The K.I.M. Experience Salon Suite | Silver Spring, MD
The conversation around decorating The K.I.M. Experience started while my head was in the shampoo bowl. Kimberly Pettway, the salon suite owner, and I had no idea that COVID was upon us. We talked over the design plan in February 2020 and were put on hold until April 2020. Doing my very first décor project during the height of the pandemic was both terrifying (so much unknown), and soothing. The process brought a much needed release while the world was so unpredictable.
Kimberly wanted her salon to feel like an oasis. Creating an encompassing calm feel was easy because as her client of many years, I knew exactly how she made everyone feel. One of my goals was to create branding fit for social media photography, to achieve that I made a faux-boxwood wall (Amazon) with custom wood signage sourced from an Etsy seller. Various plastic leaves were added to give the wall additional texture and dimension. The leaves were sourced from Michael’s craft store, just a heads up… they add up $$$.
The accent textures used in the space were burlap utilized as pillows for the hair drying and steam stations, and woven woods for the towel hamper and color storage. White marble contact paper was used to cover the countertops, previously they were a gray stone. I chose chartreuse as the accent color after I saw her winter beanie hanging on a hook, the color was the perfect pop of vibrance to pull the space together. We used Alchemist by Sherwin-Williams to paint wooden beverage holders — champagne anyone? Alchemist was also used to paint over an existing mirror, as well as on a shelf displaying Kimberly’s retail hair products. There are a total of four shelves, two were covered with marble contact paper, one with Alchemist paint by Sherwin-Williams, and the other was bordered with a spare piece of boxwood paneling.
I created a live floral pendant to hang from the ceiling. I was influenced by THE domestic Goddess Athena Calderone’s coffee table book launch party ceiling fixtures. I foraged — it’s what Athena would do and does— for florals and branches. There was MUCH time spent snipping thorns off the flowers, and much more tiny pricks on my fingers as I zip-tied the arrangement together.