Loft interior design in Batumi for a new-build apartment

Where loft style comes from and what is left of it in a new build

Loft style appeared in New York in the middle of the last century, when artists began moving into empty workshops and warehouses. These had high ceilings, brick walls, columns and pipes running under the ceiling, but there was no money for finishing, and over time the bare walls became a style.

A new build in Batumi has none of this. The building has a monolithic concrete frame, the partitions are aerated concrete block, the ceilings are 2.7–3 m, and instead of narrow factory windows there is panoramic glazing. So we put a loft interior together from three techniques: concrete, either exposed or recreated as a texture, brick on one wall, and services run on the surface to a drawing. The open space of a workshop is replaced by an open-plan layout: the kitchen, living room and hallway with no walls between them.

Concrete: expose it or recreate it as a texture

In a black frame apartment the ceiling slab and columns are still bare, and some of the concrete can be left on show. We grind the slab, remove the dust and seal it, otherwise it sheds dust and soaks up stains. An exposed ceiling keeps the height that a stretch or suspended ceiling would take up, and at 2.7 m those centimetres are noticeable.

In white frame the developer has already plastered the walls, and often the ceiling too. We don't recommend knocking off the plaster to get at real concrete: on the walls there is aerated block underneath, not monolithic concrete, and the dusty work gains you nothing. We create concrete-look walls with a thin coat of decorative plaster, and on the finishes plan we mark which walls get the texture and which get ordinary paint.

We don't leave bare concrete above the hob or in the bathroom. These surfaces are washed every day, so they get concrete-effect porcelain tiles or a texture under a protective lacquer.

Brick: one wall, usually an internal one

A design usually has one brick wall, most often an internal one, behind the sofa or the TV. We don't put gypsum brick on an external wall: in winter that wall is colder than the room, moisture settles on it and the gypsum darkens in patches. If you want brick by a window or on an external wall, we use clinker tiles on cement-based adhesive, which absorb almost no water.

We choose the material by weight and location. Gypsum brick is light and can be fixed even to a plasterboard partition. Concrete brick is heavier but doesn't chip where bags brush against the wall, and a plasterboard partition needs a reinforced frame to carry it. The weight, substrate and adhesive for each type are covered on the page about decorative stone and brick. The kitchen splashback gets brick-effect porcelain tiles: real relief next to the hob collects grease.

Red brick with dark joints makes a living room look smaller and darker, while whitewashed or grey brick keeps the style and doesn't compete with the sea view.

Exposed services, drawn to scale

In a loft the pipes and cables are on show, so we draw their routes in as much detail as the furniture. On the electrical plan every run is parallel to the ceiling or a wall, with the turns and the spacing of the fixings marked. We run the cable in steel conduit or in rigid conduit that can be painted, and use surface-mounted boxes. Wiring done without a drawing shows straight away: the lines wander, and every new socket adds another crooked section to the run.

We don't run cold water pipes on the surface. In summer humid air condenses on a cold pipe as droplets, and water runs down the wall. We also hide the air conditioner pipe runs: insulated copper on a wall looks unfinished, and the drain needs a fall that can't be disguised when it is on show.

Lighting in a loft usually hangs from tracks. If the ceiling is exposed, the cable to the track runs in the same conduit as the rest of the wiring, and we draw them together so that the concrete carries one clean line. How we arrange lighting circuits and scenes is covered on the page about apartment lighting.

Metal, wood and leather by the sea

Shelving units, table and island legs and shelf brackets are made for us by metalwork shops to our drawings. Our black metal is almost always powder-coated, and pieces by the balcony door and in the bathroom are made of aluminium or stainless steel under the same coating: bare steel quickly rusts there.

Wood in a loft is rough: planed boards with visible grain, a solid oak worktop on the island, open shelves. We use kiln-dried boards and seal them on all sides, and the shelves are finished with oil and wax. A leather sofa is a good choice in an apartment that is lived in all year round. In an apartment that stays closed in winter, mould grows on real leather, so for a rental we choose fabric or cognac-coloured faux leather.

The bedroom is often separated from the living room by a glass partition in black framing with closely spaced glazing bars, like a factory window. Daylight reaches the bed, and the bedroom stays a separate room. We line the glazing bars up with the furniture and openings, so that a horizontal bar doesn't fall at the eye level of someone sitting on the sofa.

Sound, light and colour: keeping a loft from looking like a garage

Concrete, brick, glass and a hard floor reflect sound, and the living room of a loft starts to echo. We damp it with soft things: a large rug, heavy curtains across the whole window, a fabric sofa, acoustic panels on the ceiling between the tracks. An exposed slab leaves no room for soundproofing, so if the neighbours upstairs are noisy, it is better to close the ceiling in and keep the concrete on the columns and one wall. The options are collected on the page about apartment soundproofing.

The bulbs in a loft are warm, 2700–3000 K. Cold white light on grey concrete makes a room look like an underground car park. In a loft we give the dark colours to the metal and furniture and keep the walls and ceiling light: at 2.7 m a dark ceiling feels oppressive.

A light loft for rental, and combinations that work

For short-term rental we design a light loft: whitewashed brick, a light concrete-effect texture, black metal in thin lines. In a wide-angle photo a room like this looks spacious, and guests grasp the style at once. By the entrance and in the corridor we make the brick from concrete or clinker: gypsum brick there gets chipped by suitcases in the very first season.

Loft sits well with mid-century furniture: walnut veneer and slim legs soften the concrete. It is brought together with Scandinavian style through white brick and light wood. Classic and boho clash with loft, and an apartment where they are mixed looks as if it was furnished from different classified ads.

Common loft mistakes

• brick on every wall: the room gets darker and feels smaller;
• a dark ceiling at a height of 2.7 m;
• exposed wiring run “as it goes” on site, without a drawing;
• bare black steel in the kitchen and by the balcony;
• cold water pipes on show that run with condensation in summer;
• cold light and a scatter of spotlights instead of tracks and pendants.

Brick on every wall, a dark ceiling and cold light are already visible in 3D, as long as the renders show the materials and bulbs that will actually be ordered. Wiring run “as it goes” and pipes with condensation are only caught by the drawings and designer supervision.

How much a loft interior costs in Batumi

A loft-style design project costs from 145 to 190 ₾ per m² of apartment area. This is the designer's work: the layout, 3D renders and working drawings, which for a loft include a plan of the exposed wiring and tracks and an elevation of the brick wall. Finishing is priced separately, labour and materials together: decorative brick wall cladding from 72 ₾ per m², concrete-effect plaster from 63 ₾ per m². Lighting track installation costs from 27 to 30 ₾ per linear metre; this is labour only, and the track and light fittings are priced by the chosen model.

A loft has its own arithmetic. An exposed ceiling takes the stretch ceiling or plasterboard out of the estimate but adds grinding and sealing of the slab, and exposed wiring needs more sheets than concealed wiring: we draw every visible pipe with its turns and fixings. The design costs more with metal furniture made to our drawings, a layout change and a large number of rooms in 3D. A studio, where the style rests on one brick wall and the tracks, comes out cheaper. The final cost is set after the measured survey, once the scope of the design has been agreed.