JillFlorio

Even when I worked at PetSmart, I noticed the grooming salon was kept to a strict budget. Creating a welcome decor and ambiance - very important for client impressions and for soothing frayed groomer nerves - was always a challenge.While I groom at my home these days (where, of course, the decor is to my liking), I know many grooming salons run under tight budgetary conditions. Using a sense of creativity and a knowledge of Salvage Style, one can cheaply design a welcoming parlor anywhere, at any time.

First off, I really recommend groomers - especially salon owners and managers - enroll in the Trash to Treasures online course at SuiteU. The cost is around $29, and it’s CHOCK-FULL of great ideas that you can access as soon as you sign up.

Course Instructor Erin Huffstetler provides a handy list of supplies to keep in the car for those exciting “salvage runs”, and she details just where to look to score the greatest finds.

After doing all the lessons and exercises in the course, I came up with my own “groomer’s wish list” of salvage finds.

Here’s my personal list of ideas I gleaned from this wonderful course, for use in any potential salon I might later establish:

• An old sewing table can be easily converted to a sturdy work station for a laptop, where I can keep my computer notes for reservations, check-ins, and client records.
• I’d LOVE to find an old wooden library card catalogue stand, and use it to catalogue and store my client cards. Huffstetler recommends checking out school auctions for these unique finds.
• An old worn shutter - I could paint it, or leave it rustic, and slip my Dog Fancy and Groomer To Groomer magazines in the slots. Hung on the wall in the waiting room, it keeps the mags off the coffee table or floor.
• Old wine corks, glued to a wooden board, could become a chic bulletin board for clients to post dog-related notices…or to hang before and after picture of clients!
• Vintage medicine cabinets, hung on a waiting room wall, would make part of a cool sales display for specialty dog shampoo and conditioner products.
• Salvaged wooden ladders would be handy in the bathing area to hold clean towels. Or placed in the waiting room, they could hold magazines to read, or holiday bandannas, collars and leashes that I have for sale.

Have you done any salvage decorating? If you have a shop, how did YOU decorate on YOUR budget? Please share your ideas with other groomers in the Dog Grooming discussion board.

And here is a handy link to this course:

Featured Course:
Trash to Treasures