We’re getting ready to start the redecorating on the deli and would love some input.
We want to be very modern and very minimalist. Money is an issue. We have tables and chairs that can be painted. They are just square wood tables and wood chairs. But I think we’re stuck with them. Marble tops with black legs would be nice, but we can’t afford marble. Slate tops with gray legs? Something else entirely?
For wall colors, I think I’d like to go with a gray, but I’m not completely sold on that yet. Maybe two shades of gray? Maybe a wall of textured paper? We’re thinking about a thin chair rail stained cherry colored and cherry cabinets with a formica top that is in a darker gray color. We can’t afford granite. I like the look of charcoal gray for the baseboards. It’s cleaner than white.
The large plate glass windows are all framed in a maroon color that can not be changed. There is not a lot of natural light. The ceiling is a drop down ceiling that should make it easy to add some pendant lights. We’re talking about maybe 500 square feet of space. The kitchen itself, I’m not worried about. It isn’t really visible to the public.
We have been told that the floor will be replaced for us and we can choose the tile, but we don’t have an amount on that yet.
It’s really a blank slate at this point. So, anyone have a good idea or two? I’m open to anything as long as it’s not too expensive.
Here’s a free option that can help also with extra publicity.
Offer your deli as a place where painters/photographers and the like can sell their wares. Have a rotating collection that is up for a month or two, the artist will take care of hanging it up on the walls and you can also post that you have a gallery showing in the local arts rag. Win-win.
Just make sure that you:
Screen the artists and their art work before they get in.
That a waiver of liability is signed by the artist that you won’t be held responsible for anything that happens to their art while it’s in your care, custody or control.
That you receive a small commision (3-5%) for any art sold while it’s in your gallery (deli).
As for the table tops? It’s a deli. Get a huge roll of paper for the tops, which will also help keep the tables clean, and some crayons in boxes for each table. It’s old school, but I still like to color when I’m waiting for food.
One fairly cheap and easy thing to do is to use car paint (the base color plus the high gloss lacquer spray) that has a nice shine, and can take some wear and tear. You could do this on the tables (tops or legs) or even on the walls. You can do real “silver” or contrast it with the glossy black.
Should you decide to do the tables and/or chairs, you might even want to call an auto body paint shop and see how much they would charge you to do all of the furniture in one fell swoop.
Black and white photography always gives a nice “classy” look to walls – in simple frames. Pick a theme – landscapes, city skylines, famous actors/sports figures or whatever.
I like the idea of keeping walls in light gray, as then you can put one large vase (somewhere) with bright red, or bright yellow flowers that will pop out! Some nice lighting helps as well – not too dark, but multiple recessed spots all around.
I second the body shop, if you decide to paint. Also, a nice vase of fresh flowers or container of plants near the entrance is a great idea. Use glasses to hold crayons to replace (usually unappealing) fake flowers if you go for the paper covered tops.
If you go texture on an accent wall, remember it’ll need to be very durable and cleanable. The local artist’s work is a bril idea.
Grey wall paint can look very institutional and suck the light out of the room, so invest in swatches. At the hardware store, see what groups of colors the chips or booklets recc.’ One of them could do all the worry for you and you won’t have to pay a $$ consultant.
Up lights are cheap and you can tuck them lots of places to add lighting, beyond the pendents.
Basically, keep it simple in color, style, number, etc. and bring in medium ‘impact’ items for the fun.
Thanks you guys. I think we made a choice for the tables. We found some wood flooring that is in a cherry color with some black running through it. We think that will look nice with black legs.
And it was on sale, so only a couple hundreds bucks should do the job.
I love the art idea and there are a lot of shops on Main street I could approach with the idea. I do like the crayon and paper idea too, but my husband is not keen on it.
I didn’t think about the gray being institutional. I’ll have to be careful there. We have three small angled walls that would be great for some textured paper in an eye popping contrast color. I sort of like that idea too.
Anyway, thanks again. I realize it’s difficult to offer ideas for something like this without seeing it. I appreciate your taking the time to respond.
We painted our bathroom walls grey and they “read” blue because we have a blue shower curtain. If you paint one of your walls grey and one maybe a turquoise, you’ll have a kind of a Fifties vibe. It would go with the maroon, too.