Dallas Loft Apartment Tour

Check out my downtown Dallas loft apartment tour! It’s filled with decorating ideas for loft apartments (or any urban home), including lots of budget and DIY projects.

Since we just moved, I thought it was be fun to share some pics of my Dallas loft apartment!

This was my first time living in a loft, and I loved the space. It was about three times the size of my NYC apartment, and as you can imagine, it felt huge in comparison. Especially when we first moved in.

There are definitely some downsides to living in a loft. There was no door on our bedroom, for one thing, so it could be noisy at night. And our electricity bill was no joke with the high ceilings. For the most part though, I enjoyed it and will miss it (especially the kitchen).

Are you ready to take my Dallas loft apartment tour?

Our apartment was in the Wilson Building, which is a historic 12-story building in downtown Dallas that was completed in 1904. It was patterned after the Palais Garnier in Paris and is located right across from the flagship Neiman Marcus store, which I didn’t take advantage of often enough.

Over the years, the building housed two department stores, as well as offices. From 1904 to 1909, it was the tallest structure in Dallas. Times sure have changed!

The building also housed a variety store for many years, and its lunch counter was Dallas’ first to be integrated in the 1960s. Another interesting fact is that the building was owned by actress Pia Zadora (remember her?) before the city bought it in 1999.

At that point, the Wilson Building was converted into loft apartments.

The architects kept many of the original doors when they did the loft conversion.

I loved walking around the floors and check out the old office signs.

There are definitely some gems to be found, like the Mythology Department one above.

It’s fun to imagine what went on behind these doors.

The entrance to our apartment featured a heavy, paneled door.

You can also see some of the industrial elements, like the pipes, that ran throughout the space.

I loved our beautiful door knob!

I’m assuming it’s original to the building.

Do you recognize this painting from my NYC apartment?

That frame was originally dark wood, but I gave it an easy picture frame makeover, which brightened up the whole painting.

The large painting was the perfect size for our entry. I hung it over the fuse box to disguise it, which you can kind of see below.

If you turned left when you entered the apartment, you’d be headed to our bedroom. We’ll come back to that later.

Walking down the hallway into the apartment, the bathroom was on left. Turn to the right though, and you’d be in our living room/kitchen … it was all one big room.

I’m going to miss those high ceilings and huge windows. The window had another smaller section on the right, too, and they let in tons of light.e

We kept the same furniture that we had in our NYC apartment. Everything was a little small for the loft, so it felt like we never took complete advantage of the space we had.

After lots of gallery walls and other artwork on the walls in our New York space, I kept the walls mostly empty here, and it was a nice change of pace. (It’s also a great urban loft decorating idea, because the bones of the space really shine through.)

And of course, I’m glad I didn’t unpack all those pictures, because we only stayed in this place 16 months!

I love these acrylic side tables I found on Amazon.

They’re perfect for decorating a loft that you want to keep feeling open, as well as small apartments (or even dorm rooms).

I feel like I might want to do something a little different in our new place, but these petite tables were perfect for holding décor books and my thrift store brass elephant (love that guy!) in our loft.

I love that rug, but it was way too small and kind of the bane of my existence … ha. Our new apartment has polished concrete floors (similar to the entry, bedroom, and bathroom in this space), so I’m going to keep them bare until I get a larger rug.

My carved wood coffee table is definitely a favorite piece though. I topped with my fave coffee table books, a vintage picture album, and my DIY Faux Inlay Box.

You can also spot my DIY Monogram Coasters on the coffee table. If you’ve ever wondered if I actually use my DIY projects, here’s your answer!

I made those blue pillows years ago (I’ll put together a tutorial one day) and the gold/silver dot pillow was from Target, although I can’t find it online anymore.

If you have the space, one of my favorite loft apartment decorating ideas is to rest things (like this lit arrow metal art) against the walls instead of hanging them.

It makes the space feel more casual and not as decorated, which is perfect for loft style décor.

The corner behind my blue chair held our bookcase with books, photos, and other mementos, like my DIY Vintage number sign.

When you’re decorating a loft apartment, make sure to take advantage of the tall ceilings! I topped the bookcase with a big framed photo and other decorative objects, and it really drew the eye up in our living room.

If you want to read more about how I decorated this area, check out my easy decor tips for layering here.

Our kitchen was behind, and open to, the living room.

My new kitchen is much smaller, so I’m already missing this expansive space, especially the island.

That huge island was the greatest, and I even filmed a cooking video there at one point. The island was so handy for cooking meals since it was right across from the stove.

We also ate lots of meals at the island. I’m not sure how I’m going to live without it!

I didn’t do too much decorating in the kitchen, but I did prop up my DIY Thanksgiving chalkboard art above the refrigerator.

On the wall opposite the island, I set up a cart to hold my cookbooks.

I decorated the cart with my  star marquee light and camera collection, too.

We are heading back toward the entrance of the loft apartment now.

The entrance to our bathroom had a cool sliding door. This vintage door was such a unique touch in the space, and gave the apartment lots of character.

Our apartment was long, with the kitchen/living room on one end and the bedroom and bathroom on the other end. Only the living room had windows, and while that area was really bright, the other end of the loft didn’t get much natural light.

That was definitely one of the downsides to this loft.

The bathroom was pretty brown, so I brightened it up and cooled it off with lots of blue and white.

Its hard to tell from these photos, but the bathroom was huge … definitely the biggest one I’ve ever had.

It think half of our NYC apartment would have fit in this bathroom!

I hung a couple prints that I bought at the Alameda Flea Market when I lived in San Francisco.

Back by the entry, there was a small hallway leading to the bedroom.

I was hard to get a good photo of this space because it was so narrow and had no natural light.

My husband stored his expansive hat collection in that ottoman, and I decorated the rest of the space with a small table and a vintage movie poster.

My DIY Cigar Box Chalkboard and a small tray topped the table.

That little table was found on the side of the street in NYC. It’s cute but needs a little love.

I either need to finally paint it or get rid of it!

Our bedroom was also pretty huge. My tall headboard looks tiny in this space!

I was planning to put some decorative mirrors behind the lamps on either side the bed and possibly hang some artwork over it, but I didn’t get the chance before we moved.

There was a wall of closets next to the bed which you can’t see here.

Another thing I loved in this room was the polished concrete floors. I’m glad our new apartment has those, too.

Unfortunately, the bedroom didn’t get any natural light either, which made it really hard to wake up in the morning! The room was so dark. It could be 5 am or 12 pm, and you couldn’t tell the difference.

I love a dark bedroom, but I won’t miss that at all!

My dresser was next to the bed, and I stored all my jewelry on top of it.

Check out my jewelry organization post for lots of easy storage tips.

I wish I could say that I kept that dresser as neat all the time! I’m kind of messy though.

Maybe I will change my ways in my new apartment … ha.

That pretty much wraps up our space, but I can’t finish my Dallas loft apartment tour without taking you up to the Wilson Building’s rooftop deck!

This space was one of my favorite places to hang out with bottle of wine (and my husband!) and simply relax. We also did lots of grilling up there.

The rooftop had a great view of the buildings surrounding us, and it was so pretty up there at night surrounded by taller buildings.

The Wilson Building was part of a four building complex, and there was a big pool behind the building with the yellow rooftop lights below.

We spent most of our summer in that pool last year.

As you walked down the stairs from the roof, you also got a great city view.

Can you spot the giant eyeball? That’s definitely one of downtown Dallas’ more eye catching sights (sorry!).

The building with the green outline is the tallest building in Dallas. We can still see a tiny bit of it from our new apartment’s patio, but this view really can’t be beat.

Our new Dallas apartment is only a few blocks away from our loft, so we’re still downtown. It’s totally different and a lot smaller than our loft, but it has a big patio/balcony space that makes up for it.

I hope you enjoyed my Dallas loft apartment tour … I can’t wait to show you pictures of our new space soon!

Have you ever lived in a loft? How did you decorate it?

P.S. Check out my Loft Holiday Tour to see how I decorated this apartment for Christmas!

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