When I visited Artistry of the Nail at Salon Shibumi in Portland, Ore., earlier this year, booth renter Dana Gonzalez-Kurtz hinted at a big interior design makeover to come.

Having been at Salon Shibumi for more than eight years, Dana loved the calming blue walls but was ready for something drastically different. So I was excited when just the other day she e-mailed me some “after” photos (well, technically, “almost-after” photos — she’s still working on re-hanging a few things onto the walls).

A huge change, right? Dana says, “I asked a couple of my clients, Patti (the salon owner), and a few of my co-workers for color suggestions, and yellow seemed to be the number-one pick. It’s bright and cheerful. Then I had to choose a yellow that wasn’t too bright. That little room couldn’t do a bright yellow. So I found six color swatches and asked every client and co-worker I had for one month to pick their favorite two. I took the two favorites, and swatched the walls with those, then had everyone choose their favorite. I ended up with ‘Soft Lemon’ by Valspar (at Lowe’s).”

Dana adds, “I’ve always had a thing for flip flops, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my space, too. So I found decorative items that have flip flops — my new clock, the curtain hooks for the larger window curtain, etc. My husband built a corner polish rack for me and painted it white to match the white window frames as well as the frames for the CND certificates. To coordinate with the purple mattes, I re-painted my ‘Artistry of the Nail by Dana Gonzalez-Kurtz’ sign lavender with white letters, and my new hanging lamp shades are lavender.”

Since nail techs are such a creative bunch, I love seeing that creativity flow out into outlets like salon makeovers. You can check out some other salon’s before and afters on our website.

—Sree