From the first conversations and musings about doing a barn conversion, Danny and I had been set on one thing: we wanted the style to be brave, edgy and definitely distinctive. We did the obligatory endless browsing of inspiration across the web and kept being drawn to industrial // vintage // loft style designs (read more about that here)

At the previous meeting with Faber, we had been really happy with the mood boards for the Master Suite but wanted to make more of a statement with the open plan living space. There were lots of elements that we agreed on and wanted to keep as part of the final design, but we wanted to be pushed to the edge of our comfort zone and to really throw ourselves into the theme, rather than just nod towards it.

Industrial Design Barn Conversion

I was even more nervous this time round as we were about to actually see a walk-through of our home! Until now, everything we had seen had been bird’s-eye-view, hypothetical or imagined, but it was all about to feel very real! Faber had taken our comments on board about wanting more of a statement…

Here’s the open-plan living area. They certainly took on our comments about using a range of different materials! To the left of the image is the playroom (where I can’t wait to hide all the plastic!) which has a sliding barn door to close it. This will be used a kids lounge and general chill-out area for them to make their own. Next you can see a large rust wall: we’re just deciding whether to actually have rusted metal on the walls or use a imitation rust wallpaper. To the right of the image you can see the bare brick wall which will be double height due to the void and will use reclaimed bricks. Out of shot is the fire wall: we are having a double-sided fireplace inserted into the wall between the living area and the snug and the rest of this wall will be painted black with shelving for the logs. The flooring is polished concrete here, but I have been researching microcrete and coulis flooring for their improved durability.

Here’s the same space from the other end of the barn. One of my main wishes for our home was to have a table large enough to accommodate our family and friends (not all at once!) – the industrial theme means that we can have mismatching stacking chairs in storage, ready to get out when required rather than having enough to host a conference at every meal time! We have intentionally not had enough benches at the island to seat all of us, as our dining table will have the best views in the house so we want to make the most of that! You can also see the stairs on this image which will be constructed around a central bookcase as the supporting structure.

And finally for downstairs there’s the kitchen! We are just going to have base units, but then have open shelves with bits and bobs on. We’re only having the essentials in the kitchen as, through the door concealed in the rust wall, we have a traditional style pantry and large utility room for the sandwich toasters/juicers/slow cookers and others rarely used kitchen necessities! We absolutely love the industrial style extractor they have included too! We had seen an island just like this on Grand Designs the other week where they had built a rudimentary box out of pallet planks and just poured the concrete in. Easy as that 😉 We’ll be having statement tiles here but not sure on the design of these yet, or if we’ll stick to the blue that they have suggested.

Really keen to hear what you think, or if you can help with any of the finishes or furnishing then please do get in touch!