Éan Eile – The Other Bird, did you know I helped her take flight ?

I was delighted to be asked to upstyle a new café in Letterkenny. A sister café to the well established ‘An Bonnan Buí‘ restaurant in Rathmullan. I say upstyle as my clients had a very specific design brief, aiming to reuse as much of the furniture from the existing café they were taking over as possible whilst changing the interior to reflect their own existing brand. New paint colours were chosen that  reflected their existing bistro to have continuity between establishments. See below for before photographs…….

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I revamped exisiting wall decor and relocated the furniture to help with the new layout of the café. I also worked closely with my clients to redesign the signage on the café front.

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Custom made canvases from old coffee sacks provide a focal point when entering ÉAN EILE café. I picked up second hand canvases in the local thrift shops and sourced used coffee sacks that I had delivered from an Irish based company and both myself and my clients were delighted with the unique, thrifty, quirky result.

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Word to the wise though, if you are going to try this at home, my craft studio was filled with the pungent scent of raw coffee beans and, much as I love coffee (and I really do ), it was a bit overbearing.

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I upcycled vintage drawers as wall decoration in the service area. 

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My clients also wanted to use a selection of old books as a custom made installation piece in the café, inspired by a Brazilian artist, and I created this for them, it is certainly a Perfectly Thrifted original and helps to create the cosy atmosphere for which ÉAN EILE Café is becoming renowned.

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There is a little bit of An Bonnan Buí there too as my clients wanted the poem featured on the back wall of the café, I designed the graphics for this large scale piece and it was installed by the wonderful CBM signs in Letterkenny, all that is missing there now is a frame !

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And not to forget these little numbers – upcycled coffee tins , paper, pva and a sharpie, nifty little numbers to keep everyone right !

As the country begins to open up hopefully customers will be able to sit in ÉAN EILE Café again soon and enjoy the relaxing surroundings, why don’t you try it ? Not only does the place look good but the homemade food tastes great too !

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ps………..for those who are not of my native tongue ‘An Bonnan Buí’ is Irish for The Yellow Bittern – a famous Irish poem and ‘ÉAN EILE’ is translated as the other bird !