The former showroom of VBS Heating Products on Lake Shore Drive seems an improbable location for a nail salon.

But as it turns out, it’s a surprisingly fitting transformation.

Dee Bottineau has moved her nail salon, Dragonfly Nails by Dee, from its former location at the corner of the Sterling Highway and North Fork Road in Anchor Point to 1225 Lake Shore Drive, the old VBS building.

It’s a quiet, out-of-the-way spot, and Bottineau feels certain once people take the time to find her, they’ll be glad they did.

“I just want people to come in and see it,” says Bottineau.

The new site has provided an immediate benefit for Bottineau: It’s cut her daily commute from East End Road to Anchor Point by so much that she says she’s able to pay for rent on what she’s saving in gas. 

She believes her new site also will  provide benefits for her clients. The spacious salon invites relaxation with its pale green walls, a veneer wood floor, stylish hanging lights and colorful wall hangings, including a quilt by an Anchor Point artisan that includes “every color I love,” says Bottineau.

Visitors can make a game out of trying to find a variety of whimsical dragonflies in all colors, sizes and materials that have been integrated into the salon’s décor.  Look for them on the walls, in the patio lights draped over the windows, on the cups, under the counters and on the shelves. There’s a dragonfly clock and a dragonfly in the Tiffany-style lamp. You’ll also find them on Bottineau — on rings, earrings and other jewelry.

Dragonflies have been important to Bottineau since she was a child and was told that whenever a dragonfly lands on you, it’s a deceased loved one checking on you. She’s had several light on her throughout her life, she said, and now they’re part of her personal trademark.

Area residents may know Bottineau for the cooking she’s done at local restaurants, but after three decades as a chef, she made a career change and opened her nail business not long ago. 

She emphasizes that Dragonfly Nails by Dee is exclusively a nail saloon, which means there will be no shards of hair getting into your nails and no perm smell.

Her services include spa manicures and pedicures for men and women, paraffin hand treatments and a variety of fingernail enhancements. Gift cards are available.

She also offers special wedding parties for the bride and bridesmaids after hours, which can include food, as well as birthday parties for pre-teens and teens. She also encourages special mother-daughter days at the salon.