Exposed brick walls and metal accents are a tiny part of industrial small living room ideas. You can also have pipework on show and perhaps a little leather.
This interior design style is perfect for refreshing spaces and give them a bit of cool edge. Our interior designers have delved into how to bring industrial vibes into your space, including how to employ clever layering and brightening elements.
Take a peek through our expert guide and soak up their six brilliant ways to bring the industrial look to your small living room.
Industrial small living room ideas that bring all the cool
We're impressed, inspired, and ready to jump into our cool warehouse home era with these industrial small living room ideas from expert interior designers.
1. Use pops of geometric and color
Add a pop of color in your industrial small living room through artwork or throw in geometric cushions, but keep colors uniform by sticking with two to three, max.
Lisa Kanning, founder of LKID interiors explains, “When approaching the design of a small space, we typically maintain a neutral backdrop. We use natural tones in a monochromatic color scheme with accents of color if desired."
For patterns, favor stripes, and geometrical forms.
These square 18 x 18 inch geometric pillow covers adds a nice pop of colour without going overboard. They're easy to machine wash (just use a cold wash and lay flat to dry). Inserts sold separately.
2. Let light 'interact' with materials
In your industrial small living room, use multiple textures to add dimension. "Our designs tend to rely heavily on the use of texture," says Lisa.
We love the comfortable sofa set against the fabric-top coffee table in the image above. It softens the metal in the background perfectly.
We found this gorgeous Ermine coffee table by Joss & Main at Wayfair that ticks a lot of industrial chic boxes: leather, wrought iron, and slick design.
You can employ other methods in your small industrial-style living room to showcase brilliant design features.
Lisa explains, "The interaction of light with the different materials creates interest without distraction, allowing more diminutive size rooms to still have an impact."
Consider how natural and artificial small living room lighting will land in the space to create intriguing moodiness without the atmosphere being too dark, or overwhelming.
Size (in.): H62.75 x W14 x D10.25
Made from: Metal
This 63 inch floor lamp has a gold-tone metal base, long candlestick stem, and a ribbed glass shade that comes in four colors. It is LED-compatible, and comes complete with a foot switch allows for easy operation. Bulb not included.
3. Be minimal, but add dimension
As with minimalist small living room ideas, you'll find crossover here, with texture being a great way to add dimension without cluttering up the room.
Artem Kropovinsky, interior designer and founder of award-winning Arsight, demonstrates this with his choices, pictured above, of simple artwork and a quiet monochrome color palette. The indoor plants on the wooden cabinet add natural and visual cues, whilst bringing height without being over the top and distracting.
If you love the cool black and white print Artem chose for the wall, this ampersand design on canvas at Walmart will bring a similar vibe on a smaller scale.
Artem notes how past design trends always come back into fashion, with industrial seeing a warmed-up revival for smaller living rooms in recent times.
If you're into a contemporary finish, Artem says, "Merge geometric shapes and patterns in minimal amounts like on pillows or artwork. This ensures variety without occupying too much space."
4. Soften hard materials with layered fabrics
Using a little texture will gently soften metals, marbles, and hard floors — all typical of an industrial setting. Making mindful furnishing choices, such as picking a higher pile living room rug (one of a few essential items for a small living room), will bring balance and stop your space coming off as cold.
Industrial small living room ideas should feel inviting, so whilst a monochromatic color scheme is fairly typical of this aesthetic, including a beige item or incorporating texture, as Artem has done here, will warm things up.
Just a smattering of these touches will be enough to bring a touch of coziness whilst still nodding to all the cool moodiness of industrial small living room style.
This smart little storage table has a two-tiered circular silhouette on three straight legs, and though it's tiny (H21" by W19") it delivers on function and style, with the ash wood making it sturdy, and the lower shelf the perfect spot to stash your remote and other small items.
5. Expose brickwork a little differently
To lift a small industrial living room, even if it's in an open-plan apartment, paint exposed brickwork in a loftier living room color like eggshell to brighten the space.
If you rent and can't paint, or don't live in a loft with brick walls but want this look, thank those who cleverly invented peel-and-stick wallpaper.
Home Depot has a ton of brick-printed removable peel-and-stick wallpaper if you fancy giving this clever renter-friendly wall decor option a whirl.
6. Nail furniture layout
Interior designer, Amy Youngblood, advises on how best to to weave in industrial furniture picks in a small space.
She says, "Laying things out can be tricky when the room is more narrow type of space. I like to utilize wall space as much as possible, with sofas or chairs against the wall and open up the middle with a larger, often rectangular cocktail table or ottoman. This creates proper egress around the center of the room."
Curves are in, especially in modern small living room design, but when leaning into an industrial style in a setting that is a little space-starved, Amy recommends filling it wisely.
'While curved furniture is very in style right now, more straight-lined sofas maximize the area the best. If you want to integrate curves, add in round or curved smaller-scaled lounge chairs for a bit of pop."
Use quality materials and avoid over-scaled furniture that doesn’t fit properly —both cheapen the look of the space.
Love the industrial look even more now? Continue the vibe into the kitchen like Florence Pugh has done with her shelves...
