10 SMALL BUSINESSES

10 DESIGNERS

10 MAKEOVERS

10 DAYS

MAIN ST MAKEOVER

Vernadine's Soul Food 401 E. Grand River Ave.

I'm Trenton. I'm an interior decorator. I was assigned to Vernadine's.

What made me decide to open up my own business was that my father liked to go out to eat all the time.

And because I had a lot of good response from people I cooked for I decided to do it for him and my children to keep them going.

Can I get personal? When we decided who was going to do what she was the one I connected to. She wrote about her father passing away and that was her inspiration behind opening the business. For him.

My dad passed away a year and a half ago, so I felt, "Okay, this is it."

"This is the person I have to help."

Makeover? That'd be great. It might bring in more customers.

So you're going to be running this place one day? No?

You messed that up.

PLANNING THE MAKEOVER November 2007

This is the door I want to paint. Hello, Verna.

- Hi. How are you?

- Good. I brought Trenton.

Vernadine's restaurant needed help with an eating area with atmosphere.

We wanted to give the area the same soul that her windows and food have.

- Hello. I'm Trenton.

- Nice to meet you.

It's soul food, and we wanted to create that vibrant atmosphere.

So it's a complete visual overhaul compared to what she had before.

Building on the character that we could trace we made some quite drastic changes.

- What I suggest is a makeover.

- A makeover?

We can paint the front door red. And paint the walls and ceiling in a very intense blue.

And bright red chairs with that.

As fire engine red, as we dare. Changing the floor.

To something. Checkerboard black and white.

We would like to give you tables. I'd like one big family table.

For a buffet or to take care of your coffee.

- Yeah. That's nice.

- I want to put up wooden blinds.

Reframe the stuff you already have. And then I would want to source everything from Ella Fitzgerald to 50 Cent.

The only hesitation I sensed from Verna was the color.

- You need to like it.

- I'm trying to get with this blue.

- I understand. It takes digestion.

- I think I can get with it.

When you come in, it's going to catch you.

It's going to be like, "Whoa! Look! They made some changes in here."

We did a complete overhaul. All new furniture, paint window treatments, the works.

That's going to be really nice. Especially with the window treatment.

It's going to be totally different. It's not bad.

- I feel promise here.

- I love it. Your idea is really nice.

- Should we look at the bathroom?

- Go right ahead.

Start the green there and just continue all over.

And then add a trashcan in red or a few details.

Somehow make this all into beverages, a buffet and ...

- It's been a real pleasure.

- A pleasure to meet you, too.

- I love your ideas.

- That's nice.

- I love your ideas.

- Okay.

The biggest challenge is going to be the seating. There isn't enough.

We're going to add tables and chairs to maximize the space.

Maybe you can seat 24 people now, but with what we want to use we can get almost double that.

We're changing everything. It's going to give it a youthful vibe.

That's what she's going for. Getting a younger crowd.

People with families.

It's going to be catchable. They'll see that door and say:

"Let's check it out. Vernadine's. Let's see what's going on."

I can't wait. You can start now if you want to.

THE MAKEOVER January 2008

I'm excited because it's going to bring a whole new look to my business.

And hopefully bring in more customers.

She had three pictures. A poster of Martin Luther King.

One of B.B. King and Louis Armstrong.

Since it's a soul food place, we decided to incorporate music.

We chose some of her old LP covers and 45s to frame.

These are some of the people that I grew up listening to.

Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and the Supremes.

Full Force.

Z.Z. Hill, B.B. King. I loved that one. That's my favorite.

- Those are beautiful. Bad.

- This one is beautiful.

Since the wall is blue, we chose albums that would pop off the blue.

Oranges, yellows, reds, greens.

Choose three. Yeah, that one is the best.

This one is really good.

After that, we added a lot of memorabilia or posters that speak of soul.

There were no pictures, and now you're going to fill the wall up.

That's going to make it look more nice. It'll be beautiful.

I wanted a collage. So this is like a collage.

- Fill the wall with stuff.

- See all the posters?

There's your old boy. Marvin Gaye.

- That's a long time ago.

- We're a long time ago, too, honey.

We couldn't do anything till the painting and flooring were done.

The painting was first. The front door was fire engine red.

Before she had a faded pink. Magenta.

And now it really stands out.

We're in Vernadine's bathroom. We chose the color calypso.

I was as hesitant as Verna was about the color in the beginning.

It didn't look the way we thought it would. I was worried it was too dark.

Once we got it in there, I was okay, and everything was cool.

I think it will make the place look good. A lot of colors.

A red door.

It's more than she expected would be out there.

It's brighter than I thought, so that's good. I was worried it'd be too dark.

I love it. It's much better. A change.

You have a vision and hope that it's going to be like that, and it is.

I really like this. I like this color. It's really nice.

I think she's okay with it. It's a completely different space.

It's really drastic. It's a big change.

It has more life to it. I'm probably going to get more business with this.

Because the restaurant is different.

Decorators' Workspace

We've got white.

Or birch? The white?

Now there's nothing on the walls, so this will balance out the blue.

Look how awesome that looks.

They're tearing up the floor now, but I haven't been over there yet.

For the flooring, we wanted individual tiles to go on an angle.

If you put tiles on a 45-degree angle, it makes a space look larger.

Apart from the blue, it's the most effective thing we did in there.

We got rid of the two booths and two foldout tables.

Decorators' Workspace

We added red chairs.

There you go.

And rustic, chunky birch tables that were not placed along the walls but free within the space, and they can be combined in different ways.

I feel that the red dining chairs were probably the best.

They stand out against the blue wall and checkerboard floor.

Feels good.

We added a family-style table that seats 6 - 8 people.

As well as a kids' table.

And she wants to bring her business out from the back to the front where she can interact with the customers, so we added a buffet.

She can put crock pots there, and people can serve themselves.

- Quite different from before, I'd say.

- The colors match perfectly.

For the window counter where people order we ripped out the laminate and put a chopping block. It matches the tables.

Looks awesome!

Finally we have some blinds, lights, curtain panels and artwork.

It needed a change in here. I'm very happy about that.

Verna seems so energized, so it's really been a lot of fun.

She seems to like it. If she doesn't, she lied to me.

Whatever you say.

Those two should go in the middle, but I don't want anything lined up.

I want it very organic.

We're looking for a creative, flowing way of hanging her soul pictures.

We'll move them around till we're happy.

We framed all the posters and records and put them in a collage on the wall.

It's beautiful.

- Do that.

- You do that.

Tell me where it looks good.

Alright. Yeah.

It's vibrant, it's fun, it's playful. And it's clean.

- Do you like it?

- I love it.

If you create an environment that's as joyful as the one we have ...

Even though it's for her customers, I think that she and her husband are very proud of their restaurant. Much more than they were before.

I think this makes it more fun to get up in the morning and go to their restaurant and open it up and start grilling.

I think it's uplifting now. She hoped to bring in a younger crowd.

Now I think it'll happen.

I couldn't ask for anything better. It turned out better than I hoped.

IKEA BUSINESS A better life at work