Muse

Having run well known local cafe ‘Muse’ for over two years, proprietor Steve approached Bonsai to help him plan and execute a complete refurbishment of the premises.

Having done his research, Steve had lots of great ideas so we had a solid brief to work with as we started the design process. Crucially, he also had a fixed budget to deliver the whole venture so this was strictly adhered to as we finalised everything from overall design and layout, to the choice of materials, floor coverings, furniture and even the decorative accessories.

Douglas was selected as the dominant timber, and from this, we constructed bar tops, shelves, banquet seating, table tops and other timber accents – all hand-sealed in a durable, multi-coat, light finish.

The timber floor was made from French oak in a similar finish and the bar front used reclaimed, distressed oak to introduce texture – also reflected in the distinctive copper and timber lighting above the bar. The light timber palette was balanced with rich, hard-wearing leather and fabrics on the fixed banquette seats and finally we installed free-standing seating and decorative accessories throughout. Pride of place is taken by a beautiful and distinctive vintage mirror in the main dining area.

Muse was planned for nearly six months, with all the joinery constructed in advance and offsite in Bonsai’s joinery shop before being coordinated and executed in its entirety by our team. Steve had one point of contact for his every need from start to finish and significantly, the entire fit out took just nine days from start to finish.

After the transformation, Muse was almost unrecognisable (see before picture below) and is a project that we are very proud of.