When you hear the phrase “loft apartments,” you probably think of cool, pricey apartments in SoHo or San Francisco. But over the years, the urban, bohemian lifestyle that comes with loft apartments has spread across the country. You can now get a loft apartment in smaller communities like Pennsylvania or New Hampshire, where there are old mill buildings and factories turned into apartment complexes.
The Lofts at the Mill in Scranton, PA, for instance, is a complex of beautiful loft apartments. It used to be the Petersburg Silk Mill before it was converted into new apartment residences. Since it was a former mill building, it has enough spaces to offer wide-open, industrial style apartment units.
Besides the urban, industrial look, what makes loft apartments so desirable these days?
A Blank Canvas That Allows You to Be Creative
Other than wide, open spaces, loft apartments usually boast high ceilings and large windows. The surplus of natural light doesn’t only let you save energy but also gives you a sense of space and freedom.
If you’re a photographer, the high ceilings give you more room to set up backdrops and lighting equipment to do photo sessions with your clients. You have a lot of vertical space for bookshelves, drawing tables, or paint racks if you’re a writer or an artist. Even if you’re not in the creative field, the open, flexible layouts of loft apartments allow you to play around with decor, artwork, and furniture.
Also, loft apartments usually don’t have a lot of walls. But many consider this lack of walls the perfect opportunity to showcase their design style. The apartment is a blank canvas, where you have free reign to create a space that suits your unique style, needs, and preferences.
Unique Charm: No Two Units Are the Same
Living in a place that was initially designed and built for something else has a unique charm. You get to benefit from the building’s remnants of its industrial past: exposed bricks, oversized windows, and even original fire doors. Plus, the building had floors and corners for different factory tasks. With various architectural details across loft apartment complexes, in most cases, no two units are the same.
Shared Amenities and a Sense of Community
Loft apartment buildings usually offer shared amenities like fitness rooms, patios, and even fire pits to foster a sense of community within the entire property. Some buildings even host fun, laidback activities regularly to match the urban, bohemian lifestyle that loft apartments often offer. Like-minded tenants end up developing valuable friendships and a thriving social community. Those who work in the creative field (who likely use their loft as a live/work space) can also gain networking opportunities.
If you’re moving to a new home and craving for a sense of space and freedom, you can’t go wrong with a loft apartment. And now that smaller communities in the US embrace this apartment style, you no longer have to move to New York or California to experience the chic, laidback loft apartment living.
