Sorry, if you thought I was going to give you the answer, you're wrong. I'm looking for the answers today. Can you help me out?

I had a shit day today. I walked into my salon and realised that it looks like crap. The paintwork looks faded, some of the styling chairs have seen better days, my reception area looks uninspiring to say the least and the whole place just feels shabby.


Thing is, it's a big salon and spread over 2 floors.

I want to create maximum impact for minimum cost, and I want to do it soon. I need new chairs (obviously) and a new colour scheme.
I also need a new way of presenting my retail area.

So, do any of you have any ideas for what makes a salon stand out as something REALLY special these days (just on looks alone).

All ideas would be welcomed if you can spare 2 minutes to reply.

Yours truly,

A desperately depressed salon owner.

Here the big thing is distressed or retro- warehouse looking, concrete colors, very open, lots of chrome glass and mirrors. Water walls are big too (no we do not have one and I'm not even going to mention it since we'd have to try and keep small children from getting in to it...hmmmm, unattended children drown in fountain....Ok not really)

Fresh coat of paint and splashes of color will always improve the over all look. Accent walls or borders of bright with very comforting colors for your furniture (it's easier and less expensive to paint than re upohlster when you want to change again)

What flys around here well is the Retro look! That one is HOT! or the tool box for stations. And stuff to match.
Reds are really in for the walls. Not bright reds but the deep dark reds that bring in warmth to the salon. Beige and tans look well with it. With All natural wood look stations.

A good coat of wax on the floors if you have vinyl or the destressed look or concrete look for floors are popular now.
and of course all the above of what Jeni said. chrome/ glass/ waterfalls, rock looking statues etc.

Fly me over to consult for starters... lol
I am really good at seeing what need to be taken away and re-organised( in other salons )
Removing ANY and ALL clutter and that includes color clutter in relation to the color scheme.
Centralise a spot for the trolleys when they are not in use. Having a display between the stations for working stock rather then using the bench in front of the client. One simple glass shelf at ( cleint ) eye height should do the trick. It also act as a selling tool and allows the cleint to touch and smell while they are processing.
Try and remove cords and cables out of sight at the receiption area.

Lighting, shed light on some darker corners and reducing shadow also help to give the salon a cleaner fresher look.

If you have plants in the salon, TOSS them out. They age the look and no one wants to go all Harry Butler.

Group images of hair styles in simple uniformed black frames. Hanging 4 - 6 together in a square or rectangle ( NEVER diagonally or diamond ) give a strong visual statement.

Paint, its amazing what you can paint these day. With the right undercoat you can slap color anywhere. Laminated timber look is out big time, nothing says 90's more then this. Solid color is in, preferably hi shine vinyl for cupboard doors.Which is very expensive but you can achieve a very similar effect using high GLoss enamel paint and a fine foam roller. I did my home Kitchen this way and it has been going strong for 5 years. I even painted the bench top ( 2 coats of color and 2 coats of water based Marine grade varnish ) and shine up the floor.
Then you can sned Vince over to me so he can do my salon for me too...lol

Around here it's clean and comfortable that is big. Comfy waiting areas with sofas and coffee tables are a big hit. One thing my boss has done is make the waiting area/retail display movable and every time she feels like a change she moves the furniture around and adds some inexpensive accents. We always have fresh flowers around the salon as well.

Something I have been seeing in the styling area is product stations, basically a rolling cart with the styling products neatly laid out on it. Then the stylist grabs only the products she/he needs for that client. Looks cleaner and then the client sees that you are specifying his/ her needs and is more likely to ask about the products.

Lastly Color bars and a wash house both easy enough concepts to achieve inexpensively. The color bar can be done with some shelving and a counter, looks neat and organized and the customers get to see you mix their specific color without going to some back room and doing it in secret. That also gives them a specific area to be in while they process leaving your stations available for cutting and styling. The Wash house simply makes the shampoo a relaxed environment darkened up a bit with essential oils. Both of these also open up whole new worlds for service options.

Hope it helps!!! Good Luck

OMG..so much information.

It sounds as if salon interiors are really different from around the world. I am going to have to keep going over this thread in the coming weeks.

One thing that did make me laugh was Phill saying plants would look dead. We discovered that about 3 years ago, chucked them out and replaced them with very expensive "lifelike" artificial ones.
The thing is...even they are starting to look dead now LOL.

We already have a colour studio with colour bar, but I think I made a huge boo boo last year. The colour studio was always at the back of the salon, so as you walked by, you would see reception -- small styling area --- colour studio, in that order.

Last year, I decided to move the colour studio upstairs to the mezzanine level (and the styling that was there downstairs) so that we had more light and ventilation for colouring. It works brilliantly (expect for clients having to come up and down a narrow staircase), but it makes the shop look empty from the outside, especially in the mornings.

We can be doing 5 colours and 2 cuts on a Wednesday morning, but all the passing client sees is 2 clients being attended to by a couple of stylists and 10 empty mirrors. When clients walk in to ask for a quick trim, they seem to look at us with suspicion if we cannot do them straight away...they think we are lieing when we tell them we are actually busy!

The thing is, I don't want to lose the line of mirrors on the downstairs wall now because it looks great. I'm debating getting rid of the tables in the colourstudio, and moving the colours downstairs again, but infront of mirrors. Or perhaps I could keep the mirrors and put the tables next to them?

I've also noticed a big trend in black shop fronts emerging from London. As in, the entire shop front is painted balck, and the salon windows provide the colour. I am VERY tempted by this type of look...



What do you think? We even have the arches already at the top of our windows. Is it too drastic?



Sigh...I wish Prezz and Phill had never said they were refurbing. It's going to cost me a fortune. Perhaps we should make this the refurb thread?

One of the things I thought we could do (I'm sure this came from someone on here) for the re-launch, is invite long time clients to an evening of celebration, and provide a photographer to take their portraits. We could then put the photographs on our "Wall of Style"? Or perhaps make a window display called "The tendiest people in town"....

I need ideas guys...