It may be counterintuitive to think that your restaurant’s dining area needs to be a little noisy, but the truth is that a certain amount of background noise is necessary to protecting your guests’ privacy when they are in conversation and establishing a feeling of cozy intimacy in your space. However, it must be the right kind of noise. Unfortunately, today’s trend of minimalist restaurant design (i.e. stripped down of things like table cloths and padded chairs) creates some problems when it comes to dampening the harsh quality of reverberated sound in the dining room. Therefore, soundproofing your dining space may require a number of special considerations.
Inconspicuous soft coverings. While it may not be fashionable right now to deck your restaurant out in clothed tables and heavy, floor-to-ceiling curtains, you can still furnish your space with the soft coverings necessary to muffling the sound and making it softer and more pleasant. This comes down to applying soft coverings in inconspicuous areas. Consider the hollow areas under your dining chairs, and the flat spaces underneath your tables and bar. Simply line these spaces with a thick layer of batting to accomplish sound dampening in a way that will go visually unnoticed by your restaurant goers.
Art work. Wall hangings are great sound proofing agents, and they are also complimentary to any space’s acoustics (sound quality). Fortunately, oversized wall art is very hip and trendy in today’s restaurants, so you can get away with hanging as much art work as your space can aesthetically handle. For a simple solution (if you can’t afford to buy out your local art gallery), wrap large wood panels in burlap that is either printed in a chic design, or painted by a local artist. You could even hang some inexpensive acoustic panels to add to your decor.
Ceiling tiles. This is another great way to dampen sound and improve your room’s acoustics, as well as keep an ideal amount of sound in your dining room. Ceiling tiles comes in a wide array of sizes, shapes, and designs, and they can be a distinctive part of your restaurant’s interior design. Guests won’t know that the tiles are there for any other reason than to beautify the space. If you have the extra ceiling height, install a drop ceiling (in which you lay a tile grid) for extra insulation/soundproofing.
Staying modern and relevant in terms of interior design does not mean that your restaurant’s sound quality has to suffer. Keep all of these clever soundproofing techniques in mind when creating the ultimate atmosphere for your restaurant diners.
Running a Restaurant: Don't Make Your Dining Room Too Quiet
