Bar & Restaurant Interior Design Ideas
Written by Milan Jara on 24th Jun 2025
When it comes to dining out or grabbing a drink, we’ve seen a big shift in bar and restaurant design over the past few years. In 2025, it’s no longer just about serving great tasting food or pouring an impressive cocktail. Today’s guests are looking for an experience that lets them break away and escape the daily grind, because let's face it, we’ve all spent a lot of time at home since 2020!
A well-designed restaurant interior doesn’t just support the menu, it creates an inviting, comfortable atmosphere, leaving a lasting impression that your guests will day dream about returning to.
If you’re searching for restaurant and bar design ideas that go beyond the basics, here at DecorativeCeilingTiles.net, we’ve got you covered!
From upscale commercial dining rooms to cozy cafés, and even speakeasies and home basement bars, our vast and impressive range of decorative ceiling tiles, wall panels, and faux wood beams helps you bring character, texture, and personality to every space.
Here’s some tips, ideas and inspiration to help you get started on designing a restaurant or bar.
Table of Contents
Start from the top down
Once you’ve settled on a restaurant or bar design style, start your planning from the top down ..literally.
One of the most effective and easiest ways to transform a dining space is by upgrading the ceiling with some decorative tiles. From there, you can work your way down, selecting wall panels, décor, furniture and flooring that all align with your chosen aesthetic.
Before aesthetics, think functionality: Fire Rated Metal Ceiling Tiles
Ceiling tiles have come a long way over the last century. Originally, hospitality venue designers would opt in for options like genuine tin ceiling tiles or high end copper panels in order to achieve an ornate aesthetic that was still suitable for commercial venues, but since then, faux metal ceiling tile options have hit the market, giving just about any designers’ budget more choice.
Authentic Tin, Copper & Aluminum Ceiling Tiles are all naturally fire resistant, which is crucially important when it comes to commercial spaces. We have hundreds of amazing designs on these selections of metal ceiling panels, but they aren’t suitable for all budgets, and that’s when our faux options are a brilliant alternative!
As for our metal ceiling tiles, they’re incredibly durable, available in a wide range of colors, and many of the designs can even be hand decorated by an artist or have a powder coated finish.
Faux Metal Ceiling Tiles: Class A Fire Rated PVC Tiles - a highly affordable alternative!
Our entire range of PVC Ceiling Panels look just like authentic metal tiles, and they’re Class A Fire Rated, perfect for commercial spaces.
These innovative ceiling panels are a fantastic choice for bars and restaurants, due to being:
- Lightweight & affordable due to the PVC construction.
- Easy and quick to install, meaning less downtime.
- Depending on the product that you select, they can be mounted to existing surfaces with the glue-up or nail-up installation methods, otherwise dropped-in to a suspended ceiling grid.
- Based on original metal ceiling panel designs and look just like the real thing.
- Each pattern is often available in dozens of colors, great for adapting them to your preferred palette.
Shop Class A Fire Rated PVC Ceiling Panels
Tips for selecting the right wall panels for your bar or restaurant design
Decorative wall panels can be a clever and practical solution for bar and restaurant interiors, if you opt in for the right materials.
Before you start thinking about the style, consider if the wall panels will be fit for the purpose. When it comes to decorating and designing bar and restaurant interior walls, start by considering the following factors:
- Is it important that they’re resistant to scratch, stains resistant and moisture while being low maintenance and easy to clean?
- If you answered “yes”, our PVC wall panels are a great choice
- Does your restaurant or bar wall design require a seamless pattern?
- These seamless 3D wall panels achieve just that!
- Do acoustics matter?
- Our selection of acoustical wall panels help to absorb noise, creating a better sounding room that contains noise from your neighbours or other rooms in the same building. These wall panels pair up brilliantly with our acoustical ceiling tiles.
- Fire rating & compliance
- In commercial settings, Class A fire-rated materials are often required by building codes, and most of our PVC, tin, and aluminum and copper panels meet these safety standards. If you’re ever unsure if any of the products on our site are Class A Fire Rated, feel free to contact us for some clarification.
- Do the panels need to be a showstopper that’ll make for a strong first impression and impress its audience? If that’s the case, Lumisplash LED-let Panels might just be the answer for you!
Create an instant Wow factor with decorative LED lit wall panels
Our Lumisplash LED-lit panels are sleek, lightweight, and built for durability, all while delivering a stunning visual impact with an instant Wow factor!
Lumisplash LED lit panels have an FRP surface that resists chemicals, stains, scratches, impacts, and abrasion, making them an ideal choice for busy areas, like bars, restaurants and entertainment areas.
These panels offer full customization with interchangeable graphics and come with a wide selection of edging, framing, and mounting options. They’re also easy to work with on-site, as cutting them to size or creating openings for sinks, wiring, and other fixtures is a breeze. These types of challenges have all been made simple as all of the different considerations for on-site commercial venue installations were thought about when the panels were designed and manufactured, making them such a great choice for bars and restaurants to include in their design.
Restaurant and Bar Design Styles
Now that you’ve considered the functionality and practicality of your bar or restaurant design, it’s time to select your style and decide on some decorative elements that support it.
Here are some different bar and restaurant style ideas:
Luxurious bar and restaurant designs
Luxury restaurant and bar interiors are all about creating an atmosphere that feels indulgent, exclusive and unforgettable. Every element, down to the ceiling tiles and wall panels contributes to an experience that tells guests: you’re somewhere special.
Nothing says luxury like copper. Copper ceiling tiles are an excellent choice for top-of-the-line ceiling upgrades due to their rich, warm tones, natural soft shine and timeless appeal.
Copper adds instant sophistication and depth to any space. Beyond aesthetics, these tiles are also incredibly durable, fire-resistant, and can even help improve acoustic comfort when perforated. Ideal for upscale dining rooms, cocktail lounges, and boutique bars, copper ceiling tiles are a statement-making choice that provides the perfect balance between high-end elegance and practicality.
Some other high-end ceiling options with a more budget-friendly price tag when compared to copper, are tin-plated steel and aluminum ceiling tiles. Tin and aluminum ceiling tiles are considered luxurious for their intricate designs, metallic finishes and their ability to add timeless elegance and architectural detail to any space.
Pro tip: All of these decorative ceiling tiles also present brilliantly on walls, either covering entire walls or just a portion of it to create an eye-catching luxurious feature in your bar or restaurant.
Luxury interior bar and restaurant design on a budget
If you’re set on creating a luxurious aesthetic for your bar or restaurant design but don’t quite have the budget for some authentic metal tiles, then worry not, as we’ve got an even larger range of faux alternatives that are based on original metal panel patterns.
Modern & chic hospitality design ideas
A modern and chic bar or restaurant is defined by its clean design, intentional styling, and a strong sense of identity. It feels on-trend and minimalistic, polished and effortlessly cool without going over the top.
Here's are some great ceiling tile and wall panel ideas for modern and chic bar and restaurant interiors:
Modern ceiling tiles
Modern, practical decorative wall panels
Cozy and rustic venue interior designs
Cozy and rustic styles work perfectly together and if this is the type of style that you’re going for, consider some decorative elements that incorporate natural looking materials that will make your bar or restaurant feel warm and welcoming.
For most bar and restaurant designs, authentic natural materials simply don’t fit in the budget, not only due to the raw material and freight costs, but they’re also often difficult and expensive to install. Faux alternatives are usually produced in large panels and made to be lightweight, meaning that they’re regularly much cheaper than natural materials and can be installed quickly, heavily reducing labor costs and venue downtime.
If you’re going for a rustic and cozy style venue design, think faux stacked stone panels or 3D faux brick panels, fretwork (fretwork panels are a little less “rustic style”, but great for finding a balance), mosaic wood, and rustic steel.
To create a bar or restaurant that oozes rustic charm, you can’t go past our range of faux wood beams, ceiling planks and fireplace mantels!
Industrial style bars and restaurants
When designing an industrial style bar or restaurant interior, seek raw, textured finishes and/or metallic tones, but rather than using heavy and expensive genuine metal, bricks or concrete consider faux options, such as PVC wall and ceiling panels.
Pro tip: Industrial doesn’t always have to mean rough and raw, in some cases, industrial style decor can still be quite elegant and ornate, as this style can have quite a broad interpretation when it comes to its key design characteristics.
Designing a Speakeasy bar interior
If you’re stepping away from common hospitality venue styles and instead have plans on designing a speakeasy bar, focus on creating a moody and intimate atmosphere with dim lighting, dark rich colors and vintage-inspired decor.
Look for velvet or leather textures that sing “prohibition-era”, art deco details, hidden entrances, and don’t forget dramatic design elements that give a sense of secrecy and old-world charm.
These characteristics should be followed all the way through your bar, from the mysterious venue entrance, right up the walls, all of the way to the ceiling.
Wrapping up
Whether you're designing a high-end restaurant, a cozy café, speakeasy or a chic modern bar, the right ceiling tiles and wall panels can completely set the mood and style of any space. At DecorativeCeilingTiles.net, we make it easy to strike the perfect balance between functionality, compliance and eye-catching style with options for all budgets, from super luxurious to faux alternatives.
Ready to bring your restaurant or bar design to life but still not sure which products will be right for your venue and style? Do yourself a favor and don’t hesitate to contact our friendly team of experts for a bit of assistance today.
