Just like our homes are a reflection of the people who dwell within, so too should a restaurant or bar tell its story. It always breaks my heart a little bit when I love a restaurant’s food but find the environment cold, outdated or uncomfortable.
When I set out to come up with a design plan for my latest commercial project, Dusted Valley Wine Bar in Edmonds, it was so much more than just picking furniture to create a vibe. It was my job to find ways to tell the brand’s story and to introduce a winery from Walla Walla to the artsy community of downtown Edmonds. Having a cohesively designed space was just as important to the bar’s neighborhood reception as honing in on the perfect food and wine pairings.
Think of your favorite restaurant. Let’s set the amazing cuisine aside for a second. Visualize sitting down at one of the tables there. When you look around, what do you see? What is the lighting like? Are the walls blank or filled with art? What do you hear? What kind of music is playing? Do you smell anything other than the food? (I hope not.) Does the space look and feel like a complementary extension of the amazing food, or is it incongruent? What is the overall vibe? More importantly, how do you feel when you are in this place? The best restaurants not only have delicious food and beverages; they are spaces that invite us to linger, share long meals with friends or stay for one more glass of wine. In short, the best restaurants and bars understand the power of ambiance.
Redecorating, updating or designing a restaurant or bar is not unlike a home renovation. The basic design considerations are still there: who will use the space, how does each space need to be used, what kind of vibe are you going for, what is your timeline and your budget? The end goal is also the same — to create a space that functions well, looks amazing and tells the story of its inhabitants. The tips below can be applied on any budget and to any venue!
Whether it’s the black and white photo gallery wall, the oversized canvas prints or the custom mural, all of the artwork at Dusted Valley Wine Bar is a glimpse into the people, places and history behind the brand. We even used an image from the brand’s logo to make custom wallpaper for the bathroom. There are myriad ways to exhibit and chronicle the ideals, imagery and skills that went into creating your business.
It is a rare occurrence that only overhead lighting will do in a hospitality environment. Use wall sconces at the entry, table lamps at the bar, low-wattage floor lamps in the lounge area and tabletop votives to create layers of light. And always, always install dimmer switches on all lights! In your outdoor seating area, hang a string of patio lights across the trellis, or use solar path lights in your planter boxes.
Fresh paint can really change the whole look and feel of a space. At Dusted Valley, we created a board and batten paneling on the lower portion of the walls and painted it a dark green to ground the adjacent furnishings. Doing this also created a sense of coziness in an otherwise lofty, industrial space. Paint the ceiling and exposed ductwork the same color as the walls to make it disappear. Try painting the hallway to the restrooms a dark color for drama or anchor a wall of photos with one of your brand's accent colors. Repeat your colors throughout the space to reinforce the color palette.
For Dusted Valley, we created screens using wine barrel staves to block sightlines into the kitchen, parking garage and to hide the giant electrical panel. Add strategically placed plants to help soften the edges of transitional spaces like entry zones or to delineate a lounge area from the dining area. Plants can also act as noise buffers from sounds from the street, bathroom or kitchen.
Whether you end up closing down for a few weeks to overhaul the whole space or simply end up personalizing your artwork or revamping your bar area, any aesthetic changes to your space make for great social media content. Turn it into a grand re-opening event! Customers both old and new will be drawn in to see what you’ve added or changed!
Betsy Kornelis is a local interior designer. Find her at paisleyandpine.com.