Due to the need for discretion during the early planning stages, Vicki requested that we wait on posting her first few weeks of blog posts until now. Vicki wrote this one on April 22. Don't worry; we'll be caught up to the present day soon!--NAILS Eds.

Much has happened in the last two weeks, and the salon is taking shape. We have officially moved in and done our first clients! One of my favorite clients, Valerie (pictured), sent flowers and visited at 5 p.m. on Monday (our first official day) with champagne in hand when I was doing another fave client, Deb Malloy. Natalie popped the cork, which promptly hit the ceiling where it stayed -- we consider it the official christening! And to top it off Kim had our first walk-in.

Kim planted flowers out front and I brought two large spider plants I had on my patio, so it’s beginning to feel warm and cozy with lots of special little things we have collected and brought from home. Natalie spent Sunday with a friend cleaning the three huge windows in the front, and Kim is going to stencil salon info on the front door.

Working out of boxes is not fun and we still have much to do but it is functioning.

We chose not to spend the money on glass table tops because we decided that the tables we have are going to be temporary. They are cute but small. Kim went to IKEA and bought three storage shelves that sit behind our desks and we were able to put most of our supplies away and organize. We saved some money by purchasing a lesser gloss finish on the shelves and spent the money on three small chandeliers that will hang above our stations, which made Natalie happy. It’s the little things in life!

I will tell you if it was not for Russ, Kim’s husband, we would have had to hire someone to put the shelves together, hang the banner, put the chandeliers up, build the polish rack and chalkboard, and numerous other things he has done at the salon. The other thing we did right was realize that the three of us all have different assets. Kim is the creative one, painting and visualizing how the salon should look. Nat is the workhorse and has done some of the heavy cleaning, and, as for me, I am the marketing and back office person keeping records and such. We make a good team.

--Vicki, Polish Salon, Brea, Calif.