Beauty from above

Creating a relaxing, stylish beauty salon from a converted two-bedroom flat in a 1970s building sounds like an impossible challenge. But at Shine Northallerton, the transformation is complete. The once bland magnolia interior is now an elegant and intimate retreat, while a host of new treatments from Thalgo promise to take clients on a journey to Polynesia.

The expansion upstairs for Shine Beauty follows the redevelopment of Shine Hair on the ground floor of the premises at the southern end of Northallerton high street. It came after owners Siobhan Caffery and Wilson Derbyshire decided to move on after a combined 30 years with a national chain.

Siobhan and the beauty team were previously confined to a corner of the salon, but now her dream of a dedicated floor for beauty has come true. However, she is the first to admit they needed help to create the bold surroundings that meet clients when they head upstairs, and drafted in the expert advice of interior designer Lucy Darbishire.

More bland canvas than blank canvas, it helped that Siobhan and Wilson had a clear idea of how they wanted the salon to have a bespoke feel and, more importantly, of how they wanted clients to feel when they walked in. It was also an advantage that, as a client of Wilson's, Lucy understood his ambitions for Shine. "Lucy has been a client for a long time and has great style and eye for the unusual," says Wilson.

Shine Hair had already made an impact for going the extra mile for clients, from commissioning specially designed work stations in the salon and installing massaging backwash chairs, to offering the Shine cupcake of the week to accompany a choice of beverages. "We pride ourselves on personal service in both hair and beauty and that has to be reflected in the surroundings," says Wilson.

Lucy helped develop the grey and acid yellow colour palette of the hair salon and main brand before moving on to finalising her scheme for the beauty floor. "We were always a little cramped in our old corner of the salon so the expansion has given us the space to have a proper chill-out area, two bespoke treatment rooms, dedicated spray tan room and a shower for clients," says Siobhan.

The look Lucy developed reflects her "modern eclectic" design style, mixing old and new, combining textures, choosing neutral shades from her favourite grey palette punctuated with brights and always with something a little unexpected.

A pupil of the Bar Convent school in York and Harrogate Ladies College, bilingual Lucy studied French and German at university, which has come in useful since she bought a house just outside St Tropez in the south of France where she has created the interior and now offers glamorous stays. She has taught languages part-time to young children at Aysgarth School, near Bedale, for ten years and seven years ago, with her four sons growing up, retrained as an interior designer.

"I've always loved houses and interiors. Even when I had my dolls' house when I was little I never stopped amending it and moving things around. But it was difficult to know where to start professionally and at what level," she explains. In the end she went in at a high level, following an online course through the famous Inchball School of Design, in London. ". It was difficult, very technical, architectural and mathematical. It was a massive struggle, taking me just over three years to complete my Diploma in Interior Design, but I really enjoyed it.

"People tease me that interior design is all about pretty cushions, but we definitely did our bit in terms of learning about building design and function as well. We were just on the cusp of computer aided design so it was very much on drawing boards and creating beautiful visuals by hand."

Atelier Lucy, based in Darlington, is still a young business but she has already worked on a number of domestic schemes as well as Shine in Northallerton and Stokesley. The focus for the new beauty floor was to give it some soul and a feeling of luxury.

"We didn't have lofty ceilings or beautiful original features to work with so it's been about injecting some character and personality in other ways, mixing raw wood with luxe fabrics for example, adding elegance through furnishings and accessories of scale, such as an oversize lamp or huge mirror that will do what the building can't do.

"The reception area needed to have a strong look and be welcoming and relaxing like a sitting room, a home from home. None of us wanted a clinical salon look. We wanted it to be comfortable, but not cluttered, cosy with some wow. We want clients to look around and think 'that's lovely, where did they get that from?'."

After creating the look, sourcing the furniture and accessories was handed over to Siobhan. It includes an acid yellow chair, dark blue walls and quirky accessories. Lamp bases and mirrors were chosen for their reflective qualities, as well as a rug and wood to combine metallic with natural materials. "I had great fun finding things and because I started buying a while ago it was great to be reminded of what I'd bought when it was time to unpack," says Siobhan.

Being a beauty salon there are practical considerations, such as the choice of laminate wood-look flooring, and the Shine brand had to be clearly identifiable. And, of course, every interior designer must work within a client's budget.

"You know you can't always have everything you'd like, but that encourages you to be more creative," says Lucy. "Designing is about deciding and being convincing in the way you present your ideas to the client because that gives them confidence in your choices. There is so much to choose from that you could research for days on end but eventually you have to come up with a concept that you’re proud of and the client loves.”

• For beauty bookings, call Shine Northallerton is on 01609-771477 or visit facebook.com/ShineNorthallerton

Create the Shine Beauty look:

Walls: Farrow & Ball Stiffkey Blue, Mole’s Breath

Doors: Farrow & Ball Railings, Ammonite

Furniture: Made.com (sofa); IKEA (yellow chair), TK Maxx (coffee table)

Artwork: www.anartfullife.co.uk

Soft furnishings: Abigail Ahern for Debenhams, H&M Home

Lamps: TK Maxx

Accessories: TK Maxx (seahorse and copper tray), www.therange.co.uk and M&S (mirrors); Urban Outfitters (stag’s head hook); Thalgo Polynesia candle (Shine)

The salon’s new look has been unveiled alongside the launch of new brands and treatments at Shine Beauty.

Thalgo Polynesia Spa Ritual is a new, 90-minute three-stage exfoliation and massage treatment using exotic island body scrub, a rhythmic, relaxing massage and ‘tuiponos’, warm pouches of sand for a deeper massage.

Brow by Mii is a range of professional treatments and home styling products for eyes, to sculpt the look you really want and frame your features to their best advantage. Each personalised treatment begins with an in-depth consultation about your desired look, followed by a combination of tinting, waxing and finishing techniques by a trained therapist.

Jessica Phenom Manicure, providing a gel-like shine that dries quickly in natural light, lasts for up to ten days and is removed easily like conventional polish.