flair of a bohemian interior.

Inspired somewhat by the artist lofts in Brooklyn, bohemian styles are driven by personality, playing fast and loose with design rules, emphasising character above all other priorities and thriving on experimentation.

Bohemian design relies on splashes and pops of vibrant colours and patterns, mixing old and new pieces in a way that feels intentionally unintentional, as well as indoor plants that are as much a part of the decor as the creatively-minded person who lives there.

Top Tip For Pairing Industrial With Bohemian

Layer your textiles. Any piece of furniture, whether it is an elaborate four-poster bed or a beautiful reclaimed scaffold wooden bench, becomes significantly more sophisticated, comfortable and personal when you add a range of throws, pillows and blankets to them.

The key trait of rustic interior design is a reliance on unvarnished, unadulterated natural materials, with wood and stone being particularly emphasised in rustic interiors.

If you think of a rustic cottage, you are often thinking of exposed wooden beams, stone brickwork and possibly even something like wattle and daub, a highly traditional construction material which complements exposed timber framing.

What matters as much as the natural materials themselves is the intentionality of the materials used.

Much like our scaff brick cladding, rustic interior design is focused on reclaimed materials and woodgrains that are not necessarily engineered or finished to cohere together but instead naturally attract.

Ultimately, rustic design is about choosing materials that look good because they are strong and work well in your room, which means celebrating the imperfections that are an inherent result of choosing natural materials and the centuries of history that come with them.

One of the most popular interior design styles of the last three decades, Scandinavian minimalism is often what comes to mind when people think of modern interior design.

Despite this, Scandinavian Minimalism, as well as Japanese and Japandi minimalism, are defined by the same clean lines, honest materials, an emphasis on neutral shades and an abundance of natural textures as industrial interior design.

Whilst it feels almost like the very definition of “opposites attract”, they are both very compatible with each other.

The key difference is that whilst industrial design is often characterised by rather dark, rich accents, Scandinavian minimalism is generally dominated by neutral shades, with rich woodgrain and naturally-woven fibres serving as a stark colour and textural contrast.

Top Tip For Pairing Industrial With Scandinavian Minimalism

Keep it simple and sublime. One of the biggest benefits of pieces such as our rustic coffee table top is that they are elegantly straightforward, with clean lines that provide the types of clear silhouettes that epitomise minimalism at its best.

The end result should be a combination of simple, clean and also cosy, emblematic of the classic Danish concept of hygge with a chic industrial twist.

Itself a contemporary twist on traditional cosy home aesthetics, modern farmhouse combines the traditional features of a classic farmhouse home with sleek modern touches and creature comforts.

In fact, modern farmhouse is similar in principle to industrial interior design, particularly when it comes to salvaging and reusing character-rich materials and taking advantage of existing natural design elements.

Top Tip For Pairing Industrial With Modern Farmhouse

Celebrate the rustic appeal of reclaimed scaffold boards and use them to their fullest extent throughout your home.

A particular trick that works great if your home does not have particularly appealing brickwork is to substitute it for scaff brick cladding, which creates a collage of reclaimed wooden bricks that looks particularly appealing when combined with wooden beams or thick wooden frames. 

Many of the former factories and warehouses that have since been converted to industrial-style lofts were used to create the building blocks of mid-century modern, an interior design style that served as the forerunner to what we consider modern interiors today.

Certain elements of mid-century modern and industrial interior design are very similar to each other, particularly when it comes to an emphasis on clean lines, the strategic use of metal and a general philosophy of form following function.

However, both design styles are very different, particularly when it comes to shapes, mixed materials and colour schemes.

Whilst industrial interior designs often lead with natural textures and straight lines, mid-century modern opts for more organic shapes and extremely bright colours, particularly relying on red, yellow and sage green.

Top Tip For Pairing Industrial With Mid-Century Modern

Be brave with your accent colour choice. The beauty of using reclaimed wood for your surfaces, such as with our beautiful scaffold board dining table, is that they look great in a room with any colour scheme you can conceive of. 

Are you ready to combine authentic industrial character with other interior design styles? Take a look at our collection of reclaimed scaffold board furniture, with each handcrafted design a pure expression of the beauty of industrial design.

The Scaff Shop works with customers on many levels. Some need more time, tools, or necessary skills; no matter the reason, you can purchase everything you need, and it can be delivered to your door as a finished product. Some customers have the time, skills and tools that may want to build your corner desk, and that is cool with us, too! What we have offered below is a list of the products required to make your perfect corner desk.

First up are the Scaffold Boards. One thing to remember when buying reclaimed scaffold boards is that they have previously been used. The life-altering wear and tear changes to those boards make them unique compared to new boards. For this, you will need four six-foot boards and two two-foot boards. Once the boards have been cut and joined together using biscuits, glue, and clamps, they will make the desktop. Sounds easy. Well, I'm sure there will be some sweat and tears before you finish.

Once the desktop is joined, you can start the finishing process by rubbing it down and selecting the type of oil you want to use to finish your desk. The last part is deciding what legs you want to use with your desk, which depends on the look you are going for.