Crafting with Wood, Paint, Wine, and Powertools

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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until i hit the stage

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[Music]

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what is up everybody this is another

00:40
episode of greetings from the garden

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state we're here in livingston new

00:42
jersey today at board and brush with the

00:44
owner julie schachter julie welcome to

00:46
the show hi thank you thank you for

00:48
having me here this is a cool place

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there's a lot of crafts on the walls

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over here you can see on the video

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screen over there there's a lot of tools

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i don't really use a lot of power tools

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but you know i'm sure we're going to

00:59
learn a lot about that as we kind of

01:01
progress through this episode so let's

01:03
learn like what is board and brush like

01:04
for the people that may be unaware what

01:07
is it

01:08
so boredom brush is a really cool place

01:10
where people can come for a night out a

01:13
party a family get-together bachelorette

01:16
party corporate event

01:18
and create something unique that

01:21
they

01:22
will be proud to put on their walls or

01:23
their home or give for a gift

01:26
it's a little bit like the concept of a

01:29
paint and sip

01:30
except for when you come you get to

01:32
select what you want to make it's all

01:34
personalized it's wood projects

01:36
and it's kind of foolproof so you don't

01:39
have to be artistic you don't have to

01:41
have any talent to leave and have an

01:43
amazing project and

01:46
be proud and be like ah i can't believe

01:48
i made that and feel really good about

01:50
it and

01:51
put it up on your walls yeah and

01:53
it we make everything from clocks trays

01:57
signs um so many different things yeah

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and everything from kids to we've had an

02:02
85th birthday party here so that's

02:04
pretty cool it's kind of for everyone

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yeah so i mean it must be something

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where it's like even though you may not

02:09
have like experience using like the

02:12
drills and hammers over there i see and

02:14
like you know tools like that i'm sure

02:16
that there's you know you kind of like

02:17
explain the safety side of it do you do

02:20
like stuff that you know you do that

02:22
they you don't let them do

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so for the most part it's very hands-on

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it's a diy workshop where you come and

02:30
the idea is that we're here to help

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but for the most part we try to

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encourage our guests to kind of step out

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of their comfort zone if they haven't

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worked with tools

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obviously we're not giving them access

02:41
to our you know chop saw or anything

02:44
crazy like that but

02:45
if they haven't used hammers if they

02:47
haven't used

02:49
various tools or drills like this is a

02:51
kind of a cool experience and it's

02:53
instructor-led so

02:56
we teach you all the steps but if you're

02:57
not comfortable with a step of course

02:59
we'll be happy to do it for you yeah

03:01
exactly which is good because i think

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maybe sometimes people might get a

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little bit like oh i don't want to crush

03:06
my finger you know what i mean i mean i

03:08
wouldn't want to do that but um

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all right so how long have you been open

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here

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so we've been open about three and a

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half years um

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in this location and it's been

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a great addition i think to the

03:21
community in livingston but we do have

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people that come from a really far

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distance because it's a really unique

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business

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and

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i get people who sometimes even are

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coming from pennsylvania or new york and

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different places and i'll see their you

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know registration home address and i'm

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like oh my gosh they're coming like 90

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minutes

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but it's um generally a three-hour

03:42
workshop so

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you know they're coming with their

03:45
friends or their family or their

03:46
co-workers and they're spending some

03:48
like quality time together they're not

03:50
on their phones they have to interact

03:53
right so it's it kind of is uh you know

03:56
brings you back a little bit

03:58
to um like a time where you really had

04:01
to communicate and do something active

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and it gives you a an opportunity to do

04:06
something fun together and really

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connect in a meaningful way which is one

04:09
of the things that i love about this

04:12
business it's a it's a lot of fun and

04:16
it's it's three hours you can bring your

04:18
own wine people bring snacks

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prior to covid we used to have people

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bringing food from one end of the studio

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to the other it literally looked like

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you know the craziest catering you could

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imagine

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um but people still do bring can bring

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their food and their snacks and whatnot

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and we just kind of

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isolate people who come with their own

04:40
groups to stay amongst themselves

04:42
instead of there's not as much

04:43
co-mingling going on right exactly um so

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like what you said you've been open for

04:47
about three and a half years in this

04:48
location so what was the

04:50
like the driver behind that like

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did you have a background in you know

04:55
construction i guess

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so i'm i've always been handy right so

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if you go into my house the tools are

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mine i'm kind of misfixed if something

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needs to be fixed hung

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[Music]

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taken apart put together if there's a

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box of ikea stuff that has 3 000 pieces

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and instructions in chinese like i'm

05:13
your girl so

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that's always been my thing i've uh i

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have a really handy dad and when i was

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growing up it was really important for

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him that

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i would do the same types of chores as

05:26
my brother so if my dad was getting five

05:29
yards of mulch dropped in the driveway i

05:31
got a shovel right um if we were

05:33
building the deck i got knee pads so

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he really taught me a lot about like

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construction and tools and

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i have a master a collection of tools

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throughout my whole life and i've always

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enjoyed like building and creating

05:48
things

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i actually built all the furniture in

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the studio i built the bar i built the

05:53
entry desk and all the tables um

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and i i have some other projects in mind

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but

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yeah i guess you could say i'm i'm handy

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right but then like what was the like

06:03
what pushed you to be like hey i'm gonna

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open a board and brush in livingston you

06:07
know to kind of like expand that out to

06:10
my love for that maybe out to other

06:11
people or did you like go to a board and

06:13
brush or a similar type thing and be

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like this place is awesome so i think it

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was about 2018

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and like everyone else i was on facebook

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and a picture came up of a girl that i

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knew in high school who i probably

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hadn't spoken to since high school

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outside of social media and she posted a

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picture of herself and her friends

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holding these signs like

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so much fun best night out and literally

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like my heart stopped

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i thought what is that i need to find

06:42
out more and immediately started

06:44
investigating i found out that there was

06:46
a new studio that was opening in cherry

06:50
hill and they were one of the first

06:52
classes right as they opened in 2018

06:56
and immediately it was like on my radar

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i felt like this was something i wanted

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to bring to my community i needed to

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learn what it was i almost knew in my

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heart the minute i saw that picture that

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this was

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exactly

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what i needed and it was exactly the

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right location

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in livingston for

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something like this for my community we

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don't have anything like this in the

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local area

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um

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and i thought it would be a great

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addition

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for livingston and the surrounding area

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so

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i just i just felt like

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that's exactly what i need to be doing

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yeah investigated did a lot of due

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diligence

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went to a you know board and brush had a

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great experience

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and then kind of continued from there it

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took me some time from then until i

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opened

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because you know it doesn't happen

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overnight but i was on that path from

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the time i saw that picture

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until i opened my doors and

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here we are here we are right and it

07:52
looks great thank you so um you

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mentioned earlier that this is different

07:56
than your nor like uh paint and sip type

07:59
thing and that you could pick your own

08:00
project but can you take us through

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maybe like the process like how it works

08:03
like somebody shows up and they're here

08:04
for this three hour class like how like

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they take me through like the steps sure

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so when you register for a class you get

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to select from over 400 different

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project options you select your project

08:18
at the time of registration and when you

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come to your class we

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you know put you with your people

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whoever that may be

08:26
your project is there it starts with raw

08:29
materials so you get unfinished pine

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wood that's in pieces a lot of times and

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we teach you how to go through the steps

08:36
to have your finished project by the end

08:38
of your three hours so we do some

08:41
distressing so we take that new wood and

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we use tools like hammers and meat

08:45
cleavers and screws and nails and

08:48
different things to give it a look of

08:49
reclaimed wood which is kind of very in

08:52
that shabby chic

08:55
farmhouse

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type aesthetic

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not everyone wants to do that some

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people have a modern aesthetic and

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that's okay because we can work with any

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like

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any type of decor yeah

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once they do the distressing they sand

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the pieces they choose from a various

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selection of stain colors we teach them

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how to do faux finishes they assemble

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the wood with tools

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you know putting the boards together and

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assembling it whatever it may be

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and then they do some stenciling and

09:25
painting they make all the creative

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decisions at the workshop so what they

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see online when they select their

09:32
project are just examples of what could

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be but

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you could be as simple and say

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ugh i don't have a creative bone in my

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body i've never picked up a tool and

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still leave with something amazing or

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you could be an artist and really go for

09:45
it and make something incredible yeah

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where we're blown away we're just like

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oh my gosh i can't that's amazing you

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know so

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we get people all across the spectrum

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all ages abilities um

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and you know we actually actually work

10:00
with a lot of special needs

10:02
organizations as well who do programs

10:04
here we also work with students who work

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here as a part of like their work study

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program so

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it's kind of for everybody yeah yeah

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which i think is great is it hard like

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as you as i would imagine that you're

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the instructor for most if not all of

10:19
these classes right

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so i actually have an amazing staff that

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most of which have been with me since

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the day we opened and i feel so lucky

10:27
and truly blessed because

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right now it's women we have had a lot

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of male um employees as well but we're

10:36
kind of down to a a group of women who

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are kind of the rock of this business

10:41
alongside me and i couldn't do it

10:43
without them and that's the truth so we

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have a lot of um i have a

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variety of instructors who are anything

10:50
you know most of them have full-time

10:52
jobs you know they're teachers they

10:55
work in business they do various

10:57
different things and

10:59
you know work here as a second job

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we also employ high school students who

11:04
work here you know outside of school and

11:06
then i have some other employees who are

11:09
stay-at-home moms and or who are looking

11:10
for

11:11
something to do and just love working

11:14
here yeah right right yeah which is

11:15
which is great because because i was

11:16
going to ask like because i wasn't sure

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and you know i feel like if you're the

11:21
one that has to instruct all these

11:22
classes and know how to do like 400

11:24
different kinds of projects you need to

11:26
be like on top of your game yeah you

11:28
know so we introduce new projects every

11:30
month we have on the first of every

11:32
month we introduce anywhere from 10 or

11:34
more new project options and then we

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also have

11:38
selections that sometimes come mid-month

11:40
depending on like seasonal or maybe it's

11:43
like a special release which is really

11:45
cool because

11:46
for our loyal customers who come on a

11:48
regular basis and we do have a lot of

11:50
those they love to see like what's

11:51
coming out what's next

11:53
you know yeah what am i making the next

11:55
time i come so

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sometimes they'll see something someone

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will see something on our walls and we

12:00
only have so much wall space so we can

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only put so many examples up there

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but they'll see something and be like oh

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i didn't see that when i registered i'm

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making that the next time i'm here and

12:12
they already have it planned so which is

12:14
great it is yeah and but no matter what

12:16
you're making you're kind of going

12:18
through the same process so if you're

12:19
making a clock you're going through the

12:21
same basic steps as somebody who's

12:23
making a wall sign or a tray

12:26
whatever or a coat rack whatever it may

12:28
be

12:29
the steps are kind of the same so as an

12:32
instructor or an assistant working in

12:34
the workshop we know what all the

12:36
varieties are but

12:38
you know if you and i were working on

12:40
two different things we'd kind of be um

12:43
working

12:44
you know along the same path right doing

12:47
the same steps exactly yeah finished

12:49
products going to look different basic

12:50
steps to kind of like maybe early on

12:52
those basic steps are going to look a

12:53
lot that are very similar i would i

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would imagine perhaps yeah awesome all

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right so that was great uh so what we're

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going to do is we're going to take and i

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know we're going to get into like a

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little demo just to kind of tease that

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and then people that are watching on

13:05
youtube will be able to see it people

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are listening will be able to hear it um

13:08
and then they can go to the youtube

13:09
channel and actually see it but we're

13:10
gonna do that a little bit later uh so

13:12
for right now we're gonna take our first

13:13
break of the episode uh this is the

13:15
greetings from the garden state podcast

13:16
we're here in livingston new jersey at

13:18
board and brush with julie schachter i'm

13:19
mike hamm we'll be right back

13:21
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13:58
what's up everybody it's demo time not

14:00
demolition time but we're actually going

14:01
to do a demonstration of what you guys

14:04
do here at board and brush which is i'm

14:06
very excited about so if it gets loud on

14:07
your headphones when you're listening

14:09
just turn us down for this segment but

14:11
uh so julie let's let's do it like what

14:13
do we do all right

14:14
so basically when people come to

14:16
boarding brush they're going to start

14:17
with raw wood

14:19
that looks like this or something like

14:21
this because you have more than 400

14:22
projects to select from but you're going

14:25
to take your wood

14:27
and you're going to start with the raw

14:28
wood and turn it into a finished project

14:31
like this here's one example

14:34
and just to show you

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[Music]

14:37
that there's so much you can do this is

14:40
the same exact sign but with a very

14:42
different technique so it looks

14:43
completely different and

14:46
you as

14:47
the customer get to make it however you

14:49
want to make it but everyone starts the

14:51
same with raw materials and

14:54
what we're going to do first is we're

14:55
going to do a little distressing so with

14:57
tools like a hammer

15:00
we have meat cleavers

15:02
we have screws and

15:04
chains

15:05
and some wire brushes

15:07
we're going to take a minute and we're

15:09
going to do a little distressing to make

15:11
it look like it's more reclaimed wood so

15:13
with your hammer you're going to kind of

15:15
hit it

15:16
on an angle to give it a little

15:18
half moon shape

15:20
like you're supposed to hit with a hand

15:22
yeah or we can put some scratch marks in

15:25
so we're going to do a little

15:26
distressing you can use these different

15:28
tools to get

15:30
different marks you could use

15:33
to put some different marks as well

15:36
put the chains down get some chain link

15:38
marks so we'll just take a minute and go

15:40
for it right big stress relief all right

15:42
go ahead

15:51
and a little wire brush too

15:54
gives it some scratch marks

15:57
[Music]

16:00
all right okay so that is a good one for

16:03
sure it is definitely a good stress

16:04
relief and when everyone's banging

16:06
it feels pretty good yeah all right so

16:08
now in your next step what we're going

16:10
to be doing is

16:12
actually we're going to do a little

16:14
sanding we're not going to this is a

16:15
little bit of a boring step but just for

16:17
demonstration you can take your

16:19
sandpaper and we're just going to like

16:21
sand the edges of your wood

16:24
so

16:25
we just want to kind of sand out the

16:27
edge so you don't have any sharp

16:29
corners

16:30
[Music]

16:34
we don't have to worry about the top

16:36
parts of the wood but

16:39
[Music]

16:41
and people love to sand because it's

16:42
also very therapeutic yeah sometimes i

16:45
feel like standing for me sometimes is

16:47
kind of like nails on a chalkboard

16:48
sometimes like i catch it the wrong way

16:50
though yeah i don't know it freaks me

16:52
out it gives me like the heebie-jeebies

16:54
it can do that a little bit

16:55
all right so in our next step we're

16:57
going to be staining okay

16:59
so

17:01
we wear gloves because ladies we don't

17:03
want to ruin any manicures for sure

17:07
so with our gloves and our little cloth

17:11
what we're going to do is we're going to

17:13
be

17:14
using our stain and i chose dark walnut

17:17
and we're going to add a little bit of

17:19
steam to our boards

17:24
and then we're just going to

17:26
use the cloth to really rub the steam

17:31
into the wood

17:33
and make sure it gets nice and absorbed

17:34
so it's not wet and drippy

17:36
[Music]

17:39
so these are steps that people do over

17:41
the course of three hours we're gonna

17:43
condense it really quick and probably

17:45
not finish the whole thing just for

17:46
demonstration purposes so people can see

17:49
a little bit of what we do it would be

17:50
our longest episode ever if we did it

17:53
it would be

17:56
so once the boards are stained people

17:58
have an option to add different types of

18:02
faux finishes you can either leave it

18:05
with a natural wood finish like what we

18:07
have here

18:09
or you can do a variety of finishes over

18:12
the top and the example that i showed

18:15
here is an example of like putting a dry

18:17
brush over your stain so there are a lot

18:19
of different things that you can do

18:22
and once your boards are stained

18:24
which ours clearly aren't yet but once

18:27
they are

18:28
um the next step would be for us would

18:30
be to assemble the boards so that

18:33
they go from being

18:35
all individual boards

18:38
to being together in one piece so this

18:41
is where some people get really nervous

18:44
because

18:45
they've never used a tool in their life

18:47
but we help them

18:50
get over their fear and teach them how

18:52
to use them

18:53
so we're gonna let you do that today

18:55
okay

18:57
do people like so one of the things that

18:59
i think is interesting about this is

19:00
like because you're just like beating

19:02
the hell out of these boards with a

19:03
hammer and all these other tools and

19:05
staining is not you know it's not like

19:08
paint like you're not to get it you know

19:10
the wrong color or whatever it's like

19:12
really something that you can't

19:13
necessarily like mess up you can't you

19:15
really can't mess it up and we give a

19:17
lot of do's and don'ts you know don't

19:19
use too much stain don't use too much

19:21
paint but other than that

19:23
you can't mess this up so

19:26
once we have the whole thing stained

19:29
we're then going to use our power tools

19:31
and assemble the boards with screws

19:34
and i'll just do one over here just to

19:36
kind of demonstrate

19:39
how it would work

19:40
so we're going to hold the pressure down

19:42
on both sides

19:44
and

19:45
just put our little screw in i'll let

19:47
you do over there

19:52
[Music]

19:55
perfect so we would be putting screws up

19:57
and down the board so that all of the

19:59
slats are attached and then generally

20:01
for this type of project because it goes

20:03
on the wall we would put a wall hanger

20:05
up

20:06
as our next step

20:08
depending on what your project is you

20:10
get a stencil that is personalized and

20:14
to your specs whatever you selected when

20:16
you register yeah

20:18
and we teach you how to peel the stencil

20:20
we teach you how to place it on the

20:21
board and then you get to do the

20:23
painting which is at the end so people

20:26
think that this is just a painting

20:28
experience it's a lot more than painting

20:29
you're actually

20:31
really starting with raw materials and

20:34
going through all the steps and painting

20:36
is just one of many so

20:37
with that you get to select from

20:40
you know 80 different colors on our

20:42
paint bar and we teach you how to do

20:44
that and then

20:46
you take your project and go so are they

20:47
all wood projects i'm looking at that

20:49
one on the wall behind us which was on

20:51
the on the camera before the byob that

20:53
looks like it's metal it is that's metal

20:55
that's actually decoration for the

20:57
studios we have a lot of really cool

20:59
things you know like these old farmers

21:02
saws and different things that decorate

21:04
our studio walls but

21:06
um we do do a lot of most of our

21:08
projects are wood-based um

21:10
but there's a variety of projects so we

21:12
have like a ton of backyard games you

21:14
know we have like giant dice we have

21:17
giant jenga we have corn holes we do

21:20
some really cool things um we do things

21:23
that have like beer openers um on them

21:26
like our beer snob sign over there we do

21:29
clocks like what you see on the wall

21:30
over there we do all different types of

21:33
trays and um centerpiece boxes for the

21:36
table so most things are wood

21:38
we have toyed with other materials but

21:41
what we found is that for the most part

21:44
wood generally like generally used is

21:46
yeah yeah it is right yeah very cool

21:49
yeah so this has been this is a great

21:51
demonstration so and then people like

21:53
when they're done they just walk right

21:54
out when they're done they leave with

21:56
their project and it's ready to hang on

21:58
the wall or put on a table or use for a

22:00
try or put on your front porch we have

22:03
you know big signs that you can use to

22:05
decorate your your house we have

22:09
you know we have address signs that you

22:11
could i have one hanging on a tree that

22:14
says the number of my house which is one

22:16
of the

22:17
many signs that i have but trust me i'm

22:20
not over overly sane i could just see

22:22
like your walls are probably just

22:23
covered

22:25
[Music]

22:26
people ask me that all the time do you

22:28
have a sign in every room of your house

22:29
not necessarily every room but we do

22:32
have a lot so one of the things i would

22:33
ask also is like you know we're doing we

22:36
were just working on this project here

22:37
and this is like a decent sized thing

22:39
and i see some on the walls over there

22:40
that are big some are small does that

22:43
like change like the the pricing is it

22:45
just kind of you know or is it you know

22:46
you pay one thing and then you you're

22:48
good so for the most part

22:50
the cost is pretty flat it's 68 for you

22:54
to make any project in the gallery we do

22:56
have a variety of signs that have a five

22:58
dollar up charge because for example

23:01
a coat rack a four foot coat rack

23:04
comes with um

23:06
five or six hooks on it so projects that

23:09
have additions like that might have a

23:11
slight up charge but our standard

23:13
projects no matter the size whether it's

23:16
a 48 inch or a 24 or a 32 inch are all

23:20
68 yeah and that is inclusive of tax and

23:24
all of your

23:25
materials your instruction everything

23:27
from when you step in the door until you

23:29
leave yeah awesome awesome well this has

23:31
been fantastic this is like the first

23:33
time you've ever even done anything like

23:35
this usually it's just me and another

23:36
person just sitting and talking so this

23:38
was a great you know i got to beat up

23:40
some wood with the hammer and the meat

23:41
cleaver so what else do i get to do that

23:43
so um this is the greetings from the

23:45
garden state podcast i'm mike ham that's

23:47
julie schachter we're here in livingston

23:49
new jersey at board and brush we'll be

23:51
right back

23:54
it is time for today in new jersey

23:55
history on november 29 1745 jonathan

23:58
elmer was born in cedarville new jersey

24:01
throughout his career elmer practiced

24:02
medicine served as sheriff of cumberland

24:04
county and served as a militia officer

24:06
and captain in the american

24:07
revolutionary war later in his career he

24:09
was a delegate to the continental

24:10
congress three times served as a trustee

24:13
to what is now princeton university and

24:15
eventually was appointed the first

24:16
united states senator from new jersey

24:19
and that is today in new jersey history

24:25
and we're back this is the greetings

24:26
from the garden state podcast i'm mike

24:28
ham we're here in livingston new jersey

24:29
with julie schachter at board and brush

24:31
uh julie so in the first part of this

24:33
episode we talked a little bit about a

24:35
lot about kind of the background of the

24:36
business your background how you got

24:38
started in it what people can expect

24:39
when they kind of get in here and get

24:41
their hands dirty so to speak um so

24:44
i'm interested to kind of know because

24:46
you know we talked the first time we

24:47
talked on the phone about board and

24:49
brush and how it's you know been for you

24:51
and all that kind of stuff i think one

24:53
of the things that we focused on was the

24:55
fact that this is a place where people

24:56
actually have to come in

24:58
be around other people use what they do

25:00
you know like use the tools and be

25:03
around everybody and i'm sure maybe like

25:05
share tools at certain points in time um

25:07
so obviously i would imagine this was a

25:09
business that was not necessarily open

25:12
for a little bit you know and even maybe

25:14
now when we're recording this in october

25:15
this episode is going to post in

25:16
november um even now

25:19
you know i'm sure there are still some

25:20
people that are a little bit hesitant i

25:22
guess so what what's what has it been

25:24
like kind of you know being open for

25:26
three and a half years and having

25:27
basically like a year and a half of that

25:28
be as part of what we've gone through

25:30
over the last you know year and a half

25:33
good question loaded questions yeah

25:35
there's splashing yeah we can take it so

25:37
we can take it slow for sure so uh

25:40
the business has been amazing i think

25:43
from a business perspective it's a super

25:46
viable business concept that people love

25:49
and

25:50
covid was like

25:52
slamming on the brakes and

25:54
you know going in reverse gear yeah so

25:57
we did close for about four and a half

25:59
months during the peak times of covid

26:02
but we did pivot as a business and we

26:05
were able to

26:07
change the business a little bit during

26:09
that time and do things that that we

26:12
could we did take-home kits where people

26:15
could pick up

26:16
projects and take them home and work on

26:18
them with curbside pickup we actually

26:21
still do that today that's a big part of

26:23
what we do we added virtual workshops

26:25
where you can

26:27
organize a workshop you can either do

26:30
the take-home kits at home

26:32
and

26:33
or you can use a virtual instruction

26:36
through one of our instructors and we

26:37
give you like a zoom link and we take

26:40
you through the process we do a lot of

26:42
corporate events that way right now for

26:43
businesses that are still not back in

26:45
the office but want to do get together

26:47
type things

26:49
and then there was a time where we

26:52
pivoted a little bit more and became

26:54
more like a factory and

26:56
created the projects for people so

26:59
in the summer for example we made corn

27:01
hole boards which were amazing

27:04
we had corn hole boards from one end of

27:06
the studio to the other

27:08
and we were making you know we were

27:09
turning out like

27:11
30 cornhole

27:13
custom cornhole sets a week and

27:16
it's it's not the core model of our

27:17
business but it's something that we

27:19
still do if people we have a shop online

27:22
option now and if people want to

27:23
purchase things online for pickup that's

27:26
a big part of our business now as well

27:28
so yeah which i think is interesting

27:30
because i feel like you know

27:32
there's businesses that i'm sure that

27:34
kind of went through similar type things

27:36
that maybe aren't open now but i think

27:38
that maybe being kind of thinking

27:40
outside the box and seeing what could

27:42
stick you know or not seeing what could

27:44
stick but

27:45
doing things differently and then seeing

27:47
what can stick even after that so are

27:49
these things that you're talking about

27:50
are these things that you think will

27:51
stay even after everything gets totally

27:53
back to normal i do they definitely so

27:57
i feel that things are starting to

28:00
get

28:01
not back to where they were per se but

28:03
people are starting to come back in the

28:05
studio birthday parties are back kids

28:07
are back i mean it's wonderful to see

28:10
but we still have an element of people

28:12
who aren't ready for that and so

28:14
doing projects at home is still an

28:16
option virtual workshops are still an

28:18
option um purchasing something pre-made

28:21
is still an option and i think all of

28:23
these things would will just be a part

28:25
of our normal business you know moving

28:28
forward that's just that's just the new

28:30
business model so now as a as a board

28:33
and brush customer you can come in for

28:36
the full experience and make it yourself

28:38
and come with your friends your family

28:40
your coworkers whatever it may be or you

28:43
could do that virtually or you could do

28:45
it at home by yourself with your kids

28:47
you know we do

28:48
uh all of those things right so does

28:51
that make your job like easier or harder

28:53
to do like different types of things i

28:55
would imagine you know actually having

28:56
to come in here and be here for three

28:57
hours and teach a course or whatever you

29:00
know that takes up three hours of your

29:02
day and the whole thing but i also think

29:03
that maybe

29:04
you know being able to kind of do it

29:06
more remote and like be able to be more

29:08
maybe more places at more times maybe

29:11
that's better i don't know

29:12
like what do you like better do you like

29:14
having the energy here in the studio

29:15
yeah there's nothing like being in the

29:17
studio and having the music on and

29:20
having you know a lot of people who are

29:22
just having a great time you know nobody

29:25
nobody leaves here no matter what mood

29:27
you've come to us in no one leaves here

29:29
in a bad mood so it's just fun i mean

29:32
you we we do distressing you get to hit

29:34
you get to hit things with a hammer it's

29:36
like a great stress relief and it's fun

29:38
and then of course wine helps of course

29:40
so

29:41
i that's generally

29:44
my preference you know i'm looking

29:45
forward to that day where we have a

29:47
packed studio and there's wall-to-wall

29:49
people again but

29:51
there's also a lot of benefit to having

29:53
those other additions in the studio but

29:55
as far as like from a business owner's

29:56
perspective

29:58
it's still a lot of work to do all the

30:01
things that need to be done in

30:03
preparation for take-home

30:05
kits or pre-made projects

30:08
where you know the classes are kind of

30:12
what the

30:13
business was built around right so

30:16
juggling all those different things has

30:18
added a lot of variety to the business

30:20
but it's definitely made it more

30:21
complicated as a business owner and from

30:24
both an administrative perspective from

30:26
a staffing perspective so there are

30:28
challenges there yeah but i feel like

30:29
we've we're navigating them and

30:32
kind of

30:33
pivoting as i hated that word in kovic

30:36
but it's kind of the truth yeah we did

30:39
pivot where we had to yeah it's like the

30:40
most overused words but it's like that's

30:43
what everybody did so you need to you

30:45
know still do it so um the other

30:47
question i guess i would kind of have

30:48
kind of off of that or like are all the

30:50
classes private classes or do you do

30:52
stuff that's like hey today we're going

30:53
to teach you how to use a

30:55
drill like does that happen so we don't

30:58
we don't do we do

31:00
both private and public workshops you

31:02
know we have a lot of private events at

31:05
the studio and

31:07
we also have what we call pick your

31:09
project workshops where say you and your

31:11
girlfriend wanted to come and sign up

31:13
for class and join a public workshop

31:16
you'd be a part of it and maybe another

31:17
table would have you know

31:19
four ladies who were coming for a girls

31:21
night and another table might have you

31:23
know and some co-workers

31:25
we

31:26
because of kovid are keeping kind of all

31:29
of the people separate so that also

31:31
keeps our

31:32
capacity and our numbers down in the

31:34
studio but um

31:37
for private events we work it a little

31:38
differently if you're coming with your

31:40
own people and you guys are happy and

31:42
comfortable together we're happy to fill

31:44
the studio for you yeah so

31:46
two different ways of looking at it and

31:48
again it's made it a little bit harder

31:50
from both an administrative and a

31:51
management perspective and staffing and

31:53
everything else but

31:55
we're making it work right so which is

31:56
great it's awesome yeah no i think

31:58
that's so cool because it just like i

31:59
like to see

32:00
kind of you know how different

32:02
businesses and different business models

32:04
and what people did to pivot and you

32:06
know maybe like i'm very curious with a

32:09
lot of these places that we've talked to

32:10
if they are doing things differently

32:12
like what's sticking like what's

32:14
something that is maybe like a positive

32:15
that came out of it like hey this is

32:16
something that we never would have

32:17
thought of but for you know 2020 and the

32:20
whole thing um and now it's something

32:22
that's you know a viable part of our

32:23
business and we can kind of keep doing

32:25
that so um all right so we're gonna take

32:27
our second break uh of this episode

32:29
this is the greetings from the garden

32:30
state podcast i'm mike hamm that's julie

32:32
schachter we're here at board and brush

32:34
in livingston new jersey we'll be right

32:35
back

32:38
it is time for the new jersey fun fact

32:40
of the day did you know that the new

32:42
jersey state motto is liberty and

32:44
prosperity

32:46
and that is your new jersey fun fact of

32:48
the day

32:53
what's up everybody we're back this is

32:54
the greetings from the garden state

32:55
podcast we're here in livingston new

32:56
jersey i'm mike hamm uh with this is

32:59
julie schachter we're at board and brush

33:01
um so we've talked about the background

33:02
of the business we've talked about your

33:04
business or your background

33:06
we've talked about kind of how you've

33:08
navigated the last year and a half and

33:10
all that but one of the things that we'd

33:11
like to do with all of our episodes is

33:13
tie it back into the community somehow

33:17
so

33:18
be interested to know kind of like you

33:20
said you wanted to set something up here

33:21
in livingston because livingston in the

33:23
surrounding area doesn't really have

33:24
anything like this

33:26
it'll be a great addition to the

33:27
community but what are some ways that

33:29
maybe you interact with the community

33:30
outside of just having people in the

33:32
studio

33:33
so we've done

33:35
a lot of different things in the

33:36
community

33:37
well

33:38
most of what we do do is in the studio

33:40
but of course you know we do things

33:42
outside the studio like support schools

33:44
and fundraisers and sports teams

33:47
where we've

33:49
sponsored different

33:51
sports teams and had our logos on the

33:53
shirts or

33:54
um

33:55
you know where of course parts of tricky

33:57
trays and various fundraisers going on

34:00
but we also do fundraisers for the

34:02
community in the studio where we do a

34:04
give back for you know the total amount

34:07
spent we give a percentage back to any

34:10
non-profit organization or

34:14
cause and we've done a lot of those

34:16
types of workshops over the years

34:18
we also do

34:20
in through covid we've done

34:23
kind of more at-home kit type

34:25
fundraisers where

34:27
you know people can do those things but

34:28
at home and still get the benefit of a

34:31
donation from our organization

34:36
one of the things that made me feel

34:38
really good as an organization because

34:40
one of the elements of our business is

34:42
that we use a lot of gloves

34:44
and early in covid when

34:46
our first responders couldn't get access

34:49
to gloves

34:51
we had we were in a position where we

34:53
had thousands of pairs of gloves that we

34:55
were able to donate to saint barnabas

34:58
hospital awesome and

35:00
hopefully that was really beneficial to

35:02
the community yeah

35:04
we also work with a lot of special needs

35:06
groups that do both come in and work

35:09
with us and we also have

35:11
schools that we support where the kids

35:12
come in and do work programs and have

35:16
learned how to function as a

35:19
kind of employee and have tasks and

35:22
have been trained to work in the studio

35:25
with an aid oftentimes but

35:28
that's something that's kind of been

35:29
really important to us and we've been

35:30
doing since we opened so

35:33
they actually come we have a group

35:34
coming in today for that so that's that

35:37
makes me feel great um

35:39
was that something that was always i

35:41
don't mean to cut you off but was that

35:42
something that was always something that

35:43
you wanted to do from the get-go so like

35:45
from when you guys opened your door is

35:46
that something that you wanted to do or

35:48
that something that maybe like kind of

35:49
as you saw the benefits of being in the

35:51
community like hey we can do so many

35:53
different things like what was the kind

35:54
of thought process there i feel like it

35:58
was a natural progression after i opened

36:00
where

36:01
we had a few groups in

36:04
where either we had administrators for

36:07
special needs groups or we had special

36:09
needs

36:11
kids and adults that were part of it and

36:15
were really able to participate in a way

36:17
that

36:19
they can't always do and so when i saw

36:21
that i really felt like this is a great

36:23
opportunity for us and we've worked with

36:25
several different schools where we've

36:27
had kids both here as a part of the

36:30
program and working in a workshop

36:32
or

36:33
that actually work here as a part of

36:35
their school program and a part of their

36:37
education yeah it's just been a great um

36:40
a great part of being a part of the

36:43
community and i feel like it's um

36:46
it's great for us because it gives us

36:48
like a way to give back and really good

36:50
experience and i think it's great for

36:52
them because

36:53
you know i've had kids saying

36:55
to me and to their

36:57
aides

36:58
this is my favorite place in the world

37:00
can we come back here next week and that

37:02
makes me feel great right as a business

37:04
owner yeah so right it goes beyond the

37:06
business right it's just like it's like

37:08
that's how that's what i like about this

37:10
part of the show is that like it shows

37:12
that you know obviously every business

37:13
that's open the objective of a business

37:15
is to make money yeah but like i feel

37:18
like if you put more good out into the

37:19
world and you attract the people that

37:21
you vibe with you know generally those

37:23
are good people too and i think that

37:24
that's amazing so um

37:27
do you foresee that that's obviously

37:29
gonna be something you could just

37:30
continue to do are you trying to do

37:32
other things as well yeah so we've also

37:34
done things with the communities like

37:36
after

37:37
after school programs

37:39
camp programs

37:42
they had a little bit of we had a little

37:43
bit of a pause on those programs with

37:45
covid but i'm hoping that as things

37:48
normalize we'll start to bring that back

37:50
into the studio where kids can start to

37:53
participate as a part of a school

37:55
program we've done virtual programs

37:58
where the kids are doing a project in

37:59
school we've worked with a lot of school

38:01
districts that way

38:03
we supply the materials they watch on a

38:05
screen

38:06
they do this you know project as a part

38:08
of their art program

38:10
or

38:12
it's

38:12
part of a camp program in the summer so

38:15
i'm really hoping that those things will

38:18
continue to come back full circle yeah

38:20
absolutely so um all right so this has

38:22
been great so far um i know we're going

38:25
to do the demo here in a little bit but

38:27
before i would not want to miss i think

38:29
we're going to put the we're going to

38:30
cut the demo earlier into this episode

38:33
so um for now what we're going to do is

38:35
we're going to make sure that people

38:36
know where to go to get

38:38
more of this if they're interested in

38:40
coming and having a class or doing a you

38:42
know private public whatever

38:44
so what's the website what's the

38:45
instagram handle like where do you want

38:47
people to go to get more information

38:48
sure

38:49
so our website is uh www.bordenbrush.com

38:54
forward slash livingston that brings you

38:56
right to our calendar of events

38:58
we generally have workshops every

39:01
weekend

39:02
you know friday through sunday and then

39:05
a variety of weeknights if you have six

39:08
or more people we can always add a

39:09
workshop to our calendar if there's not

39:11
one there that works for your group

39:13
and we do daytime events for corporate

39:16
daytime events for you know we've done

39:18
for nursing homes and other you know

39:21
day type groups

39:24
you can find us on instagram at board

39:26
and brush livingston facebook as well

39:28
board and brush livingston

39:30
we you know try to do some lives and

39:33
various things so people can see in

39:35
action what we're really doing here

39:36
right um

39:38
and yeah it's it's a

39:40
you can check out our social media or

39:42
our calendar of events on our website

39:43
awesome and then what's the address here

39:46
i forget so it's 25 west northfield we

39:49
are

39:50
pretty conveniently located from most

39:53
major highways we're not far from route

39:56
10 and the eisenhower circle

39:58
we're not far from 280 we're not far

40:01
from route 24 or 78 so we're kind of

40:04
like in the center hub of all this

40:06
variety of transportation and fairly

40:08
easy to get

40:10
we also have a huge parking lot so we've

40:12
had buses pull up we've had you know we

40:15
have a huge parking lot and plenty of

40:18
off street parking awesome great all

40:20
right so this has been great i'll make

40:21
sure that i put those links like always

40:22
in the show notes if you want to reach

40:24
out to the show you can go to greetings

40:25
from thegardenstate.com greetings from

40:27
thegardenstate gmail.com is the email

40:29
address

40:30
julie this was awesome i really

40:31
appreciate you having me here and doing

40:33
this with us today

40:34
i'm excited for that but obviously when

40:36
people listen to this it will have

40:37
already happened in the episode so um

40:40
appreciate it thank you thank you thanks

40:41
so much for coming of course and

40:43
everybody else listening thank you and

40:44
we'll catch you next time

40:47
[Music]

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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[Music]