My fabulous friend Charmaigne is opening a tattoo parlour , and we have been coming up with ideas to transform what is basically a HUGE empty space with creative ideas and a low-as-possible budget.  The shop consists of a vast reception area, two treatment rooms, a tiny staff room, WC and the main tattoo studio.  Various people will work in the shop; tattoo artists, a reflexologist, manicurist, and a laser tattoo removal specialist.

Most parlours we have seen are very male orientated – lots of photos of tattoos on the walls, big black leather sofas and quite cold in style.  We want to make a welcoming, fun, entertaining space for Charmaigne’s customers and their friends, and came up with a hybrid of Boudoir, Circus and Fantasy inspired ideas for the main reception space.  Lots of large scale props will be added later as decoration from pinball machines to pop art to a large scaled rocket.

Stripping Out:

The blank canvas was really daunting; lumpy rendered walls, awful suspended ceilings, and floors that were mixed levels and in a very sorry state.  A massive strip out followed, with new ceilings going up followed by plastering some wall areas.  The floors had to be stripped and made level.  Lighting was replaced with directional spotlights.

The first space you enter is the large reception area.  We chose an dark aubergine purple for the walls to warm up the large space.  Here is the first coat going up onto the very textured walls, (horrid to paint).  New ceilings and lighting had to be installed.    Rich gold is being used on skirting and door frames, this ties into planned decorative items being added later into the scheme.  Charmaigne has basically bought all the gold paint in the county for this project to date….

The main tattoo workroom has to be very hygenic, and follow strict Health and Safety rules with non-porous surfaces.  We decided to follow a clinical/institutional theme in this room and play on the operating theatre theme of cleanliness!  The films ‘Dead Ringers’ is the inspiration for this space.  It also has existing security bars on the windows that have to stay, adding an slight prison feel to the room.  Metro tiles half way up the walls were applied to start which will have very dark grey grout, and a plasterer booked to come and skim the remaining walls and ceilings to provide a good base to paint on.  The walls will be a deep dark grey to offset the tiles and bright lights needed for tattooing.   The flooring is ordered; very dark grey lino which again is hygenic and practical.

There is a small staff area and WC, it is really dark and small so a deep red was used and the gold carried through, here it is after coat 1 of paint:

We have done the first shopping trip to gather a variety of furniture and decorative items, sooo excited!!!!  Watch this space for the developing world of Rocket Queen as it comes together…