SHOP: Marshall Motors LOCATION: Dallas OWNERS: Thom Marshall and January Marshall-McPhail
1) Marshall-McPhail says her shop has a neat, clean and professional appearance throughout each department. The large windows looking into the shop help customers see how that is carried over in the work the technicians perform.
2) The two-tier design of the front counter serves a very practical purpose: The bottom tier allows customers to easily write and read documents, and the higher tier helps hide clutter, such as cords, papers, computers, etc., that accumulates in the work space.
3) Marshall-McPhail keeps an array of magazines stocked in the lobby and regularly switches out various books for the coffee table, including one purchased from the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
4) This table, which now holds coffee for waiting customers, was designed and built as a thank-you gift by a local artist whose work was shown at the shop.
5) The work of local artists covers the walls, as the shop’s lobby is recognized as an official art gallery. One local artist is featured at a time—the work shown is from Vicki Smith—in three-month stints. There is currently a year-and-a-half-long waiting list of artists who want their work displayed there.
6) The furniture, including the chairs, tables and credenza, were all finds from a local antique shop. “I don’t want it to have that usual repair shop smell and look,” Marshall-McPhail says. “I want it to feel comfortable, and I want it to look very nice.”
