Inside the Collaboration Behind The Tap Room’s New Look

When The Tap Room decid­ed to redesign its din­ing room, the open­ing date was already cir­cled on the cal­en­dar. The remod­el need­ed to deliv­er a new look, a bet­ter guest expe­ri­ence, and a cohe­sive front-of-house fur­ni­ture pack­age with­out slow­ing down con­struc­tion.

Work­ing with a local design­er and a region­al sales rep, Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Co. stepped in as the man­u­fac­tur­ing part­ner, turn­ing detailed ren­der­ings into durable, real-world pieces on a tight time­line.

The Challenge: A Remodel With an Opening Date Looming

For The Tap Room, this wasn’t a light refresh. The space need­ed a ful­ly reimag­ined front-of-house pack­age, includ­ing chairs, barstools, booths, and tables, all aligned with a broad­er ren­o­va­tion already under­way. With a rough­ly twelve-week reopen­ing win­dow, tim­ing quick­ly became non-nego­tiable.

The design­er need­ed to quick­ly con­firm that the pro­posed look could be built as drawn, would fit the space and guest flow, and could be pro­duced and deliv­ered on sched­ule and with­in bud­get. At the same time, the restau­rant couldn’t afford a long back-and-forth over details. They want­ed a part­ner who could review the vision, trans­late it into prac­ti­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tions, and give clear, con­fi­dent answers about fea­si­bil­i­ty, pric­ing, and lead times.

A Trusted Connection: How The Tap Room Reached ODFC

The project began the way many suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tions do — through an exist­ing rela­tion­ship. The design­er turned to a trust­ed region­al sales rep who already knew Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Co.’s port­fo­lio and capa­bil­i­ties.

Because ODFC has part­nered with that rep group since 2011, there was already a strong foun­da­tion of trust. The rep under­stood the designer’s expec­ta­tions and knew ODFC could han­dle the cus­tom solu­tions the space need­ed, with­in the time­line the project demand­ed.

Bringing the Renderings to Life

The design­er arrived with a clear, detailed vision for The Tap Room: free­stand­ing round booths that anchor the room, ban­quettes with a chan­neled back for a tai­lored yet com­fort­able feel, and a mix of seat­ing styles both every­day din­ing and longer stays.

Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Co.’s role was to turn that vision into some­thing build­able with­out los­ing the char­ac­ter of the design. Togeth­er, the team walked through the con­struc­tion details that shape both aes­thet­ics and per­for­mance, like base options, booth place­ment, and whether a top cap made sense. 

The goal was a pro­file that felt light and wel­com­ing, but could stand up to a busy restau­rant envi­ron­ment and be pro­duced on time.

From Vision to Quote-Ready Specifications

Once the col­lab­o­ra­tion moved into specifics, the team shaped a clear, quote-ready pack­age: near­ly two dozen Miller chairs, 18 barstools, four 109″ round booths, and tables sized and count­ed to match the lay­out. 

For the seat­ing, the team chose Arc­Com Pati­na #AC64728 for the inner back and seat, cre­at­ing a con­sis­tent, pol­ished look across the booths and ban­quettes. On the table­tops, the design­er explored dis­tressed ash, wal­nut, and white oak, while ODFC advised on size, pro­por­tions, and how each mate­r­i­al would hold up in a busy restau­rant set­ting.

By being upfront about what could move straight into pro­duc­tion and what might need extra quot­ing time, espe­cial­ly for cus­tom bases, ODFC helped keep deci­sions mov­ing and the sched­ule intact.

Execution: Speed, Clarity, and a Clean Handoff

With the scope approved, the focus shift­ed to exe­cu­tion. Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Co. moved from con­cept to pro­duc­tion with a straight­for­ward process: shop draw­ings to con­firm details, quick approvals, and lead times aligned to the con­struc­tion sched­ule.

The fin­ished order shipped direct­ly to the job site, where The Tap Room’s team han­dled instal­la­tion. Every piece arrived as spec­i­fied and ready to place, so there was no last-minute scram­ble, just a din­ing room that came togeth­er as planned.

Results That Strengthen Every Partnership

The Tap Room remod­el worked for every­one involved, giv­ing the restau­rant a cohe­sive, com­fort­able space that feels tai­lored to its guests. The design­er deliv­ered the vision on a tight time­line, and their sales rep rein­forced their role as a trust­ed part­ner who can con­nect clients with a man­u­fac­tur­er that deliv­ers when tim­ing is tight.

For Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Co., this project shows how the right part­ner­ships help bring design visions to life while stay­ing ground­ed in real-world pro­duc­tion time­lines.