Minimal cafés: which walls look good both in photos and when customers are actually sitting there

A minimal café doesn't mean bare white walls

A minimal café is like a plain T-shirt. There's no print to help it, so the fabric has to be good. When a café strips out almost all its decoration, the walls become the first thing customers see, and the backdrop to every photo they post.

Plain white walls aren't wrong. But if the whole café is white, it looks like a meeting room that happens to sell coffee. The minimal cafés people remember usually have one wall with texture and its own light and dark tones, and let the rest of the walls stay quiet.

Use Mineral Finish for the café's feature wall

Voqe Mineral Finish is a limewash-style mineral paint made with natural minerals. Its matt finish has the depth of a European plaster wall. Each set has two shades of the same colour, Light Shade and Shadow Shade, applied in crossing directions to build pattern and depth. The pattern depends on the hand that applies it, so your café's wall won't match any other.

Beyond the look, café owners like that it's low-VOC, breathable and mould-resistant, and works on both interior and exterior walls. You can even match the shopfront to the walls inside.

For a warm plaster café look, try Chill Beige or Toasted Rice. For the look of an old building in the old town, try Charoenkrung Plaster. If you want a calm green that feels like having plants in the café, try Siam Olive.

Choosing coffee shop wall shades that look good on camera

The matt surface of Mineral Finish doesn't bounce light into the camera the way a glossy wall does, so a photo of a coffee cup in front of the wall looks soft. Mid tones like beige, sand or light brown usually photograph more easily than stark white, because they aren't so bright that they wash out the texture of the wall.

Match the shade to what you sell. A dark-roast coffee shop suits Latte or Tamarind. A dessert shop with a sweet palette suits Sweet Shrimp Paste or Gossip Peach. For a café with the calm of a gallery, try Quiet Luxury.

Where hands touch and water splashes: choose the right topcoat

Café walls work harder than walls at home. Customers lean back against them, hands touch them while people queue, and trays knock the wall beside the counter. Finish Mineral Finish with the topcoat that suits each spot.

Voqe Mineral Wax is a clear semi-gloss, for interiors only. It gives a smooth, soft film that can be buffed to a higher shine, helps reduce dirt marks, makes wiping easier and adds durability. Voqe Mineral Sealer is a clear satin for interiors and exteriors. It goes on milky white but dries clear, and doesn't turn white when it gets wet.

• Walls behind long bench seating, along the queue and at the front of the counter: Mineral Wax
• Shopfront walls, exterior walls and spots that get the odd splash: Mineral Sealer
• The rest of the café's walls: Voqe Wall Paint in Eggshell or Semi gloss

Your café has to open on time, so let painters do it

The Mineral Finish system is 1 coat of primer, then 2 coats of Mineral Finish. It's touch dry in 20-30 minutes and ready for the next coat in 1-2 hours, so a single wall can be finished in a day. But if you have several walls and an opening date to hit, Voqe's Supply & Apply service delivers both the paint and trained painters.

Still can't choose a shade? Send photos of your café via LINE @dynohomes and the team will help you choose colours for free. Or come and see real walls in all 38 shades at Voqe Studio (Bang Phli), open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 16:30.