After four years of working out of her home, Lorena Perez made the leap into opening her own place of business. Perez creates permanent makeup, specializing in lips and eyebrows, but LP Beauty Loft was her opportunity to work on a larger canvas, shaping an entire environment and creating an image, and she designed it from the heart. She had long had her sights set on, one day, having a dark ceiling, and it turned into the hit feature of her business’ design.
Located in a small commercial building in Oak Forest, Illinois, a suburb 30 miles southwest of Chicago, the space was a former beauty salon and barbershop. When Perez took possession, the room was fully functional, but looked uninspiring.
Searching on Tiktok and Pinterest, Perez found Ceilume thermoformed ceiling tiles that could supply just the look she wanted. On the company’s website, she found a ceiling tile calculator that not only let her figure out how much tile she needed but showed her what the ceiling layout would look like with any of the patterns and colors she wanted to try.
Perez selected the very popular Stratford pattern in black.
Building the business was a family affair. The entire renovation, including the ceiling installation, was done by Perez and her husband, Rafael Abrego, with occasional help from her parents.
Her partiality to neutral tones is reflected in much of the décor, with a white closet system, black and brown furniture, lighter wood utility drawers and reception desk. Her other design goal was to evoke her family’s Mexican heritage. She is especially fond of the classic floral pattern used in Talavera pottery and has sprinkled it around the room in various accents and accessories.
The result has been a successful business. Perez has 700 clients in her database, and a junior artist as well as a receptionist to help handle the flow.
