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high ceilings, no walls and no carpet, sound bounces around a loft like a Ping Pong ball. What you need to slow it down and soak it up is fabric in the form of plush rugs, window coverings, upholstered furniture, bedding and accents such as pillows and fabric wall hangings. If the problem is severe, consider making  |
Fabrics—including rugs, bedding, window treatments and upholstered furniture—help absorb sound in a loft. Photo by Jerry Laursen, Jerry Laursen Photography.
| upholstered panels for the walls or installing sound-control matting – that’s what they use in recording studios – behind canvas art or wall hangings, Be says. “It’s not that inexpensive, but it’s well worth it if you own the condo and plan to stay awhile,” she says.
Scale
As in any home, you want the size of your furnishings to match the volume of the space. Gorgeous soaring ceilings in a loft can make a lot of furniture look like it’s from a dollhouse. This is one space in which you don’t have to worry about how big the furniture or artwork is—it’s going to fit right in. Colón tells her clients to embrace the height. She shops at salvage yards for large pieces and once created a seating area with an iron gate. “Because of the height, you can use architectural columns,” she says. “I saw this amazing fountain [once]. The sky really is the limit.”
Harris agrees but cautions that a room full of large pieces needs balance. When people move in to a loft, he says, “they think they can put in a gigantic grand piano and you can, but that doesn’t create an intimate family area. Most people don’t want to live in a museum. You can do that huge sofa or the dining table that is 10 feet long, but you also need to put in elements like table lamps and throw pillows.”
Los Angeles loft dweller and real estate broker David Kean points out that big pieces of furniture don’t need to cost a fortune. In fact, they’re often available at substantial discounts because so few people have places big enough to put them. “The only thing is, God help you when you have to move,” he says. “Make sure it will fit in a freight elevator or you can take it apart.”
Privacy
Lofts don’t have public spaces and private spaces like traditional homes. It’s not uncommon to have only a single interior door—the one to the bathroom. “When you’re living in a loft, you have to make the decision that every morning, you’re going to make your bed,” Colón says. “You can’t just shut the door. It’s an open space. You have to plan for that.”
A great way to create private spaces in a loft, Be says, is to create the effect of alcoves, “so people can be both together in the same space and yet individual and participate in their own activities,” she says. This can be done with furniture, knee walls that are about 40 inches tall or higher divider walls that come out just a few feet into the space.
Other options include using folding screens or screens or curtains that hang from the ceiling or slide on tracks. “Interesting screens can be made from unconventional materials such as architectural salvage doors,” Be says, “or frames covered in metal, such as copper or galvanized steel. Or you can simply use fabric or Japanese Washi paper.”
The range of options for materials and styles is one of the great things about loft living, Harris says. “You could have a plastic louvered wall that lets light through but gives you more privacy. You’re not held to traditional decorating ideas.”
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Text by Pat Curry
© 2009 BobVila.com
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