Today.
I'm talking to Natalie from Linnea Design about cafe design, both for new cafes
and existing cafes, how to revamp them, how are you, Natalie?
Wonderful thank you. Welcome. Thank you.
Your beautiful home here in Korora on the Coffs Coast.
Thanks so much. Thank you for having us.
Tell us more about what you do
and I guess what you love to do.
So Linnea Design
we're problem solvers, design problem solvers.
And we help rework existing spaces
and new spaces for commercial and residential clients.
And really, we have no limit to how far and wide we go with our scope.
Lovely.
So we're predominantly today focusing on cafes.
Yes. Know that's what our audience is. Yes.
Is loving just learning about cafe design and layout workflow?
Today we're just focusing on design and being cost effective, being time
effective.
So I've got a few questions for you to just pick your brain on.
Lay it on me.
All right.
So straightaway, let's just talk about someone that has a blank canvas
and they're just
wanting to open their Dream Cafe They've seen those beautiful cafes.
They've got that vision in their mind.
Where do you send them?
Or what's your first piece of advice for someone in that point?
So often our point of contact will be at those very early stages,
and we will always recommend that our clients go
and see a professional, be it the one you speaking to myself.
If the space is relatively simple in its scope of works we can work with
in our field.
Alternatively, we might send them to an architect
if there's any structural requirements and drafting or DA applications needed
so we can guide people as to how to start in which professional to start with.
Most instances it starts with with me and us.
And from there we get drafted plans.
We measure the space.
We get accurate detail of the empty box to start filling out detail.
From there, we take a really detailed brief and get to know our client,
sit down and get to know their product, get to know their dreams.
Their clients, their visions.
And we formulate a bit of a mood board and a vibe, if you like, as to
how the café is going to feel, which is equally important as to the look.
And that's where we start.
And that process can take up to a week to get to the right place.
To start padding out the design. Sure.
Is that, a week is I guess, for you getting engaged, is there a kind of
a timeframe that you like people to engage early in the process?
Obviously, you don't want to come in too late.
Yeah, from from the get go is best.
So from the day that you make that decision whether the lease is signed
or not, engaging or sitting down at no cost
with a professional for an hour to see if they're the right person to work with.
From from that very early stage is good.
We're along the the journey with you
that way and any little questions we can help guide you
as to the next stages and help keep you calm through the process.
How much? So they need to know.
They need to know
what they would like the space to be ultimately
but they don't really need to know anything about what's to come.
That's where we help guide them through those those stages.
So creating that mood and that vibe is the first place we start.
And from there the detail comes into place, drafting is done,
and then materiality is placed
and put into each individual area.
What, why, how, where is what we work with next.
Obviously, the the amount of planning and
I guess ideas that they have will then impact everyone else around you.
Are you a part of the other construction and or the other trades that come in.
Absolutely. Yes.
So once the once the design phase is completed
and the materiality is being discussed, the clients have approved it.
They're getting excited about the process.
We can then sit down and meet builders, trades, carpenters,
whatever the space requires and have a group discussion as a team.
And that's that's definitely important.
So schedule of finishes will help the builder to know what's been decided
on. Sure.
From my experience, people that haven't had that plan in place,
I'm very surprised by trades and their turnaround times
and their availability, and how long things just take, the stock
or obviously you're going to help them having, having someone like you at
the helm is going to help to kind of the time frame of.
We can help with, we can help with preliminary costing estimates.
We've got a really good handle on
pricing now, which is constantly changing
in this environment, but we will actually help guide you
through the budget process whether you come to us with a fixed budget
and we work the design around the fixed budget or we work
the design into the budget so the design creates the budget.
Yeah, I think budgets a big word for everyone.
It's always a hard one.
Everyone wishes that there wasn't a certain cap on their, their vision.
Yeah.
But definitely that's something you can talk about early and freely
talk about and, and not like set the bar too high and blow out.
Absolutely.
A lot of people will come into
the design process and they'll have all of these Instagram shots
and not have an understanding of the cost of the material itself.
And then also the installation of that material and we're very realistic.
I have a good handle on what things actually cost.
And, you know, if you come to me and say I have I have $2,000, what can we do?
I'm not going to give you a job that's going to cost 25.
Yeah, that, that's part of what we do as well.
Yeah. Cool. Is there any,
I guess no goes in that space or
where have you seen it go wrong as far as people?
Absolutely.
There's always blowouts and I find that those blowouts come
in, the lack of planning from the, the early stages.
So having detailed drawings, including joinery, for the space,
any detail that's required to store merchandise
to do whatever the space needs to should be drafted and detailed
from the beginning before a trade is set foot on site.
Sort of ad hoc will cost people money along the way.
Sure.
So we spend a lot of time, bench layouts, coffee machines, where to cut holes,
where to the positioning of the equipment based on the workflow.
I guess is that something that you would talk to them about?
Yeah absolutely. So spacial planning.
Again, that comes with the drawn plan as to how the space works.
We do rely on the expertize of
small café
kitchen specialists if we need to.
Baristas obviously have a particular flow, which I know you've talked
about in other YouTube videos.
Where to put the sink.
We would be guided somewhat by that, but yeah spacial flow,
making sure that the space is easy for clients to access and exit,
making sure that baristas can deliver coffee easily.
Yeah, that's all a major part of it.
So obviously there's a whole lot of people that are out there with their cafes,
they've probably been in them for,
they could be in them for a year or two or ten and they might be looking
a little bit tired.
Maybe they're ready for a little bit of a revamp, but they don't I don't know,
like maybe they've got a budget maybe there to,
you know, where's their hard earned cash going to go?
Is there I guess, give us your top five kind of things that you would say
is a good focus areas to get the most bang for you buck. Yep.
So a lot of most people these days have a budget we all kind of have budgets
and sitting down engaging a designer
on an hourly basis that you can call on as you need them
throughout the process is a good investment.
Say that I am one. Sure. It's what I do
and that might cost
you a small portion of what you've got to spend
and that will then be guiding the paint colour.
Paints a huge one. It's really accessible.
You can do it yourself.
There's lots of options in terms of no VOC,
which is no chemical compound, so there's no paint smells
if you need a really quick turnaround overnight.
So repainting, cleaning is a big one.
Adding a beautiful pendant light that hasn't been in the space before,
refurbishing furniture, adding new stools.
There's lots of things that can be done that are simple and easy,
quick and effective and cost cost effective that you can do.
Sure. Is
there, is there things that you see people doing themselves
or getting handier like painting.
Getting their hands dirty?
Is it really just.
Absolutely.
Do you work, work hands on with them?
I mean, they're going to be a part of the trades, I guess, to
to make the most of the time.
I think there's some things
that people can do easily and things that people shouldn't do.
Sure. Definitely electricals one of those.
So another thing you can do that that will allow a really fast cost
effective refurb is zip to Bunnings buy some beautiful greenery.
Sure.
Hanging plants, large established plants, they are affordable, sensible,
you can do them immediately and they freshen up the space.
They make people feel that the space is clean, new, tidy
and that's a really easy thing to do that you can do yourself.
Yeah great.
Highlighting any
corners that are a little bit dark and dank,
you can add some new lighting, feature lighting.
Yeah.
Hand make a pendant light if your crafty.
Or zip in and buy something.
And if there's no wiring in a position that needs lighting.
I love nothing more than exposing a conduit
and allowing the space to be honest and natural.
So that's a good tip.
Yeah great.
I also think it's, it's really lovely at the end of this process,
which can be quite stressful for cafe owners.
Staff alike, anyone that's chipping in a hand to show your appreciation.
Have a little do. Announce the revamp. Yeah.
And have a little staff party before you open the doors the next day,
that's a beautiful thing to do.
It adds good vibe into the space and you're off.
That's cool. I like that.
That's good.
So I guess from, from a modern cafe point of view, obviously
people got the Instagram photos they bring in right now.
2022 Is
there any, any particular hot things that everyone's doing?
Is there any go to moves that you're seeing in these cafes right now?
Absolutely. There's, there's a lot of white going on.
Yeah, we love white.
A lot of white, white is great.
It's easy, but there are a lot of whites so again.
Oh sure.
So getting that perfect white, it is not as easy and can traumatize some people.
Definitely white, a lot of greenery, a lot of honest materiality.
So people are starting to
rather than clad over something that they previously may have,
they're actually tidying it up and using that peice and I found
people are looking for interesting spaces that tell a story at the moment
or trying to create some sort
of storytelling vibe within a space that maybe is a little bit boring.
So that's something I'm seeing.
They're try to give a little bit of theater to a space in it's
simplicity so that it's not just food and coffee.
It's an experience that you'll actually tell a friend about,
and then you'll be a repeat customer and they'll bring all of their friends so.
Yeah, I'm, I'm all for that.
I feel like I, I definitely personally
go to cafes that have a good vibe or a good look and feel about them.
I'm always
inspired by them.
Yeah.
And you know, when we help open cafes and stuff and they've done a new fit out,
people are just so attracted to that new space and in awe of it.
So as much as we love coffee,
we love all the niceties that come with sitting in a cafe.
I think the design has a far bigger effect than most people
actually realize that has on them personally, whether they notice it or not,
whether it's their daily cup of coffee and they're just running in and out
the door.
You know, there's the combination of the right barista, the right coffee,
but the right design and the right feel and that portrays the owners and the
and the staff well.
Yeah, I think it's it's a good combination.
I think it's an integral part
of part of the ingredients to a really successful cafe.
So people will stop if they see a space that looks inviting.
Looks interesting, they will stop and be engaged.
I think I appreciate the effort you've put into it too.
And you can tell when people put the effort in, they've engaged
with someone like yourself to to put the extra time in and work in.
People are far more these days, people are far more educated due
to Instagram, due to magazines, books, TV shows,
whatever it be as to how you can work a space.
So I get people coming to me and they have a fully informed idea of what they want.
Yeah.
They just don't necessarily have the how.
Yeah.
And that combining of actual materials, the addition of who to work with locally,
who's best at doing a particular type of work.
A lot of builders will specialize in certain types of building.
So that's another thing we can we can help with along the way.
So we love our white space?
Is there any any things that you can do to kind of break it up
and add more character, whether it's murals or artwork or
some other ideas to once they've painted, or that maybe they do have a
fresh white cafe what's next?
Is there other things? Yeah.
So repainting or having a white wall is an opportunity to add detail.
So there's many things you can do.
Adding back to the theater of a space and creating
interest that's not just food and coffee.
You can get an artist, engage an artist to to paint a mural in the space
that has something behind the owners of the cafe, reinvigorates the branding,
so it could be a mural that's painted in situ while the cafe is open.
It could be a mural that's painted and then printed on to commercial
vinyl wallpaper if it's a very busy area.
It could be wall cladding, it could be tiled.
Yeah.
Repainting a wall is an opportunity to revisit
that blank wall and whether it is perfect for.
Yeah. Something else.
Is that something that you find
just in people's character, whether they break out into color and,
and go out there or the artworks they choose, is that personal preference
or is there like,
no, there's, there's a lot of psychology involved in getting to know
the person your working with. Sure.
And after many years, we as designers do this quite quickly because we have to.
Yeah.
And you will tell if someone is a natural tonal
or soft white beige tone on tone brass copper.
We will know immediately
if there's someone who wants vigor, excitement, color action.
Yeah I will know almost.
You can do all of that tastefully?
Yeah, I've
seen those things happen and they don't always pull it off.
Yeah.
So there are definitely subtle ways to talk to people
about an idea that isn't possibly so good that they're very passionate about.
Sure.
And it might be that there's husband and wife
that are in a business and they both have quite different ideas
and having a designer there to help to funnel
through some of those options also helps with refining the design.
And crucial part of the desing. A beautiful space.
Yeah, keeping everyone happy for sure.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Great.
Well, I think I've learned plenty. Cool.
I'd love to design my own cafe, but I'm lucky enough that I get to work
a lot of people that do. So. Amazing.
I get to spend their money not mine. Perfect.
But I look forward to working with you in the future.
And we will put your details in the comments below.
In the details in the description below.
Perfect. We do answer all of our comments as well.
So if you, I'll pass the questions on to you
and you might have some feedback or some answers for people in the comments, Sure.
And if you have any more questions, yeah shoot them below.
Thank you for your time. Great.
Thank you. Letting us in to your beautiful home.
Thanks. We'll catch up with you soon. Thanks for coming.
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