Southern Styles celebrating 20 years

When some people give directions, they say things like “You can’t miss it.”

And usually, you can.

But when Melinda or Dan Butler give directions to Southern Styles hair salon and spa, 2920 Veach Road, they mean it.

The huge Victorian-style house is impossible to miss.

It began life in the early 20th century as a farmhouse.

And then, in 1977, Eddie and Jayne Mansfield turned it into The Sandpiper, a dress shop.

But it had been empty for awhile when the Butlers discovered it in 2004.

“I fell in love with it,” Melinda Butler said.

So, she and her husband bought it in 2004 and it became Southern Styles.

And this week, they’re celebrating 20 years in business there.

“We opened on July 4, 2004,” Melinda Butler remembers.

“We had a large group working at another salon and we wanted to stay together,” she said. “So we all came here. We had 20 hairstylists then. About half of us are

still here.”

There are currently 19 stylists working there.

Butler had been working in salons for 16 years by then.

“I started as a student at Daviess County Vocational School,” she said. “I’m very outgoing and I like being around people. I get to make people happy every day.”

The old farmhouse, which had additions completed in 1984-85, has close to 5,000 square feet, Butler said.

“Everybody is spread out,” she said. “We’re not on top of each other.”

The old house “has a lot of character,” Butler said. “We like keeping the homey feel. There’s a kids room for the children.”

Customers come from several surrounding counties in both Kentucky and Indiana.

“One comes in from Frankfort,” Butler said. “She used to live here and she’s kept coming back since she moved to Frankfort.”

She said, “Everybody gets along so well. There’s no drama. It’s genuinely like a family.”

Southern Styles is “a full-service spa,” Butler said. “We do all hair services, waxing, facials, permanent makeup, nail salon, massage.”

And 20 years is just the start, she said.