Modern industrial style bedroom decorating ideas

This post shows you how to design and style an industrial style bedroom and how to transform a dark basement bedroom into a modern student sanctuary. Includes design board inspiration, DIY projects and shoppable links for the décor sources.

After showing you a few of the DIY projects from my son's modern industrial style, student room makeover, I thought you might enjoy seeing the 'Industrial style bedroom' design board we've been working from for this project. If you're interested in any of the products used in this design, you can find shoppable links below.

My son already had strong design ideas for his bachelor pad/student room. He always had a say in how his room was decorated at home but this has been the first time he's come up with a design concept himself. I have to say, I love his industrial style bedroom design!

Background

If you've read my previous posts in this series, you already know that my son moved to the city last year to be closer to his university. He had a fantastic opportunity to share a house with some friends which he has known since Kindergarten and he jumped at it!

If you haven't read my previous posts and would like to know more, take a look at my modern industrial style wooden trunk makeover and DIY wood framed mirror project.

Modern industrial style bedroom design concept

The student bedroom is in the basement and has one small window well. The aim is to transform the room into a cosy bachelor pad in my son's favourite modern industrial style.

Obviously, because this is a student room, we are working with a tiny budget. Because of that, we saved some money by DIYing a few items and spent money on the most important items like the bed, desk and chest of drawers.

To lighten up this basement room we've gone with white walls and white bedding. If we add dark bedding to a small dark room, the bed could end up looking like a big black hole, sucking in all the light and we don't want that!

In case you're thinking, “This is going to look too cold” we'll be adding plenty of texture with a rug and accessories in keeping with an industrial style bedroom.

Modern Industrial style bedroom Design board

Here's a look at the design board I came up with.

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★Tip★ Get my ultimate list of decorating tips and ideas for men's bedrooms here.

Modern industrial style bedroom furniture

Bed and bedding

We started with the bed. The room has a rustic, built-in, shiplap style wooden shelving unit with a space for the bed to slot into. Above the bed are two shelves which span the entire width of the bed. The wood provides a warm contrast to the white walls and bedding so we are not going to change that.

This bed is the perfect size for this space. It also adds texture to the room with it's antique leather optic headboard in dark grey.

To keep it light, we chose three sets of bedding in light colours.

A chunky throw will be added to the bottom of the bed. My son can store this away in his trunk when it's not needed.

Space-saving Desk

The desk is an important feature of this room. It had to fit the modern industrial style but be functional and small enough to fit the space beside the window.

This modern industrial style desk gets full points for functionality. The almost invisible drawers at the front can be filled with all bits and pieces which would normally clutter up a desk. This desk is long enough to hold my son's computer and keyboard whilst still giving him room to spread out his folders and write.

Desk chair

To complement the desk, my son chose a leather look swivel desk chair with a metal base. This desk looks like it would be right at home in a gorgeous modern industrial style bedroom or loft. The colour of the chair complements the rest of the wood tones in the room perfectly. This desk chair is extremely comfortable and has been a godsend for my son during the covid pandemic when he has had to study and attend his university lectures from home.

Chest of drawers

Here's another gorgeous industrial style bedroom piece with a wood and metal contrast! My son uses this to store his clothes. It's a real eye-catcher and a very sturdy piece of furniture.

Mirror

Above the chest of drawers we've placed a large square mirror. The mirror catches and reflects light from the window well, around the room.

The mirror in my son's room is an upcycling project of mine. See the mirror makeover in the post, Easy DIY wood framed mirror – how to build a miror frame.

DESIGN TIP: Adding a large mirror to a small room is a great trick to make a room look larger. Position a mirror opposite a window to add more light to a dark room.

Here are some similar mirrors you can buy online:

Wooden Trunk

One of the items of furniture on my son's industrial style bedroom wish list was a storage trunk of some kind. He also wanted extra seating for friends. I found an old trunk on eBay and upcycled it in the industrial style he loves. Read about the wooden trunk makeover here.

Here are some similar mirrors you can buy online:

Modern industrial style bedroom accessories

Area rug

To pull the whole room together and provide warmth underfoot a large area rug was needed. My son chose an eye-catching vintage rug in shades of dark grey and ivory.

Here are a few others which would also look fantastic in a modern industrial style bedroom.

Bedside lamp

If there is not enough room for a bedside table at the side of the bed plug-in wall sconces are great space saving tip. The best bit is, you don't have to get an electrician to install them. Just screw them to the wall (or in this case, wood panelling) and you've instantly created a design feature in your room.

These very affordable black wall sconces echo the metal tones on the large furniture pieces.

Desk/floor lamp

To save desk space, my son chose a floor lamp with multiple lights for more flexibility. He can angle one down at his desk and have another angled upwards or pointing at a piece of art in the room.

Here are some more lamps which would complement the modern industrial style.

Colour changing rope light

Colour changing rope lights are on trend at the moment. The rope light is draped along the shelf over the bed and gives off a fantastic warm ambient in the evenings.

Black and white photography

This is still to come but to give you an idea of what is planned here are a few items I've found. My son is veering towards a city skyline of some sort for the space above the desk. Being an avid photographer, he may also get some of his photos printed off and framed.

Plants

Plants need to be able to deal with low light conditions. My son has chosen some air-purifying plants like, Pothos and the snake plant. The snake plant converts carbon dioxide into oxygen at night, it also looks edgy, making it a great choice for this industrial style bedroom.

Curtains

In order to lighten up this dark industrial style bedroom, dark curtains are a no, no. White doesn't really speak to the modern industrial style either. These black and white striped curtains fit the bill perfectly. They add texture and colour without absorbing too much light.

Industrial style bedroom - finished!

That's about it for this modern industrial style bedroom design.

If you are putting together your own mood board in the modern industrial style, I hope you find something here to inspire you.

Happy decorating!

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Before you go, if you’re not part of our amazing creative community yet but would love to join us, you can sign up for the weekly newsletter through the form below – we’d love to have you on board. By signing up, you’ll also receive a copy of the free ‘Furniture Flip Checklist’ and gain access to all the other printables, e-books, and labels in the VIP Resource Library.