Hello! Amy here, founder and Head Therapist of YOU Massage Therapy. So here we go, my first blog post, it’s a bigg’un, sorry! I have been so incredibly busy with many little projects to get YOU Massage Therapy (Massage Southampton) running like a dream, we’ve been growing so quickly that we’ve all had to adapt and grow as therapists and co-workers. I’m ecstatic to say we are a busy, happy little family and I’m so proud of every one of my team for their hard work and patience over the past 6 months. We’ve added new treatments such as Indian Head Massage, Sports Massage, Thai Massage, Reiki, Hot Stones Massage, Thai Hot Compress (page coming soon) and Pregnancy Massage! I feel that now, finally, we have hit all our targets in terms of the building, the processes and the attitude, which is so important to our success, everyone is caring for clients and colleagues alike, expertly in their field and everyone’s mucked in to get the jobs done!
Last weekend we closed our Southampton Massage Studio for three days (well, two and a bit, I managed to fit a couple of clients in on Saturday afternoon as we are so so busy with bookings, hope you didn’t notice the saw dust out the back!). Our main focus was getting up-spec ventilation installed; with the closure in mind and we being tenacious multi-taskers, I decided to pull in a team of lovely friends, family, clients and colleagues to grab a brush or roller and get stuck in, let’s get the place looking gorgeous! And it certainly does, every inch of the place has been given a coat or two of fresh, beautiful paint….
We started early Friday morning with a good sand and sugar soap everywhere, once we’d moved all the furniture that was, good job we have toned biceps I can tell you! I nipped to various DIY shops around Southampton(well actually it took almost 2 hours!) to grab an army’s equivalent of brushes and rollers and six bold and bright pots of paint; you should have seen the store assistant’s face! I love that what we picked is not conventional! Once back and into overalls, we turned up Radio 1 whilst Eldon (legend!) got to work on installing a powerful extractor fan and putting great big holes in our walls (eek!). My big brother Tel (love you!) and I got to damp proofing, filling and priming. My good friends Chris and Sarah showed up to help, not sure if they knew what they were letting themselves in for! They did a great job and we all had a laugh and, a lot of caffeine later, everything got done! The highlight of our day was a couple of lads popping down in the evening and asking how much it cost to get into our club! Ha ha ha! They may have been disappointed had they come down, by now there were piles of chopped wood and sawdust everywhere, dust sheets over everything and a bunch of scruffy workers bouncing around the place, although we were having a blast I can assure you! I think we flopped home at about11pm for a wholesome Chinese takeaway and a good scrub in the shower!
Saturday was another early start for Tel, Eldon and I, and wow, it all started to take shape pretty quickly! What with the sanding and priming, things were actually looking a little worse by the end of Friday, but that’s how these things go, you’ve got to go through the process in order! Whilst I disappeared to give a Deep Tissue Massage with Aromatherapy and a Detox Deluxe Experience Treatmentto two clients (I was grateful for the break, to do what I do best!) the back of the studio was literally transformed whist I was engaged, paint and mirrors were mounted and the place filled with colour and light! The Calvary arrived bang on time in shape of Megan,Alice, Mina, Rich, Alex, Jess and Alan; I was delighted with the turn out! What amazing
people I know! Feeling very lucky and happy, I set to assigning jobs, and in no time there were green, gold, blue, pecan brown, bright whites, chestnut, cream and purple bringing our new walls and woodwork to life! Ventilation now fully installed and the paint drying quickly; the YOU Massage Southampton Studio began to shine in a calming, colourful persona! We called it a night at about 11.30pm (having not attracted any club goers to recruit into helping this time!), four friends, my partner Alec (who looks after the Massage Southampton Website for us!), my brother Tel and I all relaxed with some good food and music before a well earned sleep, ready to do it all again tomorrow! Bring it on!
Sunday, after a good breakfast, we started a bit later at around12pm; to be fair to us there wasn’t too much to do! Or so I thought…as soon as we arrived we realised that the filler we’d plastered around the new ventilation structure was not dry! The Reception clearly needed another coat of paint and we had run out! There was gloss work to be done in the same area the walls needed cutting in with the paint we had run out of….arrgghhh! I’m so lucky I had such great people around me to calm me down and help me plan for the day! I was so worried it wouldn’t be finished; we had 25 people booked in with us over the next two days! With the heating and ventilation on full and my amazing posse, who also now included Caz, our soon to be new therapist, all busy getting the finishing touches done; I dashed to B&Q (got lost along the way!) and grabbed the last few bits we needed and sped back to the studio…
It felt like 60minute makeover or changing rooms, it was chaos! People were painting over people painting, cutting wooden trim in the hall, power sanding, caulking and filling, there was a real buzz in the air to get the job done! Then there was the cleaning, oh the cleaning! But, gradually, soon we were putting our Massage studio back together, and, by1am (!)we were done!
It was a tiring weekend for all involved but I can confidently say we had a lot of fun too! I am just so happy with the results! Each room now has its own character and clean fresh air flowing through them; our halls and communal areas are warm and welcoming, full of light and comforting colour. It really has to be seen to be beheld, but I’ve added a few pictures into this blog so you can have a sneak peek of our new image, you must have a good look at the gorgeous paintings that adorn our walls by Nina Fraser and Emily Williams next time you pop in, just beautiful and so inspiring!
To my friends, thank you so very much, every one of you for your superb
contribution, without Megan our purple halls would still be drab and tatty, without Alice the reception would have no character, without Mina our newest room would still be bland, instead it’s so cosy, without Chris, Sarah and Alex our skirting, doors and pillars would not shine with gorgeous gloss white, without Alan we would have had no coffee and good music and a warm and welcoming porch area, without Rich our new ventilation and floors would still be looking shabby, and there would have been no cake! Without Jess’s artistic touch our new feedback box and shelving would still look tired, instead they gleam with earthy tones, without Alec our bathroom would be boring and plain and we would not have the professional finish of the skirting trim framing our space, or an amazing website (I love you so much), without Caz there would be a million glaring gaps in the paintwork, without Eldon I would’ve lost my faith in the building trade, without my big brother Tel I would have lost my mind!
I must also send massive thanks to Chris and Sam, without whom our walls would not have been put up in the first place and to Andy for the fiddly lighting and smoke detectors! Big thank yous to Chris and Naomi for soundproofing the office most recently. To my Mum and John, who were with my every step of the way during phase one of the refurbishment (ground zero!) and for their constant support, thank you for being there with me. Thank you to my colleagues for supporting me constantly, to Nikki for calming me down, to Elise for her enthusiasm and efforts, to Pete for his flexibility, Lynn for her drive and level head, Melissa for her professionalism and hard work and to Naomi for her constant support and for giving the place a good clean on Monday morning, we could not have done it without you guys and I will be forever grateful.
So now onwards and upwards! Next installation will be Signs out the front of
our Southampton Massage Studio and a new front door, we are ready to shout from the roof tops, WE ARE HERE! Our Reception is now manned from 10am until 8pm during weekdays and 10am until 7pm on Saturday, we have appointments available 8.30am until 9.30pm every day, except Sundays when appointments are available 11am until 5pm (currently Reception is not open on Sundays but this will soon change!). We will be holding an official launch in the spring and monthly events from then on, we are about to launch our new fresh, organic Holistic Facial range, Feedback cards for every client with various monthly competitions to Win Free Massage Treatments! We love to hear your feedback on all aspects of our business, like us on Facebook for regular updates and special offers!
I am so excited about welcoming you to our new, fresh, bright Southampton Massage Studio! Thanks for reading, see you soon!
Warm wishes,
Amy x
