DOWAGIAC —  Jacqueline Hale, 54, of Dowagiac, has spent the last 11 years trimming, shaping and painting the nails of the women of southwest Michigan.

Recently, she decided to take her skills a step further and give a building a makeover.

Hale’s salon, Spa-toe-pia, will soon be relocating from its current space at 92402 County Road in Sister Lakes to downtown Dowagiac. Although the new location at 230 Front Street is currently little more than plywood and studs, Hale said the space would soon be transformed into a calming oasis where people can relax and treat themselves to a manicure, pedicure or facial. Currently, she plans to open her new doors April 2.

“This will be the final stop for Spa-toe-pia,” Hale said. “This is our home, and I can’t wait.”

The new space will boast six nail stations, which will offer a variety of nail services including gel polish, artificial and natural nails, and manicures, five pedicure chairs and a wet sauna. In the new location, Hale said she is most excited for the dual facial room, which will feature specialty facials, facial peels, massages, lash services and body scrubs. For the time being, Spa-toe-pia will have two licensed estheticians on board, and Hale herself is planning to go back to school to earn a license in esthetics.

“This is going to allow us to go a lot deeper into esthetics, as deep as we can,” Hale said. “Our esthetics right now are limited, but that is why we made the facial room, so we can go deeper into that. … I don’t know of any place locally that offers those [types of services]. We want to be able to provide a space for women to get these things done without having to travel to a bigger city.”

Though Spa-toe-pia has been operating in the Dowagiac area for 11 years in various locations, Hale said that the location at 230 Front Street will be the salon’s final home and that her business is the product of years of long days, hard work and passion.

Hale has always had a passion for nail work and would often paint the nails of family and friends before she opened her salon. However, it was not until her husband was recovering from an accident and needed Hale home more often that she decided to make her dream a reality. As she opened a salon close to her house, the work allowed her to be home with her kids and her husband and still be able to work.

“I’ve always loved nails — always,” she said. “I decided once [my husband] was starting to do better that I would go back to school and open my own salon, and that is exactly what I did.”

From then on, Hale said she poured her time and energy into Spa-toe-pia and giving her clients services that would help them feel happy and confident.

With opening day just around the corner, Hale said that she is planning to channel her passion into completing work on the new building so that she can share her love of nails and esthetics with downtown Dowagiac.

“I love the business,” she said. “I’m very excited for the future.”

For more information, or to rent space at the business, visit Spa-toe-pia on Facebook.