Creating our Dream Space

It took us gals some real vision to decide on our little diamond in the rough. After first visiting the office for lease we were, well, less than impressed. How could we possibly turn this awkward, ugly, rectangle with pink and mint green linoleum floor and florescent drop lighting into our little salon oasis? With under 300 sq feet to work with, mind you.

Verde Salon Before and After

 The answer was to obsess over everything, so thats what we did. Every detail we went over and over again. Home goods, Salvation Army, Ikea, Craigslist, our parents basements, and junk yards were ransacked on a weekly basis. Although we spent more time returning and scrapping things than we did choosing items, enough things made the cut. After spending all day and night together for 3 months, planning and designing any time we were not at work, we finally finished. Not to mention our friendship made it through this trying time with flying colors (and lots of deep breaths).

Our goal was a quaint, shabby chic, boutique feel that people would love spending time in. I'll touch base on a few of our favorite things.

Floors and Ceilings... HAD TO GO! That was step one. The floor was the easy snap together faux wood. Installed by some wonder family members (thanks Ry, Darren, Paul). But WOW, this floor made such a difference. Next was the ceiling. We were stuck with the ugly old school drop ceiling and wanted to update as cheap and eco as possible. The tiles we found were perfect! Made from recycled material, cheap and easy to install in our existing drop ceiling track.

We lucked out and the space already had this wildly fabulous textured wall paper in it. This is such an awesome way to give small space interest and also mask walls in rough shape. With a fresh coat of calming grey (Benjamin Moore Willow Creek) walls were ready to rock. To bring in some freshness and something a little unique, we used these floating glass vases to display some succulents. These are also great for air-plants. Which we find on etsy.com

Now for big decisions. Furniture. We had picked up some stuff here and there. Chairs from Salvation Army and a couple mirrors, well that was basically it. We scored some second hand salon chairs that helped set the tone for the rest of the shop. Our stations were built by the best carpenter around (thanks again Dad!) and they tie our mirrors in perfectly. We will be doing another blog describing how we finished and repurposed our furniture.

Up-cycled furniture and window pane. 

Cabinet during staining process

Station all finished!!

An obvious concern was how are we going to get all of our stuff in here. Salons need many supplies! We decided to take the ugly glass doors off the closet and make it an open work station. We installed a little sink to do our dishes, used those handy green boxes from Ikea, and organized the heck out of our stuff. We used some scrap wood and attached them to a track to make the sliding doors under that cabinet. By using painters tape and the same paint as the trim we created a little design on the doors. The chandelier also give this area a special feel, and something nice to look at during your shampoo!

Shampoo Area Before...

Shampoo Area After!

We were also lucky enough to be able to commandeer the common area in the hallway and the back patio area. Our space is small so any chance to score a little room is excellent.

Patio Before...

Patio After!

We hope you love our space as much as we do! There are many more projects we will love to share with you in more blogs. Using as much eco-materials as we could we created a salon space that has a unique and intimate feel. The only downfall to finishing our dream salon is now we have nothing to remodel!

Verde, Jennifer Aniston, and Living Proof in NYC!

Meeting Jen in NYC

As some of you know Jennifer Aniston became co-owner of and spokesperson for Living Proof this past year. Living Proof is a science-driven product line based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. We have been exclusively carrying this line for a year, so needless to say, we were jazzed to have such an awesome celeb on board!

A few weeks ago we (Deanna and Ashley) were lucky enough to be invited to a private event hosted by Living Proof and Jennifer Aniston... and after a little schedule shifting, we were in! I mean, who would miss an opportunity to meet the hair icon of our generation?! We had no idea what was going to happen. All we knew was that we were supposed to show up at a hotel in NYC, and Jen was going to be there. Done.

So we were off on our adventure to NYC.

When we arrived in the city, we realized we had one tiny problem. We had not made any arrangements for a place to change our clothes and get all gussied up for this exclusive night. So we did the most logical thing, we looped around a New York City block umpteen times. One of us drove while the other got dressed and put on her makeup, then we switched! Success! Dressed and ready to go!

So here is how the event went down. We headed up to the penthouse of this amazing hotel wearing our name badges so people would know that we were like, "totally official." The room the event was held in was relatively small, we'd guess there was less than 60 people in attendance (Deanna and I were definitely the only ones not wearing pumps.) There were yummy cocktails and fancy hor d'oeuvres floating around.  Well, the show must go on! We were sort of funneled into this little walk way, and then... there she was... Jennifer Aniston! We went through a little procession line of owners and CEOs and then we had the honor of being introduced to and shaking hands with, one of the most timeless and talented women of all time. I'd like to tell you that we had something really meaningful or special to say to her, but no. I think it took all we had to not act-a-fool and ask for an autograph. We ended up stammering out something along the line of, "Nice to meet you, such a pleasure."  But let me tell you, she... is... beautiful! And sooooooo nice!

Then the action began. First, there was a Q&A. with Jen and her long time stylist Chris McMillan. He is the one who gave Jen the "Rachel." They were both really funny and candid about it. Chris said that at that time he had drawn inspiration from stylist, Ward Stegerhoek, who ironically is a founder of Living Proof! (It all comes full circle.) Jen and Chris were also asked why they decided to partner with Living Proof over the hundreds of other lines out there. The answer seemed pretty simple. Living Proof works. Its products were designed, literally using science, to work. Jen said, "Women deserve to have a good hair day, everyday." And that my friends, is the promise behind Living Proof products.

We were then introduced to two awesome new products which will hit salons on June. A flexible hairspray called Flex and a light-weight oil satin hair serum which is packed with OFPMA (the miracle molecule). 

Living Proof also announced the launch of this super rad web series. The idea is you send in your own video for a chance to win a cut from Chris McMillan and to meet Jennifer Aniston! 

A few more people came up to speak in a little more detail about the company and where it's heading. As salon owners, we were incredibly happy to learn that Living Proof is getting on board with some salon incentives for shipping and backbar products. We were one of the first salons on the South Shore to carry Living Proof, so it was really cool to feel acknowledged and supported. 

It was a fun night! We didn't get to snap a pic with Jen (not allowed) but we got one with Chris! Chris was really excellent to speak with. He is definitely a down-to-earth person and totally relatable as a stylist. Overall it was such an amazing experience. We are so excited to see what the future holds for our involvement with this fabulous company!

2013 Wedding Hair and Makeup Looks!

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a photo shoot with the fabulous photographer Vanessa Hunt. We gathered some lovelies, grabbed a few hot dresses and let the magic happen. While the Verde team does a large amount of weddings, it was great to get some very deliberate beauty shots without the stress of it actually being someone's big day. I'll go through a few of the looks and just show off the rest!!

* All images by Vanessa Hunt. All hair and makeup By Deanna Warwick, Ashley Sexton, and Taylor Galvin of Verde Boutique Salon.

First up we have Jill with this gorgeous bright red-into-blonde ombre (compliments or Taylor Galvin). First we started Jill's hair curled down with a waterfall braid. At this point her makeup was soft, with a slight cat eye. For some variation we popped in a colorful blue flower to make the color really sing. Every bride needs something blue! Our next look was a soft romantic side swept 'do with a retro flare. The red lip really works with this look. Red hair with a red lip you ask? It looks great! Reds just need to not clash, like a pink-red and an orange-red may not work, but that certainly isn't the case here. We took Jill out in the snow for a little more drama!

Next up we were lucky enough to have Jess. Jess has the kind of hair people dream of having. Thick, shinny, and looks great all the time. We had a lot of fun styling her up. First, we did a 'non-curly' updo. People forget they don't have to have a million curls to have an elegant romantic hair style. Her makeup is soft and smokey and we built it a little as we go. We went down, half up, and all up for her curled look to show the versatility. Hope you love it like we do!

Ashley was our next model. She provides a great example of styling fine hair to make it look full. Ashley's look started down and then evolved into a soft and sweet centered updo. We chose soft makeup to complete her look. Enjoy!

Lastly, we had beautiful Chrissy. Chrissy hair is thick, slippery, and shoulder shoulder length. We tried a few looks on Chrissy and we think she was radiant!