A woman has saved herself more than £5,000 by converting a dusty old caravan into her nail salon.
Nyasha Maponga couldn't afford upwards of £8,000 for a summerhouse to house her nail bar. So the 23-year-old bought a used mobile home from Facebook Marketplace for £400, paying an extra £50 to have it towed to her family home.
Her plan became complicated very quickly. Nyasha had no tools and couldn't move the caravan into her back garden. She bought tools from B&Q and replaced her fence with a double gate to allow the caravan inside.
Nyasha, who runs Ny's Nail Room, ripped out and replaced the old flooring. She removed the superfluous fittings and replaced them with stylish furniture. And she painted over the drab original decor with brighter colours to make the ex-mobile home feel more airy and spacious.
With help from her uncle, who was visiting from South Africa, she installed fresh, new panels and wired up the caravan. The transformation took six weeks, all while Nyasha was working full-time.
But in the end, Nyasha, who has worked as a nail technician since November 2021, saved £5,450 on what a basic summerhouse would have cost.
And her customers love it.
Nyasha told The Mirror: "I've had clients in there for the last two weeks and they love it as much as I do. They feel much more comfortable and like the one-to-one vibe.
"It makes me so much happier and I can tow the caravan with me whenever I move. I get to keep my workspace separate from my house but also work from home."
And Nyasha has found ways to continue to save money. She uses as much battery-operated equipment as possible and maximises natural light to avoid overreliance on electric lighting.
"It attracts a lot of light...so I don't end up turning the main lights on until 5pm," she said.
Nyasha added: "Things that look doable are probably doable – just YouTube or TikTok it and have confidence in yourself."
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