Elizabeth Brooling has only one rule at her business.

It’s gotta be fun.

“When my clients come in, I want them to have fun,” Brooling said. “And the same goes for the people who work here. I believe strongly in laughter.”

It’s taken some ups and downs, too, for Brooling to get to that place. But after working for others and going through some rough times as a single mother, she’s running her own business in a new location in Old Town Silverdale.

Elizabeth’s House of Wax has just re-opened at 9020 Washington Ave., in Silverdale.

The new location has room for Brooling and another esthetician to work on clients. There’s a customer waiting area where clients can enjoy tea and a laugh at Brooling’s art work.

“I collect signs,” she said. “Tin and wood signs and I buy them when what they say calls out to me.”

Among them: “Sarcasm: Now served all day,” and “You just can’t fix stupid.”

The shop also is home to Bliss Airbrush Tanning by Leslie Falen.

“She has a room and she sets up her mobile tent where she can do airbrush tans,” said Brooling.

There’s also a line of sink care products and some locally-made knitted crafts, including dish cloths and starched bowls.

The business is in a 1889 house in Old Town that is owned buy the Port of Silverdale and was previously a bridal consignment shop and before that a photography studio.

Brooling grew up in Silverdale and graduated from Central Kitsap High School in 1995. She attended Olympic College and then Western Washington University. It was at that time that she found she had an interest in makeup.

“I knew I wanted to be a make up artist,” she said. “But I didn’t know that meant skincare, too. I didn’t know what an esthetician was. I ended up getting an esthetician license.”

She attended ABC Esthetics Northwest in Bellevue, and also got licensed as a nail technician. She learned about makeup application, but focused on waxing and skincare.

Brooling worked in Seattle for several months before deciding that she wanted to work closer to home. She got a job at a Silverdale area day spa doing waxing and worked there for 11 years. During those years she got married, had a daughter and then got divorced. She was working long days and still not making ends meet. She faced bankruptcy.

But in August 2010, Brooling began to turn things around and decided that she wanted to be her own boss. She opened up shop in the 3100 Building on Bucklin Hill Road.

“It was a very small location,” she said. “Eventually my clients found us and at times, they’d be standing in the hall waiting for their appointments because I didn’t have a waiting area.”

In October 2011, Brooling moved to another location at that office building, where she added another treatment room and added another esthetician.

And then a few months ago, Brooling found the location on Washington Avenue.

“I saw it posted on Facebook,” she said. “Right away I knew it would be perfect.”

The house has been gutted and remodeled to suit her needs, she said. The floor was leveled and the walls were painted.

“Even with that, this house still has a lot of age and character to it,” she said. “Like people tell me my sign is crooked and I tell them, ‘No, it’s the wall.”

Even the mirror in the bathroom is a “laughable moment,” as she says.

“It is a bit crooked,” she said. “But I’m not sure if it’s the mirror, the wall or the floor.”

Nonetheless, she loves the new location.

“I hope to be able to find out about the history of this house,” she said. “I’d love to find an original photograph of it.”

Most of her clients are women, but she does have some men.

“They manscape,” she joked. “And they are the guys you wouldn’t expect – the military guys and the hardcore manly men.”

Fees vary and charges are by 15 minutes. Waxing of all areas is available. Most services can be done in 15 minutes.

“My clients can come in on a lunch hour or a break and they don’t have to spend their day off or weekend days getting treatments,” Brooling said.

Clients can book online and they can get text or email reminders of their appointments.

Most clients have treatments every four weeks.

Having hair removed by waxing isn’t necessarily a sign of being vain, Brooling said.

“Simply having your eyebrows waxed is not a sign of vanity,” she said. “It’s a sign that you care about your grooming and that you want to be the best you can be. Waxing can add self-confidence and make you feel better about yourself.”

Client Holly Jackson agrees.

“The unibrow runs in our family,” she joked. “It’s something all the women in our family have to deal with. It bolster’s my confidence to have that under control.”

Jackson comes to Brooling from Port Orchard.

“It’s the atmosphere here,” she said. “They are very personable.”

Brooling said she credits her friends and family, her daughter, Roxanne, and her clients with her success.

“They all gave me lots of positive reinforcement through all the bad times,” she said.

To schedule an appointment or find out more about waxing services, call 360-620-0697, or go to www.elizabethshouseofwax.com.