How to Decorate Walls Like a Restaurant

Spend time at your favorite restaurant before getting started with your decorating project. Walk around and look at the different types of items handing on the walls, then take notes and photos for reference.

Paint the walls of the room you want to dress up like a restaurant. Popular colors at family restaurants include dark blue, burgundy and hunter green. Let the paint dry completely before proceeding.

Cut dark colored paneling boards to a height of about 38 inches high. Nail them into the lower half of the wall. Nail a chair rail at the top of the paneling. Paint the railing a color to complement the paneling and the wall paint.

Visit local antique and secondhand stores for items you can use in your room. Items to look for include little red wagons, tools, musical instruments, photos, old tennis racquets and sports memorabilia.

Set up a design plan. Before hanging up the items on the walls, lie them down on the floor in front of the wall to create a design plan. Instead of hanging items symmetrically, or in a straight line on the wall, try to hang them so they are mismatched and fall at different angles. This adds character and complexity to the design.

Hang the items up using screws and nails. Depending upon the size and weight of the item, you might have to secure the item to a piece of board and then secure the board to the wall using large screws with anchors. Try to hang items in groups, so you place sports memorabilia together, for example, or all movie memorabilia together.

Fill the wall. Many of the family restaurants have every inch of the wall covered. You should aim to do the same thing. The area above the paneling should be filled with as many items as possible that can fit without overlapping each other. Try to leave about a half-inch gap between items.