What we’ll call refined maximalism is making comeback—with a welcome dose of pattern and color seeping its way into interiors
Just take it from Nabila’s, a newly opened Lebanese restaurant in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, designed by Frederick Tang Architecture in collaboration with the restaurant’s owners: Mike Farah, who left a career in finance to start the restaurant with his mother, Nabila, who was born in Lebanon and runs a catering company in D.C. The interiors take cues from Lebanese decorative arts and are designed to be a site for lively neighborhood dinner parties—and there are ample lessons in pattern mixing, color, and play throughout, too.
Let Nabila’s show you how it’s done:
Photography by Gieves Anderson, courtesy of Frederick Tang Architecture.
![a cobble hill location was important to mike and nabila: it\2\17;s where 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-4-733x664.jpg)
1. Add some florals and vines.
![in the sunny front room of the restaurant, archways create small dining nooks. 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-6-733x535.jpg)
2. Play with geometry.
![the interiors are a mix of geometric patterns that somehow never clash. the flo 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-7-733x524.jpg)
3. Play up curves.
![there\2\17;s hardly a right angle in sight at nabila\2\17;s. a cu 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-8-733x549.jpg)
4. For palette inspiration, look to the menu.
![why not consider what\2\17;s on the plate when looking for paint ideas? 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-3-733x1012.jpg)
The Frederick Tang team also reorganized the space’s layout, moving the kitchen in question to the center of the space. Now, it’s concealed behind a glass-block wall, which adds to the material mix.
5. Rethink wallpaper.
![in the back dining room, the team used wallpaper on the ceilings and top portio 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-2-733x489.jpg)
6. Think communally.
![an antique bench was redesigned to wrap around the back of the room, a nod to t 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-1-733x925.jpg)
7. Keep what you can.
![the frederick tang team redesigned and rehabbed an existing six foot wide brass 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-11-733x943.jpg)
8. Make it a dinner party.
![the restaurant is made to feel like a dinner party thrown by nabila, with sumpt 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/nabilas-brooklyn-frederick-tang-architecture-gieves-anderson-10-733x989.jpg)
For much more, head to Nabila’s.
And for more ideas to borrow from restaurants, see:
- Wilder, in London: 9 Design Ideas to Steal from Terence Conran’s New Forage-Focused Restaurant
- Simple Good Things: 13 Ideas to Steal from a Shaker-Inspired Farm & Fermentory in the Catskills
- Calm, Protective, and Rosy: 12 Ideas to Steal from a Paris Cafe By Gesa Hansen
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