East Nashville has been our home now for over 2 years. Both my husband and I have began to grow our businesses here, and become part of the community. We love immersing ourselves in this growing group of entrepreneurs and locally grown dreams coming to fruition.
You can imagine my complete JOY, when Design Thoughts Interiors, was selected to re-design M. Hair Studio salon in East Nashville. Mandi Paola began M.Hair Studio as a small boutique salon, that welcomes all. Her light filled personality, and hard work, contributed to her ever growing list of new clientele, and eventually, she grew out of her space. As she watched her client list grow more and more each year, it soon became clear that she needed more styling stations. She loved the location of her studio in the Porter Road shops, but there was no way around it, it was tiny. She had enough space for 4 stations, and needed to have at least 6 stations to welcome in the list of people waiting to see her and her stylists.
Here is Mandi’s East Nashville Salon space before demo, the shaded walls being those which we took down.:
When I started speaking with Mandi about her needs, she was very clear about what she wanted. More light, 2 more stations a solution to the uncomfortable sinks and a WOW factor at her reception area. As you can see, it is a skinny, long space. By taking out the existing closets, as well as a an added storage space, we gained enough square footage to add the stations, as well as create a storage/employee space in the back. As with every project, designing the perfect space is a process. Here is a bit of our progression.
Reception Phase One: Vintage mirrors, Glass shelving and glass top desk, lets light pass through, great for display, not great however, to house the needs of storage.
The only thing we kept from the above proposed Phase One, was the grey upholstered chairs. Below is another view.
As our conversations progressed, so did the design ( that how it always works). I soon realized we needed a better way to display retail, and separate reception from stylists. I had an idea to create a rope wall partition, with NO idea how it was going to be built, I proposed the funky, fun rope wall to Mandi, it was a GO! Thanks to Lance Alvis Designs for building my vision!! 
Here are a few of the before shots of M.Hair Studio. It was a calm, sweet space, but Mandi wanted the feel to be more hip, yet welcoming, to accommodate all ages and types of clients. A great space to welcome in the amazing recipe of people who live and work in East Nashville!
BEFORE:
And here is after. We switched out the sinks to (2) stand behind sinks, moving the was station to the back of the space, and adding stations to the previous sink area. We took out the closet you see to the right ( with the coat hanging on it, as well as the blue wall you see.
The time line for this project was crazy tight. We had 6 days to demo, re-wire, re-plumb, clear, paint, re-build, and move in. The stylists who work at M.hair Studio, had no idea what was going to be created. Mandi thought it would be fun to surprise them, ( and it was!) the first thing we did, was cover the windows! No peeking!!
The first night was spent moving out the furniture, and then demolition began. We were left with just a bit of a mess!!!
Because the schedule was so crazy, every single morning, when I walked on the job, I would be blown away with the progress. It took a team of very hard workers to complete this project, and each one was an absolute asset to the success of this project.
When It came time for the Reception desk and the rope feature, I brought on Lance Alvis, of Lance Alvis Designs, to create my vision. I gave him a few drawings of my idea, and he did the important part, of making it all work! The reception desk was built by Mandi’s husband Eric, and it turned out beautiful, with the Concrete Counter tops created by Ryan Blocher Designs of East Nashville! Here are a few progress photos of the reception area!
And now some beautiful “AFTER” shots of this hip, comfortable East Nashville Hair salon, that I am so proud to say I had a part in. Remember the before:
Now here is the AFTER:
I recently had the pleasure of being a client getting my hair done at M.Hair Studio, and after I was able to take my designer hat off ( and make lists of the things that still need to be switched out, like bench for chairs etc) I felt relaxed, and pampered and like a new person when I walked out of there. Such a pleasure to work with Mandi and the entire team who made this East Nashville salon, shine like its suppose to!!!
XO.
Kim
ps. Looking for a great Stylist in East Nashville?? Book your appt online at MhairStudio.com
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