he Old Tannery is the new home for the Lovehair Tribe and our courses and I am SO excited to say that we have our old studio back!!! There’s a lot of Old / New in there ! Those that have been followjng me for a while will know that way back when I ran Lovehair as an agency over 3 years ago, we grew out of my mini studio in the garden and moved into The Old Tannery – An old grubby office with the most beautiful windows and natural light. We made it cool and I was there for 3 years but at the time, my love for the business had dwindled as my priorities shifted to my family and my lovely nan who was unwell then.
Getting Creative Again
I had fallen out of love with being on the computer and ‘managing people’ so decided to let the studio go and get excited about my work and being creative again. Which is exactly what I did!
At the time I felt a huge sense of relief and was sure I would never do it again…But you can’t keep a hard working boss babe down and as my business has grown organically yet again, I started looking for premises again in April.
I had found somewhere that I loved, but it just wasn’t big enough for what I needed. I tried to convince myself it was perfect but knew we had already grown out of it.
Then when I was in Florida this year, I found somewhere online but wasn’t sure about sizes and rates, so I looked up my old studio, to see (boringly!) what the square footage was.. and blow me down with a feather..It was up for rent!! I enquired immediately and went to see it as soon as I got back and here we are. Reunited with my first love!
Being that we are few years on and I’m older and definitely a little wiser and more financially stable, I wanted to do this properly. I already had a thriving, well established business I was just missing a studio of my own to host everyone and teach.
So we went in and knocked a wall down, took a kitchen out (yep!) concreted the floors and put in a new toilet among other things. Including spending the obligatory small fortune in Ikea – Gotta be done, right?
It’s possibly the most adulty thing I’ve done – including having kids! There was blood and sweat and a broken rib (!!!) but I’m pleased to say no tears apart from proud or laughy ones. And no fear. I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life and my absolute DUDE of a husband was there every step straight from work until 11pm painting and prepping every day (after feeding the clan and walking the dog first of course! ) I bloody love you Craig.
This is the THIRD time I’ve done up a salon / studio. Admittedly I’ve done this one twice, but I had a salon in my early twenties too. This one feels like the game changer already. I really thought about the ‘feel’ of this. How I wanted my students to feel when they walked in and when they left. I wanted to create a space that inspired my students, yet felt like ‘me’ and my brand.
My love for Ibiza and boho / surf chick feels inspired the colours and simplicity. (and the surf board – Obviously!)
The windows have always been my favourite thing about this building and it’s what attracted me to it the first time. They are the original windows from when it was a tannery – i really want to give you some clever information about the building, it’s history, original refurb and uses over the years but lets stick to ‘it’s got a great vibe and awesome windows’
The main feature is a table, I designed it in my head inspiered by an image form Pintrest and wood craftsman Luke Matthews made into reality – He made our kitchen from scratch so I knew it was going to be good, but it’s just AWESOME. I literally love it so much.
It’s 3 meters long, made from reclaimed scaffold boards with hanging mirrors and draped in festoon lights. It has plugs all along the underside and is designed to make teaching and learning a joy! It’s the BEST!
We still have a way to go with finishing touches and storage solutions (coat rack anyone?) but hoping I’ll have more tme now crazy season is over.
It feels good having our studio back in time for a brand new year.
I LOVE it and it’s quickly becoming my happy place. Oh and Bodhi’s pretty chuffed about it too J
Find out more about Lovehair Studio and location HERE >
