ReddWood

ReddWood

By: Dana Benoit

 ReddWood restaurant in Yountville, CA. was completed in January 2012 by interior designer Erin Martin and head contractor/consultant Tim Harmon. ReddWood is named after the Michelin rated chef, Richard Reddington. The finished product is a dark and moody upscale Italian restaurant. The first thing you notice upon entering is the custom giant copper plated buoy chandelier over the industrial steel vintage desk with Calcutta marble slab.

The entire space has concrete floors, a private dining room with glass and metal pivot doors, and the kitchen prep area is floor to ceiling white subway tiles.

Nearly everything in this space is custom. The walls are slat wood, for acoustical purposes, but Erin has hand written quotes in random places, adding just the right amount of humor. The lights lining the dining room are all custom made on one linear piping system. The shelving system to hold supplies and dishes are custom made in dark metal. The same dark metal is repeated throughout for an industrial feel. The lights over the bar are vintage records from the early 1900’s, with Edison bulbs.

 

The chairs were purchased from one of the middle states for next to nothing, recovered in black leather with brass nail head detail. The built in booths are custom made as well in rich black tufted leather. The space is actually quite small, so Erin made a custom glass partition between the bar and dining room to create privacy without creating a visual block, and the word “Bar” is hand painted in gold. The budget was very tight, with little to nothing allotted for art. The private dining room has an art wall compiled of magazine clippings, and journal entries from the chef himself. The wine wall was custom built as well, all metal rounding out the industrial feel. The “Wappo Hill” mailbox in the center was procured from Margarit Mondavi herself.

 

To maximize the space, there is an antique mirror wall behind the bar to reflect light. Erin opted to have the walk in wine fridge have a glass door. Of course, two fiberglass pigs from Italy hover over the door.  The designer utilized wood, glass and metal to create this sexy, moody space, incorporating vintage and custom pieces to truly make it unique.

I can’t talk about ReddWood and not mention the Hotel lobby directly across from the restaurant that the designer designed simultaneously. Here, is my favorite feature. The ceiling is made up entirely of recycled scaffold boards, where local artists hand painted the boards with just wood stain. The result is a dramatic piece of art, with a huge capiz globe hanging from the center.

 

The budget for art was low here as well; so the designer took hundreds of golden skeleton keys, and hung them from the wall all in a row. The signs for the restrooms reads “He-She” and “She-He”. The men’s restroom includes a Trans Am hood hanging off the wall.

Erin’s sense of humor, imagination and fearlessness truly transformed this entire North block of Yountville.

Work Cited:

www.erinmartindesign.com

 http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2013/06/best-new-restaurants-in-world-2013_slideshow_item61_62

www.redd-wood.com

Images from www.erinmartindesign.com: Tubay Photography