INPUT WANTED FOR SHOWROOM RENOVATIONS

A few things:

Find some good "American Colonial" style crown moldings, floor board moldings, and window and door framing. The American Colonial style is, in my opinion, one of the classiest looks available.

Install a colonial chair rail, and if time or money permits, frame in the the lower portion of the wall under the chair rail.

I would also try and do something about the suspended ceiling, but I'm no ceiling expert so I don't know what.

Finally, make sure you remove the "wood" paneling. I'm sure you already planned on doing this....

 

Another option would be to go with a "craftsman style" molding set-up, using Douglas Fir for all the wood-work. If you do this, you definately need to stain the doug-fir, because it has a beautiful grain pattern that looks fantastic in a dark stain. If you do this, a great color for the walls is a grey-green-slate color, which goes great with the color of the dark stain. If you can get the ceiling worked with, you should have it leveled and painted the same color as the walls, and install recessed lights, ones that would project well onto a car's surface. I'm trying to dig up some pictures of the styles, but they seem hard to find on the internet.

 

I would do as little as possible. Paint everything white, make the furniture low-key, don't decorate with anything that will detract attention from the cars.

 

Paint those panels - that pegboard is sooo 1983. You can go cozy or you can go minimalist, but most important is that it is clean, clean, clean! If you want color would talk about white with a border or lower section in flat colors like greys or flat blues - I would personally shy away from walls that are too busy. Maybe some nicely framed artwork or photos on the walls, but not cluttered, just one or two per wall.

A critical thing IMO is having your ceiling lighting be more than normal flourescents and have focus lighting around the display area - positionable track lighting might be best as it's most flexible to move/re-aim.

 

Lamborghini of Dallas has a great modern/minimalist showroom that looks great and probably was fairly inexpensive. Check out their auctions on E-bay to see the showroom.

 

Theirs is exactly what I was thinking of when I made the minimalist suggestion, as well the now-defunct Lineback Enterprises in Plano, and Boardwalk Ferrari here in Dallas. You can see lots of pics of LoD at www.lamborghinidallas.com

 

I'd get the lighting I mentioned at IKEA then.

BTW, it does look like a great space to work with.

 

I'd go with the all-white paint suggestions and definitely get away from the florescent lighting. In-direct lighting is one of the best ways to go if you can pull it off.

One thing I can add (that's super cheap) is to put up some frosted glass contact paper/vinyl on the glass of the office area. Feeling like you're sitting in a fish bowl is never very comfortable. You can replace all of the drop ceiling panels and make them uniform/whiter for not much $$ either or replace the fixtures with recessed lights at the same time.

If you can't tell already, pay attention to lighting. You can have the floor coated in stale vomit and still sell cars if you've got the perfect pitch.

-Chris

 

Why not consider a wood flooring? The condensed wood fiber thing. You just put over the concrete, you can take it with you and can be had around 1.5$/sq.ft. Along with white walls and numerous plants, it would give a nice warm exotic touch, touch that would be particularly welcome during winter time. It will also appeal to everyone, unlike a racing/motorsports theme ...

 

Check my profile....I've been around stuff like this awhile.

DISCLAIMER, for the benefit of the Predators that haunt Fchat: This is an Aesthetic Opinion only, not advice or professional counsel. No Fees or other renumeration involved or sought.

The traditional look with moldings, etc., is very hard to pull off well in a commercial type of building without it looking cheap and tacky.

Minimalist/modernist look is the better approach for your purpose, and you can get a very classy look with paint and other simple surface finishes.

 

very cool. especially given your budget.

 

Wow! I like it a lot!

I just wonder if any yellow cars will clash with the wall.

 

That looks great!! You really achieved exactly what you were going for.

 

Keith,

Nice location. Isn't that a Porcao I see out the front window?

DL

 

Did someone go a little crazy with the Cheeze Wiz at Ikea? I like it!

 

Kds,
Looks fantastic considering your budget!

One day if you get the hankering to improve again, you may peek up in the ceiling and see if there is room for it to be raised. A ceiling guy could do it in a few days, and it would make the space look much bigger.

Also, a big mirror would make the space look much bigger.

You haven't shown us the curb appeal picture! I would think that has much more pull in getting people in the door.