Poché.: May 2013

Sichuan Bistro Before & After

Before this building in State College was The Sichuan Bistro, it was the home of Golden Wok. The building was originally an 18th century colonial home, but when the restaurant opened, the glass facade was added, and some time later, another room in the rear. Over the years, this building has undergone lots of transformations, and this year it experienced another one.

My partner Josh and I were hired to give the back rooms a new look. Our goal was to create something modern and comfortable, but distinctly oriental.

We began in the smallest room of the restaurant. As the seating is adjacent to an area of high traffic, Josh and I set out to create more intimacy in the corridor-like space.

We decided to update the space with a room divider made of metal pipes and oak slats. The wallpaper was removed, and the walls were covered with a fresh coat of paint.

Grey tiles will eventually replace the old laminate flooring (to conserve money, the owner wished to install the new tile floor himself).

The great thing about the restaurant is that is has good bones, even if its skin is outdated.

When the back portion was built, many of the walls had custom curves and interesting little niches, like this one, which was being used to display a dusty fake plant:

Niche before

We used this little niche to create a focal point in the room with a painting suspended from the ceiling like a gong.

Niche after

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The back room of the restaurant is probably the biggest one, and certainly the most outdated.

The photo below is extremely forgiving of the room's flaws.

The ceiling tiles were stained and cracked. The red wallpaper was also peeling off, revealing old water damage spots beneath. The carpet (not pictured) was green, and it was so old and sticky that your shoes audibly peeled off of it with every step you took.

The employees told us that they gave up trying to vacuum the floor because the straw wrappers and food bits would stick, so they could only sweep the big pieces up.

Needless to say, the room needed some help.

New ceiling feature

To improve the ceiling, we removed the old light fixtures and installed fluorescent lights at the request of the client.

For the record, we felt that the light produced by the fluorescent tubes was too bright and too harsh for a nice dining experience. The original design called for small pendants in hanging groups of four over each table to create a warmer light in the space, and to detract from the ceiling.

Next we turned to the issue of the ceiling tiles. Either we could replace all of them, or we could add some kind of screen. We chose to install the umbrellas to help with the sound absorption in the 20'x40' room, and also to help diffuse some of the harsh light from the fluorescent tubes.

In addition to providing some visual interest, the umbrella feature saved the client a significant amount of money as an alternative to replacing all the ceiling tiles.

To fix the walls, we started by ripping off all the old wallpaper, and repairing the drywall. Some areas had so much water damage or glue residue that a skim coat was required. The walls were then sanded and painted.

The mirrors now reflect a view of the ceiling feature

Unfortunately the client chose to use the finished room as a storage space after we completed it.

For the floor, we ripped up the soiled carpet and replaced it with vinyl flooring. Originally the client wanted to leave the carpet intact, but we were able to talk him into compromising with a vinyl floor, instead of spending the money required for wood floors.