26 Low-Budget Beauty Salon Interior Design Ideas

Salon shop-front windows often make that all-important first, memorable impression. It’s vital to get it right. Use the space to show off your best reviews, awards you might have won, or live special offers.

You could even use your window display as a spot for customers to take selfies and post on social media for a discount. Bold and interactive, this is a great way to drum up awareness of your beauty salon.

If you’re looking to fill empty spaces on your walls with something a little more interesting, consider a gallery wall or polaroids of your workforce in action. This is an effective way to express your brand and the overall vibe of your salon.

Add soft textures to your waiting area to offer your customers a luxury level of comfort. Cushions, cosy blankets, and soft rugs can transform a boring couch into a relaxing and snug place, perfect for getting your customers in the right mood ahead of their treatments.

Your salon reception desk is where your clients first engage face-to-face with your business. It's essential that it's as welcoming as possible.

Create a more spacious and serene feel by removing clutter and opting for a business mobile device to check in customers, schedule appointments, and take card payments.

A big tangle of charging wires is unsightly and annoying to manage. However, creating innovative and unique charging stations isn’t too difficult.

Many places sell containers for concealing wires, but you can also recycle old shoe boxes or even bread bins to declutter the cords.

The psychology of colour is a key factor in branding, as different colours can evoke different consumer emotions, feelings, and actions.

Here's how some colours can impact purchasing behaviour:

Red: Often associated with energy, excitement, and passion, red can create a sense of urgency. It's frequently used in clearance sales and to attract impulse shoppers.

Blue: Represents trust, peace, and reliability. Blue is often used by banks and businesses to create a sense of security and trustworthiness.

Green: Associated with health, tranquillity, and nature, green can also represent wealth. It is often used to relax customers and promote environmental products.

Yellow: A colour of optimism and youthfulness, yellow can grab attention and make items stand out. It’s used to draw in window shoppers and evoke a sense of happiness.

Orange: A mix of red's urgency and yellow's optimism, orange can be seen as aggressive yet friendly. It encourages call-to-actions like subscribe, buy, or sell.

Black: Symbolises power and luxury. Black is often used for marketing luxury products and to promote a sense of sophistication and elegance.

Pink: Associated with femininity, love, and warmth, pink is often used to market products to women and young girls.

Purple: Symbolising royalty, wealth, and success, it's often used in beauty and anti-ageing products to promote a sense of luxury and wisdom.

Product bottles that are all sized and branded differently on workstation shelves can reduce the ‘neat’ look that so many salon owners strive for. There’s a simple fix to this.

Invest in some transparent bottles of identical sizes and label them in the same font. It helps to keep workstations organised and looks great on a shelf.

Bamboo bath towels make for a sumptuous salon choice. Delightfully soft and naturally antimicrobial, bamboo towels are hypoallergenic and odour resistant.

Hanging bamboo fibre bathrobes from wooden pegs on walls or doors further adds to the homely aesthetic.

When it comes to low-budget beauty salon interior designs, consistency is always key. If you’re selecting a salon decor theme and colourway for your workstations, stick with one type of look. Whether it’s contemporary or classic, make sure your decorations reflect your chosen vibe.

Consistency will create a cohesive and polished look for your salon and avoids a jarring hodgepodge of different styles.

When planning your interior design, try to avoid the temptation to go overboard. Cramming in as many washing stations, treatment rooms, or cutting stations as possible might seem efficient, but it may have a negative impact on customer experience.

You might think that you have the space, but once you've moved all the furniture, that space can quickly become limited.

It’s always a good idea to think about how your staff will move around the space.

• Can they move around easily without getting in anyone’s way?

• Can they manage their equipment without getting in the way of clients or colleagues?

• Do they have enough space to move trolleys, chairs, or stools around the main floor?

Salon wall stickers are a quick, easy, and cheap way to update your small salon interior design, offering personality with no commitment.

Like clip-in hair extensions or temporary colour, decals can be removed at any time and won’t leave marks on your walls. It means you can change the feel of your salon without taking on a massive renovation project.

Rather than metal or plastic, using natural materials, such as wood or stone, can help to keep expenses down. Indeed, raw wood and exposed brick have grown to become a favourite salon aesthetic the world over. 

Adding antique features, such as candlesticks and vintage paintings, to your salon can give your space a more individual flair. The presence of older furnishings plays well to the popular ‘shabby chic’ look and helps to showcase your personality and the personality of the salon. 

A salon that’s bold and assured in its aesthetics can put customers at ease that they’re in the right hands when it comes to theirs.

A selfie corner makes for a fun, inviting space where customers can snap pictures of themselves and their new looks. If you create your own hashtag, you can encourage customers to post their selfies to social media using the hashtag and create your own online community.

You can ramp up the fun factor by adding props to your selfie corner, such as signs, balloons, champagne, or even a hanging swing.

The sense of smell is often considered the strongest of the human senses in terms of emotional connection and memory recall. Unlike the other senses, the olfactory system has a direct connection to the limbic system - the area of the brain that processes emotions and memory. This unique connection is why smells can evoke such strong memories and emotions.

Use this to your advantage by filling your salon with aromas that build brand identity, promote a relaxing vibe, and influence buying behaviour.

Earth tones, such as brick and metal, can create a bohemian atmosphere within your salon. Lights from multiple sources will bounce off the warm-coloured walls and ceilings, imitating the feel of a rural inn or bed and breakfast. This can be perfect for generating that soothing ambience your customers want.

If rustic is the vibe you’re going for, be sure to embrace natural and organic aesthetics. With the right tweaks, your interior could emulate the vibes of a peaceful seaside home or the dark mystery of a cabin in Bali.

Transform your salon by giving it an industrial feel that blends wood, brickwork, exposed beams, glazed concrete floors, high ceilings, bolts, and a mix of metals.

The cottagecore look - with its earthy, rustic touches - is one of the hottest trends in salon design. Able to make clients feel comfortable and at home, it usually consists of pastel colours, natural materials like wood and stone, and upcycled décor.

Not only is it cost effective, but the use of upcycled furniture reduces landfill waste, earning your salon significant sustainability points.

There are many creative ways that you can repurpose outdated furnishings, from mismatched shelves to worn-out sofas given a second life. Upcycling is also great if you want your salon to have a vintage aesthetic.

Built-in benches generally take up less space and are less bulky than pedicure chairs, allowing you to work more effectively in a smaller area.

They can also work as multifunctional seating, with manicures and pedicures provided simultaneously for clients on tight schedules or if you’re dealing with multiple clients, like bridal parties.

There are five main types of lighting to consider for your salon:

Ambient: Lights up the entire salon space with an even, diffused light.

Task: Used for high-use areas, especially around hairdressing stations where stylists are working.

Accent: Draws attention to certain areas within the salon, such as product displays.

Vanity: Usually placed around mirrors, bulbs should be even to reduce shadows around the client.

Decorative: Adds a pop of colour and personality to the salon, such as neon signs.

Neon signs make an eye-catching first impression. Neon’s brightness and unique glow can easily attract the attention of passersby, making it an effective tool for businesses to stand out. It is particularly effective after dark, making salons that stay open till later more visible and inviting.

Neon lighting also has a historical and nostalgic appeal, often associated with the glamour of vintage Americana and old Hollywood. This nostalgia can be leveraged to create a unique and emotionally engaging environment.

To make your salon appear bigger, place a mirror opposite or next to a natural light source (like your windows). Keep in mind that fewer, big mirrors will create a more convincing effect than lots of smaller ones.

If it’s a vintage look you’re pursuing, consider ornate gilt mirrors. They look incredible, the designs are amazing, and their handcrafted quality makes them unique.

Large, round mirrors look great as part of a small salon interior design plan. They can make small spaces seem bigger and exude plenty of style. Meanwhile, rectangular, floor-length mirrors are a great way to maximise tight spaces.

More of a bill-cutting tip, but LED lights consume less electricity and have a longer operational lifetime than traditional bulbs. Switching to LED bulbs will conserve energy, thus a good way for small businesses to save money on bills.