The NoChintz team, led by Natalie Gray and Amy Brown, was appointed by its client, bar owner Cleo Farman, to redesign The Oddest Bar. The brief was to transform the individuality of the space and highlight its offering within Chorlton, Manchester – a location renowned for its unique atmosphere.
The space is a really fun environment which already played a lot with great textures and dressings. NoChintz decided to lighten the floors and walls and then add really strong, bold colours throughout the furniture and finishes. Moving away from the loose furniture that defined the original space, fixed seating creates an efficient and useable space. The new arrangement of seating outside, which reflects the layout of the interior, promotes a communal social experience, allowing for larger groups to sit together. Brightly coloured prints hang in the windows between the interior and exterior space to tie-in the bold colours and graphics.
NoChintz highlighted the existing features of the bar as well as replanting and furnishing the outdoor space to transform the first impression and create an inviting, communal area to enjoy the summer weather in. The fresh, bright splashes of colour and Victorian benches have really helped to define the outside space and create a private environment, whilst still being very open to the street.
The project saw the team use reclaimed wooden doors as screen partitions and backs to the fixed seating. This helped to act as a junction between the original Victorian canopy of the outdoor area and the new furniture used. Outdoor lighting was also hung from the overhead canopy.
Victorian style park benches were used, but given a fresh modern look by powder coating them with the bold colours used throughout the scheme. Splashes of colour infuse both the interior and exterior, the multi-coloured bar and the soft furnishings. The bar front uses a mixture of 18 different colours and is finished in both gloss and matte with the bright colours adding a contemporary twist.
Redecoration and a treatment of the existing floor transformed the location into a contemporary and inviting space, keeping the intimacy of the bar while lightening the overall aesthetic.
The Oddest Bar project shows how principles we usually apply to indoor design can easily be applied to outdoor spaces. Oddest has a really prominent presence on a busy road in Chorlton so it was important to make a strong impact to passers by, something we have definitely achieved. The client and end users are very happy with the space.
NoChintz’s associate director, Amy Brown
By lightening up the whole space the original features and dressings really shone through. Cleo (the owner) has a great eye for design and over the years has collected some fantastic pieces for the bar. The finished result gave a coherent and strong aesthetic to the overall design.
Images © NoChintz
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NoChintz appeared first on Restaurant & Bar Design.