This one is for you

I did all this for you...

For my dad and my uncle. To finish what they started. To be successful and happy as much as possible. For my sister because she silently pushes me in the right direction from across the country. For my mom because strength is within us and around us and we are fighting everyday to live the life we deserve. For my step dad who powers my dreams in ways that I will never be able to repay. For my friends and family because they make me who I am. But mostly, this one is for you! My sweet Husband. You have more patience that anyone in this world. You make my dreams come true every day and I will never forget what you've done for me. We did it! We really did it!

Thankful

I wrote another post before this one but I deleted it. It was full of my tears over sprinkler heads, fire marshals, and water meters. But those aren't words I'd like to share with you today. Today I am thankful. THANKFUL! What a word. I am full of thanks. I am full of joy. This last week has taken me to hell and back. I made it though. I am still standing. I am... thankful. Monday will come and go. The finishing pieces will fall into place and on Tuesday night I will write to you all about my first day in my new salon. Right now I'm sitting in my new salon all by myself and I can honestly tell you that everything is just the way I imagined it or better. Enough about me. Let's see this thing!!!

Shampoo Area

Stations!

Reception Area

The view from the receptionist desk

The end is near

We are nearing the end of our build out adventure. Tomorrow is a day of painting. Thursday the floors go. Friday the plumbing and electric are finalized. So hopefully Monday or Tuesday we can have our final inspection. This weekend we will put together chairs and set up stations and run to Target five million times. This is really the exciting part. Finally seeing all of your hard work turn into something really cool. We have put our hearts into this business. It has not been easy. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful business and life partner that will stick with me through this madness. Like I said before, this has been a dream of mine since I was younger. It takes a really strong person to set aside their own life to make someone else's dreams come true. My other half has done that for me. I wouldn't be here without my partner in crime. I have more pictures, of course. I was looking back at the purple walls today. It seems like it has been forever since those stupid walls were purple. But it was really just 2 weeks ago that we got those crazy things covered. Here are the picture updates...

This is another sign that my Etsy guy made for me. It amazes me how he can choose the most perfect objects for each letter. I love the arrow too.

The new door was installed today. I've never seen a door close so perfectly before. I'm not even being silly about that. It closes and latches like butter. 

OK so this is really cool too. I love Etsy. Everyone is sooooo nice. I found this guy and I liked different parts of all of his shelves but not one entirely so I cut and pasted them all together and he did a wonderful job. There will be one of these shelves and each station. It's the Clients domain. The mason jar will hold a flower or maybe a plant at times. The hooks are for the purses and the shelf is for a beverage. He used old distressed wood and put a really cool finish on it. 

I'll keep you guys posted as the week goes on if I can. 

Pictures

So I've been a little behind with my blogs. Sorry. Things have gotten overwhelming as we near the end. I'm going to catch you all up with pictures. I'll caption below each one. and.... GO!

The Painting is almost done. After 4 million coats of paint my better half finally covered the dam purple. 

It's pretty crazy to look through that door and not see into the back room anymore.

Speaking of that door... It used to be a door. Now it's an archway. It leads into our new hallway that takes you to the client bathroom. It also takes you to a new door (which is where I'm standing) that goes into the back room for laundry and color mixing. 

These are the new walls from the view of the back room. So basically you're looking at the new hallway from the outside. These guys build walls quickly.

This is our fake wall. it's a wall that sits about 6 inches in front of the firewall. It hides the plumbing and electrical for the fridge and washer/dryer that will live in this space. And the new water heater. Cross your fingers it can run three sinks and not run out of hot water. I've been assured that it will but I have my doubts. These guys don't know how much water we go through in a 5 minute period of time.

A very dear friend has donated this door to us for a little while. Gotta have my doors. She beat it up a little and painted it. It will live behind our reception desk for awhile.

And this is my Favorite ever!!!!!!! It's my quote! It will hang on our art wall. And eventually live in my house with me forever. This quote is fueling this madness. It will be a nice reminder in the new salon and a good story to share. Don't worry all artists will be revealed eventually.

So... We are hoping to have the build out done by the end of next week. Then we spend a week tying up loose ends and hopefully move in around the 8th or 9th of March. YAY! We are almost home free.

So much is happening

Since my last blog a lot has happened. They came and poured the concrete. and we put our own little signature in it. I couldn't resist.

On Saturday I went and got some really cool knobs at hobby lobby. The dresser that we are using for the stations has 5 knobs on it. So each knob will be different.

The framer came and put up the new hall way in the back room and also a fake wall in the back room to hide all of the pipes and electrical. 

We found the mirrors for the salon. Each one will be different. We found them at a really cool antique store near my house. The averaged $50 each. Which is much less than buying them all new and they will really add color and character to the salon. Here are two of them.

 

This week has been challenging and it's only Tuesday. I thought I would have issues with the contractors. I was expecting them to go over budget or not show up or something other crazy stuff. They have been a dream compared to getting utilities and internet turned on. In the past few days we have switched internet and security providers after having set up full accounts because they are dishonest or just plain stupid. It's amazing that some of these businesses stay open with the way they treat their clients. The weather is going to hold us up yet again but I can't say that I'm complaining. We probably need a day where we can't physically get to the new salon so we can rest. Everything can wait a few days while we recharge. I know that the weather isn't all about me but sometimes I wonder how a snow day keeps popping up when I'm at the end of my rope and need a day off from the world. This week should be interesting. I'm assuming the contractors will be done by the end of next week. Then it's our turn. Clean! Put furniture together! Make the big move! 

Progress

The chairs and shampoo bowls have arrived!!! These big guys are the shampoo bowls. They came already assembled which is great for us because I wouldn't even know where to begin. So then the plumber was able to come in and do this...

That's the new home for the shampoo bowls. The pipes have been placed and hopefully it passes inspection tomorrow so the concrete can be poured on top of it. 

The electrician has been busy. He moved all of the lights today. So now they look like this...

The lights run the length of the wall now and hang just above the stations. That purple wall will go away tomorrow. The painting is almost done. Thanks to my other half for that. 

Things are really falling into place. I'm guess that this last little bit is going to fly by. I didn't realize we would be out of the gate and running. We signed our lease not that long ago and there is already light at the end of the tunnel with this build out. It's all perfect timing because my current working situation is starting to deteriorate faster and faster. It's like running out of a burning building. 

    I had a moment today. I was alone in the salon after all the contractors had gone home. I think it finally hit me that this is real and it's not just living inside of my head anymore. This is really happening. I imagined that the shampoo bowls would go in a certain place and that's where they are going. I imagined the walls being a certain color and that's what they are being painted. I am very grateful that everyone is trusting my decisions with most things. I can't tell you how long I've been building this salon in my mind. And now I'm actually building it with my hands. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. Months ago I was dragging my other half to look at salon chairs and dressers and paint colors and appliances and couches for napping. I felt the look of resistance but my other half always goes with the flow. I asked today if it was all worth it. Would you rather be looking at chairs and picking out the details while organizing contractors and permits and keeping the darn back door closed because the heat is on? My other half replied... "Now I see why we did it all so early."

I win!!! Some day my orange binder full of magical ideas will sell on ebay for millions. 

Cement and Signs

Saturday was a good day for us. The plumber came and cut the concrete. That took about 9 hours. It looks pretty crazy to have two big channels running in the middle of the floor now.

This is where the shampoo bowls will be. 

Close up

This is the back room

And then the magic happened. I got an email from the dude on Etsy. My sign is ready! I'm so excited. He did such a great job. AMAZING!!!

Those are my shears in the v, a, and e. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

Things are moving along

My contractors started today. They tore up the floor and the kick boards on the walls. The weather isn't great so the rest of our project has been halted until Thursday. We ordered our chairs. They are set to arrive on Monday. WHAT?!?!?!?! It was supposed to be a  6 to 8 week waiting period for those suckers. They had them in stock so everything will ship out and get to us on Monday. I'm super excited. The contractor today said that he estimates our build out will be done by March. March? I've been banking on April. I didn't know these things could move so quickly but these guys aren't playing around. We are still thinking about keeping our opening at the beginning of April so we can have time to get things exactly how we want them. Plus I have a few surprises up my sleeve that can't happen until April. I'm posting a few before pictures so you guys can see the progress.

This is where the shampoo bowls are going. They pulled up the wood floor right here today for the plumbing.

 This is the client bathroom right now. The person before us put in this crazy sink so everything has to be replaced. 

This is the employee bathroom. Just like the other one it will have new tile and some pretty cool vintage industrial hardware in it. Gotta love etsy.

This thing is a beast. I think that you could hang a 500lb man from this thing. It's bolted and glued onto the wall like crazy. I think a chiropractor put it up.

These guys are awesome. They got the crazy beast down finally.

And this is the backroom. I was very relieved to see that drain in the floor. Otherwise we were looking at a much higher plumbing bill. These guys worked hard today. they pull up all the bad flooring and made it out before the weather hit. They even cleaned up after themselves. 

Permits!!!

I woke up this morning and checked my email from bed like I do most mornings. As I'm looking I get an 8:30am phone call from my general contractor. He was heading to the city to pick up our permits. We got our permits! What a wonderful way to wake up on a Monday. We literally break ground tomorrow. The guys will be coming to take up the wood floor where the sinks are going and then cut the concrete so they can lay the pipes. HOLY COW!!! It feels real now. It's all happening. And it's happening really quickly. I have a To-Do list that is 5 miles long but my other half does a really good job at getting everything done that I can't do. Holes are being patched as a type. I'm beyond excited! Woohoo!!!

April

  Things seem to be moving along as they should. The count down has begun. We would love to open our doors in about 9 weeks. Once we get our permits the build out will begin. Until then we are trying to get the small things done and have all of our ducks in a row. My other half is hell bent on getting the painting done this week. Although one wall will be messed up during our build out it will benefit us if the other walls are painted and ready to go before the furniture arrives.

  I'm hoping this week holds a lot of milestones for us. It would be nice to update everyone next week that our contractors have begun their mad dash to the finish. Until then we will find patience and take care of as many other things as we can. 

  Thanks to everyone that is helping us. We couldn't do this without you!

Best Yet!

I'm soooo excited about these two pieces of furniture. They will be facing the product shelf. The chair will have a thin cushion on it. Probably white or teal. The table is made from an old milk jug. These guys are my favorite so far. I think it really helps to pull the front desk and the product shelf together. It's setting a tone for us to finish picking out stuff for the rest of the salon. With every step we take closer to our finished product I feel more and more at ease about everything. I'm not a designer so this part stresses me more than hiring stylist and running the actual salon.

And away we go

We signed the lease today. It was a big relief to finally have that part of this journey done. The building is ours for the next 3 years or more if we like it enough. The Plans have all been turned into the city so now we wait for permits and then we can start the build out. We went shopping today and got some pretty cool stuff. We found our front desk. Imagine that the name of the salon will be on the front of it in some form or fashion. We got the product shelves. This was a hard decision. We went back and forth between an old antique wooden hutch and the shelves that we ended up with. In the end it came down to versatility. The last picture is just a cool thing to hang on the wall. I'm sure I'll think of some crazy purpose for it.

 This is the front desk. It has so much stuff cluttered around it at the store but you get the picture. It's wood with a little but of metal thrown in.

This is the product shelf. It's pretty tall. I think it will fit nicely in the space.

I don't usually buy things like this but it caught my eye. Like I said, I'm sure I'll think of something cool to do with it. 

Ready, Set, GO!!!

Tomorrow we sign the lease. Let the madness begin.

Shears

These are my very first pair of shears. My sister gave them to me as a birthday present when I was still in high school. I think it's safe to say that my family trusted me to cut their hair way too early. I think my sister always knew that it was my calling though. She was the first person to invest in my future. It's time to retire those shears and a few others. I have sent them to a nice gentleman I found on etsy. He does steel welding. He's making a sign out of my shears that says the name of the salon. I'll post more pictures when it comes in.

In other news... I think we have found someone to make our front desk and product shelf. We went to an antique mart this weekend and found a couple that does wood work with steel. They have very reasonable prices so hopefully we can get a few really cool custom pieces from them. I'm excited. We were looking for antique hutches to use as product shelves to go with our industrial/vintage theme. But they were all very over priced and didn't seem strong enough to withstand the everyday wear of being a product shelf. This couple will distress the furniture to look worn but still nice and sturdy. I'll post pictures of those later too.

So as a whole things are moving along really well. The stress level goes up and down. We try to look at the little set backs as small speed bumps or signs that maybe that wasn't the right direction anyway. But it's hard sometimes when you have your heart set on something and it falls through. I know that everything is happening as it should. Thanks for all your support. We love you guys!

Our Chairs

We have Chairs! I'm pretty sure we have settled on these chairs. The arm rests are real wood and the leather is soft. They have great padding and aren't too narrow for those of us with bigger hips.

Doors

  So this all started with a dream when I was little. I think most little girls dream about wedding dresses and unicorns. I was running around the neighborhood in my sports bra thinking about how I could build an empire where everyone did exactly what I wanted them to. Thankfully I'm not that controlling little girl anymore. I'd like to think I've turned into an organized, detail oriented, business woman.
  We are starting our own salon. This page is for my family. And by family I mean everyone we love. Blood related or not. I know that everyone wants to know how we are doing along the way. So we will be posting here as much as possible so you can keep tabs on us. There are a few details we should discuss. We aren't leaving our posts open to reader comments for our own safety. The salon industry is very chatty. One false move and our plans could all be foiled by wondering ears or fingers. However, We would love to hear from you. Text us, email us, call us, hunt us down. If you have any ideas or input we would love to here them on a personal level. And don't worry. We will try not to leave anything out.

If opportunity doesn't come knocking, build a door.

  I read that quote about 6 months ago. It spoke to me. It said... Okay, It's time. It doesn't feel like it's time, but it is. The next step of your life can't happen from where you are sitting right now so we need you to place yourself somewhere else. Change something.  We promise that if you build the door and open it everything will fall into place. All the actors will show up and say their lines on cue and the movie will end happily ever after. Just give us some sort of stage to play on.
  So i did. I took a leap of faith. It's something I've gotten really good at lately. I made a phone call and then another and then another. I shared some secrets. I asked for help at times when it felt so incredibly embarrassing. I believed in myself so much that everyone else started to believe in me too. That's the most important part I think.
  So here we are. We are a few emails away from signing our lease. I have my funding. I have my family for strength and sanity. We have a theme... Doors. We have a Motto and a logo. We have a culture. This is really happening. My dreams are really coming true because on some random Friday I found 3 seconds of courage. Just enough energy to step far enough out of my world to open the door to our future.