Project: Indigo Studio

So this is what I’ve secretly been up to and what also explains me being AWOL! After a lot of nasty intriguing and bad attitudes at her last job, Ingrid was so sad and never happy to go to work. Not to mention none of her clients felt welcome. So the idea of building her own little salon was born. There was a lot of doubt in Ingrid’s mind and it wasn’t always obvious to her that she would be running her own business, so that’s where I came in to make sure the dream would come true, come what may. While Ingrid kept working at home to fund the project, I was responsible for making sure everything else would fall into place. Coming up with the interior design plan, finding all the furniture (and transportation), going to hardware stores, all the while trying to stay on a pretty tight budget. That’s why a lot of what’s there is custom made by us… DIY’s are pretty and most importantly, they’re cost efficient!

Like with all babies, ours grew incredibly fast – what started off as a plan to just create a beauty salon became a vision of detailed perfection, and with my standards even higher (I’m an intolerable perfectionist), the stress levels became higher and higher. Not only did I need to plan the actual salon, I needed to design logos, business cards and decals, all the while with Ingrid’s wishes at heart. It wasn’t always easy, because with that sort of stress, excitement and anticipation, if there’s any failure of communication, it will most likely end in disaster. So it wasn’t always a walk in the park… Not to mention our kids barely ever saw us in the weekends because most days spent working on the salon ended around 3 a.m. the next morning. The work we did on our salon in a month (actually, about five days of actual work done in there, because of Ingrid’s work) is incredible and the four of us (me, Ingrid, H and Aigi, our friend and Indigo Studio’s lash technician) have really busted our butts to achieve greatness!

What I had envisioned started taking shape and it turned out exactly like I had planned from the minute I saw the room for the first time. It’s a magical feeling – how could all this possibly get from an idea in my head to reality? Last night was the grand opening – not everything is completely done (we need to install a sink), but there sure was a lot to celebrate. We had awesome goodiebags, custom designed labels for our bubbly, I spent the whole day cooking for 20 people without a second to breathe so there was a lot of delicious snacks, too. Our lovely guests were so supportive and appreciative, and we hope they had fun, too.

The salon is almost done, but a lot of work remains. I need to get the Facebook page going and once I’m done there, there will be videos of our work process, decent photos and a lot more fun stuff coming up. Without further ado, here is a selection of snapshots from Indigo Studio’s Instagram (be sure to follow us here). I’m sure there’s a lot I forgot to mention,  but please do ask, I’d love to tell you more about this wonderful project of ours!

Day 1 – We seem to be putting together a masterplan. 
Supplies
Forgive my outfit, not much of a fashionista when  painting walls. 
The place was a hot mess most of the time – tools, paint and plastic wrap everywhere.
Our gorgeous couch – bought it on the internet looking dirty and torn. Aigi washed it, we used an upholstery spray to repaint it and then sanded its feet and painted them white!  I’m not going to tell you how much little I paid for it, because you’d just hate me for it! 
H used masking tape to get the stripes straight and even, then me and Ingrid started painting them blue. The texture of the wall was very unforgiving and even though we used white paint to seal the masking tape before we started on the blue paint, it still got under the tape and the stripes didn’t turn out perfect. Our carebox is empty, though, please refill it with care. Looks awesome regardless! 
End of day 2 
Yup, there’s shelves somewhere on that wall! This is a “work in progress”-photo, there’s now more of them and we think they match the stripes perfectly! 
Nowhere to put a vanity table and can’t afford one either? Let me paint one for ya! 
I spent an entire day painting the table so I gave up and left it one-legged until the day before the opening. It’s whole now! 
Mickey & friends were there to cheer us on and help us carry more stuff from the hardware store! 
All work, all play! We didn’t have plates so we used plastic-wrapped photo frames as cheese plates. Yummie! 
H had put the tables up and our handmade folding screen was done. Shaping up nicely!
Ingrid finally put what she wanted the logo to look like on paper. 
Done and done – at 3 a.m., time to go home and get a few hours of sleep before the opening day.
The logo and sticker – all designed by me. We love it! 
The overall theme of the salon is blue, white, lace and gold. Obviously we’ve got lace all around the shelves and what an amazing (yet simple) way to add a pretty detail to the entirety of the room! 
The table isn’t what I want it to be quite yet, but it still looks nice. Towels all rolled up, candles and guestbook in place – we were ready to welcome our guests! 
Ingrid had this painted and refused to open the salon without it being up. It’s a painting of her guardian angels, she is a firm believer and we wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂 Thanks, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, you guys are awesome! 
Lace sofa pillows – I started sewing them and my sewing machine would just not cooperate with me. I was furious and in tears when H took over and finished sewing all of them all on his own. He never seizes to amaze me! 
Goodiebags, gift cards and custom labeled sparkling wine. Not a single thing was left to chance – it was all carefully planned! 
A closer look at the gift certificates – again, made by moi! 
Refreshments! 
Our sweet guests – little Mia came, too! 
Auntie J brought an orchid – fit  the interior like a glove! 
After the guests had gone and the three of us stayed to enjoy the fruit of our labor. What do you think of my subtle little knuckle ring?
Love our huge candle!
All that was left was just to sit back, relax and breathe. For the first time in a very long time!