Fifty shades may be sexier, but two shades of grey are more appropriate for a licensed restaurant that caters to families.
"I added a naughty splash of deep silver to the palette to attract bar customers," said Rita Labossiere, an interior designer with Labossiere Divine Interiors, hired to renovate an eatery in Winnipeg.
Bill Parasidis, co-owner with his sister Athina of the Nook Diner on Sherbrook Street and the Nook and Cranny on Portage Avenue, said he has plans to renovate the latter, as it is beginning to show its age.
Though he and his sister have owned the Nook and Cranny for just three years, the building housed another eatery for more than 30 years before they bought it.
Bill's first move was to replace most of the kitchen equipment with updated ovens, fryers and freezers.
Bill is a chef renowned for the excellence of his breakfasts, and a conversation overheard by a friend in the Rady Centre steam room -- "Parasidis is one of the best breakfast chefs in North America" -- attests to this. He is also known for his Greek food and pastries and for his steaks, ribs and pizzas.
He hired Labossiere on the advice of a friend who was pleased with her no-nonsense work ethic and ability to walk into a room and immediately discern the changes required to give it a fresh new look, whether traditional, transitional or modern.
Said Labossiere: "My first suggestion was to get rid of a peachy-orange colour palette that may have been in vogue in the 1980s but certainly is passé in the second decade of the new millennium."
Hence the change to Benjamin Moore Regal grey tones, including Kendall charcoal and barnboard, as well as the company's deep silver, a lustrous colour that serves to brighten the more sombre grey tints.
(This is a simple observation on my part, but it would seem greys and silvers are becoming more common in renovations, taking the place of earth tones that have been the mainstay of the world of colour for many years.)
Labossiere's next recommendation was to remove a row of dated, high-back booths that run down the centre of the restaurant. One large booth located in a dark enclave near the entrance will also go, as it is visually unattractive and of limited practical value.
"Some people enjoy eating at a booth, but in my experience, they tend to be cramped like a church pew and have a funereal look to them," she said.
The booths will be replaced with tables and chairs (style yet to be decided), expanding the restaurant's seating capacity and giving it a more open, contemporary look.
A wall that separates the lounge from the main eating area is slated to be demolished, allowing the bar to be extended into the dingy enclave now occupied by the ineffective booth.
Labossiere said this straightforward part of the renovation will allow light from windows in the bar to spill into the enclave, brightening the entire area.
The bar countertop and cabinetry, now shaped like a half-rectangle, will become a full rectangle with room for stools and service on all four sides.
"A larger lounge will benefit my business, as I am targeting a 30-to-50-year-old demographic with families who also enjoy a night out with friends, leaving the kids at home," Bill said.
Flooring throughout the renovated restaurant (not including the lounge, which is luxury vinyl plank) will be commercial carpet tile with a predominantly charcoal hue and hints of gold in the nap, Labossiere said.
"I consider carpet tile a premium material for commercial or residential flooring because it is easy to lay, comes in a myriad of colours and can be arranged to form interesting designs that would be impossible with wall-to-wall carpet," Labossiere said, adding that tile carpet does not show dirt like other forms of flooring and is easy to clean with a good-quality vacuum with a beater or a steam-cleaning unit.
John Gulyas, owner of Elite Flooring in Winnipeg, said tiles commonly come in 16-inch, 18-inch and 24-inch squares that can be easily replaced by pulling the glue-backed tiles off the substrate with a hook knife.
Different looks can be achieved by placing non-patterned squares in a checkerboard arrangement, giving the effect of dark and light shades, depending on how light is reflected by the nap, Gulyas said.
Figured squares can be arranged to make many different patterns, depending on how creative a person wants to be, he said, adding good-quality carpet tiling can be purchased for $2.75 to $3 per square foot installed.
"When you consider how much people are spending on solid wood and engineered wood flooring, carpet tile is very, very competitive," he said.
The secret to the material's durability is a dense vinyl backing that prevents pulling and distortion, and because the tiles are locked in place by the backing and glued to the substrate, there is no zippering or running of threads at the edges.
The main requirement, as with most flooring, is that the substrate must be smooth, clean and undamaged, Gulyas said, adding tile carpet is a good sound absorber. Labossiere said more pot lights and cable lighting will be added to the restaurant as the renovation progresses. Massive oak double doors that serve as a street entranceway will likely remain untouched, as will similar interior doors that complement the trim in the bar. However, a piano with an oak case will be taken out of the foyer, as the instrument is reminiscent of a 1920s saloon piece.
To this point, she said the only pending design problem is where to relocate a row of VLTs that must be hidden in a family restaurant.
For his part, Bill hopes to have the project wrapped up by mid-April, as operating a restaurant and renovating it at the same time can be hard on the nerves.
