Taking ol’ blue eyes on a loop d’loop
By Stacy Shoemaker Rauen process, Thomas was asked to also design the
Photography by Barbara Kraft Wynn Las Vegas’ tower suites restaurant, Tableau,
with a more casual, comfortable feel. Comparing
“I
think
all designers keep a room in their the two almost-sister spaces (at least in terms of
heads that they really want to do next, clientele), he realized a too-elegant space at Encore
and this was one of mine,” explains Roger would be a mistake, and decided to de-formalize
Thomas, Wynn’s executive vice president of design it. He reinvented the chandeliers, replacing silk
and development, of Sinatra restaurant inside passementerie with hemp ship’s rope dyed the same
Encore Las Vegas. “The components—the rough and green color, tassels with big chunky, cut olive green
the smooth, the dark and the light, the polished and acrylic, and silk shades with burlap. He removed silk
the un-polished, that consistent balance of contrast.” wall coverings, simply painting the walls an olive
Thomas had multiple chances to perfect the drab paint in a matte finish. And he rethought the
space—three times to be exact. carpet design, enlarging a plumed leaf drawing until
At first, the restaurant’s concept had nothing it was an abstract shape.
to do with Frank Sinatra; instead the space was It wasn’t until six weeks before the restaurant
conceived as a more formal, three-meal dining room was supposed to open that Steve Wynn came to
since it’s located directly under the tower suites. “I Thomas with the opportunity to make it Sinatra’s
wanted to temper elegance with casualness, play namesake. “Steve is a long, long time fan of Frank
one against the other,” he says, pointing to paneled Sinatra from when he was a kid. Frank used to
walls done in sandblasted red oak, silk chandeliers perform at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas
and wall coverings, and marble topped lounge and Atlantic City and did commercials—many
tables with tree trunk bases. But during the design of them with Steve—for both hotels. He had
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