NOVO
FROM THE DESIGNER: KRISTA WOSTBROCK
Five months ago, I embarked on my first commercial design project! My design partner and I transformed what was once a depressing Salad Works into an upscale, contemporary, fine dining Mediterranean restaurant. The owner of the up and coming restaurant was inspired by transitional residential design mixed with organic, earth tones. Putting his inspiration to life, my design partner and I collided his vision with ours and on October 8th, 2014 we welcomed “Novo” to the world!
THE UNEXPECTED: When we first walked into the pre-existing space, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! Diagonal, orange, faux wood floors flooded the ground. Bright red, pleather booths with green and orange fabricated backs filed in a straight line against the walls. Washed out, monotoned wooden tables with matching chairs were scattered everywhere in sight like a high school cafeteria. And wait, it only got worse! Blinded by the fluorescent lights, we looked up to the ceiling only to see a jagged, orange monster’s mouth grinning back down at us! What we walked into that day was nothing less than an interior designer’s worst nightmare!!
THE EXECUTION: After giving it a fair 24 hours of a good nights rest, a facial, a massage, and a cocktail or two, we were ready to start executing! And let me tell you, it was far from lavish! First things first, we immediately started attacking the bones of the interior and space planning. What was once the ordering station and Salad Works buffet, soon became part of a new private dining area as well as an intimate vestibule. Saying R.I.P. to the preexisting floors, we replaced them with beautiful rich yet soft brown, slightly rustic wood floors. We added wainscoting, crown and base molding, and millwork to every inch possible! Incorporating the owners inspiration of earth tones, deep blue grasscloth swept the main dining room walls, while brown and gold metallic grasscloth beautified the vestibule and private dining area making those spaces a little more sumptuous. Fun and airy, yet, sophisticated and sleek chandeliers hung from the ceiling while beveled mirrored sconces kissed every glossed, white column. After all, lighting and ambiance is EVERYTHING! Bringing back in the earth tones, shimmering, soft green performance linen poured over the new banquettes and were finished with a tufted back. Timeless, ivory panels and roman shades with truffled fretwork softened the corners of every window. The chairs were fully upholstered in a sand tone wrapping their elegant frame and sealed with spaced, black nickel nail heads. As for the monster on the ceiling, we put up the ultimate fight! We were allowed to destroy the monster’s jagged, orange teeth but the drop ceiling and soffits had to stay. After all, beggars can’t be choosers! Or can they…
Finishing off the space, we added mixed media artwork in pops of aqua, green, soft cobalt, and navy set in champagne and sun-bleached floating frames for a more organic and raw look. Caviar lighting completed the vestibule with its smoked black, blown glass balls varying from small to large. Aqua, green, and grey fogged, pastel bottles effortlessly mingled throughout the built in, illuminating at night like stars in the sky. Fresh, hand picked Hydrangeas were cut one by one and gently arranged into square glass vases filled with fresh water and wrapped in bamboo leaves.
THE RESULT: The goal of our design was to make every person who entered (most importantly the woman) to feel beautiful! We were inspired by mixed metals, and the ever changing climate of moods. Raw yet refined, timeless yet present. Inside, we wanted the skin of every face to glow from the magical trio of ambient lighting, reflective mirrors, and metallic grasscloth. We wanted Novo to be its own.
THE RETROSPECT: Looking back, it was one of the best design experiences I have yet to encounter. Despite Novo’s minuscule budget, tight time frame, and depressing preexisting space, we managed quite well! If you can believe it, being an interior designer is far from the contrary. Though it may look glamorous on the outside, there are a million “behind the scenes” operations that most fail to acknowledge. My design partner and I found ourselves more times than not with pink gloves on scrubbing shelves, picking large beetles out of our hand picked flowers, lugging in and wrestling boxes, balancing on ladders in 5” heels, and leaving Novo everyday covered in white sawdust and debris from head to toe. Wearing black was a no no on a job like this! Taking the hard work with the play, we also shared some of the best laughs on the job; battling with the owner about what type of salt and pepper shakers to have on the table, and constantly busting each others chops! This, is what being a designer is all about. This, is a glimpse into five months of a restaurant in the making.
Five months ago, I embarked on my first commercial design project! My design partner and I transformed what was once a depressing Salad Works into an upscale, contemporary, fine dining Mediterranean restaurant. The owner of the up and coming restaurant was inspired by transitional residential design mixed with organic, earth tones. Putting his inspiration to life, my design partner and I collided his vision with ours and on October 8th, 2014 we welcomed “Novo” to the world!
THE UNEXPECTED: When we first walked into the pre-existing space, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! Diagonal, orange, faux wood floors flooded the ground. Bright red, pleather booths with green and orange fabricated backs filed in a straight line against the walls. Washed out, monotoned wooden tables with matching chairs were scattered everywhere in sight like a high school cafeteria. And wait, it only got worse! Blinded by the fluorescent lights, we looked up to the ceiling only to see a jagged, orange monster’s mouth grinning back down at us! What we walked into that day was nothing less than an interior designer’s worst nightmare!!
THE EXECUTION: After giving it a fair 24 hours of a good nights rest, a facial, a massage, and a cocktail or two, we were ready to start executing! And let me tell you, it was far from lavish! First things first, we immediately started attacking the bones of the interior and space planning. What was once the ordering station and Salad Works buffet, soon became part of a new private dining area as well as an intimate vestibule. Saying R.I.P. to the preexisting floors, we replaced them with beautiful rich yet soft brown, slightly rustic wood floors. We added wainscoting, crown and base molding, and millwork to every inch possible! Incorporating the owners inspiration of earth tones, deep blue grasscloth swept the main dining room walls, while brown and gold metallic grasscloth beautified the vestibule and private dining area making those spaces a little more sumptuous. Fun and airy, yet, sophisticated and sleek chandeliers hung from the ceiling while beveled mirrored sconces kissed every glossed, white column. After all, lighting and ambiance is EVERYTHING! Bringing back in the earth tones, shimmering, soft green performance linen poured over the new banquettes and were finished with a tufted back. Timeless, ivory panels and roman shades with truffled fretwork softened the corners of every window. The chairs were fully upholstered in a sand tone wrapping their elegant frame and sealed with spaced, black nickel nail heads. As for the monster on the ceiling, we put up the ultimate fight! We were allowed to destroy the monster’s jagged, orange teeth but the drop ceiling and soffits had to stay. After all, beggars can’t be choosers! Or can they…
Finishing off the space, we added mixed media artwork in pops of aqua, green, soft cobalt, and navy set in champagne and sun-bleached floating frames for a more organic and raw look. Caviar lighting completed the vestibule with its smoked black, blown glass balls varying from small to large. Aqua, green, and grey fogged, pastel bottles effortlessly mingled throughout the built in, illuminating at night like stars in the sky. Fresh, hand picked Hydrangeas were cut one by one and gently arranged into square glass vases filled with fresh water and wrapped in bamboo leaves.
THE RESULT: The goal of our design was to make every person who entered (most importantly the woman) to feel beautiful! We were inspired by mixed metals, and the ever changing climate of moods. Raw yet refined, timeless yet present. Inside, we wanted the skin of every face to glow from the magical trio of ambient lighting, reflective mirrors, and metallic grasscloth. We wanted Novo to be its own.
THE RETROSPECT: Looking back, it was one of the best design experiences I have yet to encounter. Despite Novo’s minuscule budget, tight time frame, and depressing preexisting space, we managed quite well! If you can believe it, being an interior designer is far from the contrary. Though it may look glamorous on the outside, there are a million “behind the scenes” operations that most fail to acknowledge. My design partner and I found ourselves more times than not with pink gloves on scrubbing shelves, picking large beetles out of our hand picked flowers, lugging in and wrestling boxes, balancing on ladders in 5” heels, and leaving Novo everyday covered in white sawdust and debris from head to toe. Wearing black was a no no on a job like this! Taking the hard work with the play, we also shared some of the best laughs on the job; battling with the owner about what type of salt and pepper shakers to have on the table, and constantly busting each others chops! This, is what being a designer is all about. This, is a glimpse into five months of a restaurant in the making.
Country: United States
Zip Code: 07450
