Celebrating the Soft Opening: Finding Silver Pennies Studio

A dream came true for us over the weekend. We opened our doors to the public for the very first time, celebrating the soft opening of Finding Silver Pennies Studio. It wasn’t perfect. We still don’t have signage and there were unpacked boxes and original paintings propped on the floor, but we celebrated anyway.

I am overwhelmed by the response on Instagram and Facebook and by all the friends (old and new) who stopped in to welcome us to our new neighborhood. I know many of you read the blog from around the country and even further afield in Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia. So I thought you all may want a peek at the soft opening.

A Peek Inside

As many of you know, we have been hard at work since receiving the key on June 1st. I shared this post about the new space. It was our goal to try and open during the South Shore Arts Festival which was this past weekend and we did it!

The studio consists of two large light filled rooms which we will use for retail and intimate art classes. We also have a kitchenette, bathroom, gallery hallway, and a back room with gorgeous views of James Brook. The back room I will use for storage of inventory, wholesale packing, and my office. I thought I’d paint back there too but I need a more spacious surface so will be painting the front room. In fact, we just got another table from Ikea for this purpose.

Warm and Inviting

I want the studio to feel like my home away from home. I want everyone who walks through the door to feel a warm embrace and encouragement to create.

I fell in love with the existing studio colors and selected furnishings and soft goods that would highlight them. I love the old scrub pine piece I found at Goodies II. Some people thought I moved the Welsh dresser to the studio, but it’s still in my dining room.

We cut down the bar to create a counter that feels like it was made for the space. I color matched the wall color to create an elegant space for check out. We topped it with a nautical chart of Boston Harbor & Cohasset Harbor.

The long table is from Ikea and can extend for classes. It’s solid pine and so sturdy. There are bread board ends that store under the sides of the table when not in use. I really wanted something that felt old but was sturdy for classes.

The bookshelves are also Ikea and create a blank canvas to style on.

Customized Art

John created this beautiful oil painting to cover an electrical panel. It’s a painting of Minot Light with crashing waves. He knows the colors I love and it was amazing to see him paint this piece. We actually hung it up still wet and so many people are asking to buy it. He may do more paintings of the lighthouse.

A Place to Create

John and I have been planning a schedule. We will both be teaching various classes. If you’d like to be the first to know about classes you can get on our mailing list here.

Classes will include pop up cards, perspective, watercolor seascapes, decoupaged shells, free flowing florals, and basic watercolor techniques. We’re so excited to start teaching! It’s our goal for this to be a relaxed environment where creativity can bloom. Classes will be intimate, with maximum number of participants at 8 people.

Old and New Friends

Over the weekend old friends and new walked through our doors. We also welcomed some four legged friends too. It felt like quite the celebration and feels so wonderful for Finding Silver Pennies to have a dedicated home in Cohasset Harbor.

Location and Summer Hours

This is a working study so I will be there when we aren’t open for retail but I will be busy painting new designs for new products and also filling wholesale orders. Our studio locations is: 97 Elm Street in Cohasset Harbor.

Our retail hours will be as follows for summer:

Thursdays noon-6pm

Fridays 10am-4pm

Saturday 10am-4pm

We may increase hours during the summer depending on interest and may add more classes based on interest too.

So Grateful

We are so very grateful for all of your support. It really means the world to my whole family. Please share this post with anyone who may be interested.

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