Our Interview with Merissa Fazio, Owner of Board & Brush
“Every aspect of the workshop will touch somebody in some way but watching these people understand that they can do these things... that part is unbelievable.”
What can people expect from an evening at Board and Brush?
An absolute night of joy and DIY magic! It’s a great time to be in community with other people and build something that you’re actually going to want to hang on your wall. But then also, you get to glean inspiration and gain knowledge. Our hope is that you can take what you learn here and do some of these projects at home! We have so many people that come in here that literally tell us “if I’d known it was this easy to stain something I would’ve done this forever ago!” And so it is convenient that we provide these tools, but in the end you get to go home with the knowledge and the awareness that these projects are totally doable.
What is your favorite story on the job?
So, can I share my favorite part of the job? [Absolutely!] My favorite thing is looking at people’s faces when they pull the stencil off and they’re like- wow, I just made that! Because, I mean – hopefully not blood- but sweat and tears go into it, unless of course you hit yourself with a meat tenderizer (laughs) but anyway just watching people’s faces. People come in here all the time and just seeing them look at their projects that they created from nothing. Their face is priceless.
Every aspect of the workshop will touch somebody in some way but watching these people understand that they can do these things… that part is unbelievable. We have some women come in here that have never touched a hammer, let alone a drill. And when you teach them how to do that… it’s great.
Why should people choose to come here for a date night or on a Saturday weekend?
Because you’re getting an experience out of it! You’re not just going out and purchasing something or having a drink that will be out of you the next morning (laughs). You’re walking away with this amazing project that you made and you walk away with the memories of making it.
It really is a good date – even for a first date or a blind date- because you have enough distractions going on where there is a little less pressure to just be talking the whole time or, on the other hand, you can bring in some alcohol and have some great conversations over your project.
I know I had trouble deciding what project to work on from your website. They all looked so wonderful!
Yes, there are a lot to choose from! And we love that too. I mean, there are a couple of places in town that do similar things, but our place is really going to let you choose what you work on and support you. Not everybody wants the dog under the tree painting or whatever. If you go through all of the projects on our website, it does take a while to commit to one because there are so many to choose from. Some people who know that they specifically want a Christmas board or something might have an easier time choosing, they go straight to the Christmas category, but first-timers tend to take a while deciding what project to do, I think they’re just blown away with the options.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know about the business?
We are laidback—we have a group that comes in and makes Swedish meatballs when they come in- but yeah, we want you to have a good time and we are here to make that happen in our workshops. We don’t nickel and dime people… we are BYOB after four. We do kids’ birthday parties, bachelorette parties, team-building, corporate meetings, everything... We try to incorporate different things at our events too. We are all about encouraging people and empowering people.
We loved interviewing Merissa! The staff at Board & Brush were amazingly kind and helpful too! To explore the Board and Brush website for available workshops and projects CLICK HERE.
