Happy New Year.

As of January 2ND we will have been open nine wonderful months. We have grown at an amazing speed and I couldn't be happier about our staff and all our guests!
We have grown to be a six stylist salon (including me), we have a fabulous full time esthetition and three front end support staff, who help make everything run smoothly.
This coming year holds some lofty goals which will hopefully include me taking home a paycheck! YAY!
My hiring goal was to have a big enough staff that our Holiday Party didn't SUCK, and I think we made it! We had a great time at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Brewery in downtown Anchorage.
One of my goals for the new year is to post more on the blog about the everyday drama and all the fun things that we are doing as a staff. We have a very talented team that works very well together. The blog will be a great place to help inspire each other and document some of our crazy/amazing/dramatic/busy/fun days as a team!

Open for business!!!!

We have now been open for 10 days and things are going great. We have had some wonderful support from friends, family and of course our great staff. Thanks so much to all the beautiful flowers and well wishes we received on opening day. The bouquets made the salon feel so warm. We are looking to add more hair stylists so if you know anyone who wants to work at the coolest salon in Anchorage please let me know!

progress

these shots are from last weekend...
We are only FIVE days from opening!!!

some logo ideas...

Renovations are WELL underway!

Well, I have had a crash course in contractor 101. We started gutting this space on West Dimond in Anchorage, Alaska to eventually become a beautiful Aveda salon. I can say I see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have had some road bumps along the way with lazy sheetrockers, municipality permits and mixing paint... but overall I have held it all together and managed to keep my sanity and have learned a lot in the process.
The floors have taken SO MUCH work. We started by grinding the latex floor paint off with a floor buffer that had a sandpaper disc with grit the size of gravel. Then we used Orange-Sol to dissolve all the old adhesive and paint off the concrete. I was smelling orange for days... I still couldn't bring myself to eat one. EWE!
So by the time we were done with all that we were down to bare concrete and then we acid stained the concrete. Which consists of spraying acid stain all over the floor, letting it air dry, neutralizing it with mass amounts of baking soda (or TSP), rinsing it, rinsing it, rinsing it... and then sealing it with a sealer that smells like gallons of nail polish and melting rubber all swirled together. MMMMM!
I am very happy to say that the 300 plus man hours put into the floor paid off and I LOVE it!



The camera flash was reflecting off all the dust in the air.
My friend Brady has been so awesome to help me almost every night after he gets off work... Free haircuts for LIFE!!!

This picture is the old door that will be hanging from the ceiling as a partition between the front desk and the stylists stations. This door has inspired the rest of the salon in a rustic antique kind of way. I love it.


This is the beadboard in the bathroom. I am bringing in some of my southern style I learned to love living in Richmond, Virginia.




This pretty piece is going to be my front desk. I feel bad about defacing an antique to make it work with a computer, scanner, printer and cash drawer, but oh well! (I'm tearing the back off and permanently closing the drawers... sorry Grandma, I know you hate that!)



This is my pair of shelves I bought for some product display. I think they are so CUTE!

Here are some BEFORE pictures of the space...

The new mirrors, styling chairs, dryer chairs, ergo mats, shampoo chairs and station fixtures are going to be ordered and sent ASAP.  I can't wait to get in there and rip out that bench. (above)

I haven't done anything to the space yet... the good news it has been a salon for years and all the plumbing and electrical is all in place. For the most part I will just be doing cosmetic stuff. 

The floors are FIRST before anything is moved in. There is a latex floor paint on the concrete that we will strip or sand off to hopefully get down to the original concrete so that we can stain it.

The next thing on the list is a bathroom reno. I think we are going to tile the floor, put in a pedestal sink, paint and who knows what else. You can see it needs some TLC!

Here we go!

For the last ten years I have dreamed of this day! This morning I got a call from the real estate agent I have been working with on a commercial space for a salon and spa. He was calling to tell me the deal was final and I should have a key next week! I have a pit in my stomach that is 1/2 excitement and 1/2 anxiety. I am starting this blog to log all the blood, sweat and tears and to keep everyone updated on the progress of the renovations, grand opening, and success of my new business.