Thanks to YOU, We're Growing!

Our farmhouse is bursting at the seams with soap:  soap ingredients, soap molds and equipment, soap that's curing, and soap that's waiting to be wrapped and shipped. Then there's all the skin care stuff….  I hate to tell you how long it's been since we've actually used the kitchen table for eating.

So, with that in mind, and with a most heartfelt "Thank you" to all of you that have supported us through your encouragement and your purchases, we are beyond delighted to tell you that we will soon be moving our soap and skin care production to a studio in downtown Saint Albans!  We signed a lease in late December but just got approval from the City's development board this week.   Woohoo!

The space has been empty for several years so while we've been going through the permitting process, we have been busy cleaning and painting, and turning the space into a bright, easy to clean studio.  We love the historic downtown location, and are excited about all the new growth and revitalization efforts under way.  We think it's a great time to be joining the downtown business community.

Moving to a larger space will allow us to work more efficiently, and maintain even tighter quality controls.  We will continue to work in small batches with mostly organic ingredients, and will continue to seek out and feature local ingredients when possible.  More work space also allows us more "lab" space as we continue to test and develop new products.

Along with a more efficient work space, our new studio downtown will also offer a tiny space where we can meet with our clients on an appointment basis.  It's pretty tough to share a meaningful conversation about skincare needs at Farmer's Markets! We also plan to maintain some regular open hours for those who just want to pop in.  We think there is value in purchasing natural skin care products where they are made by someone you know.

We're almost done, both with the permitting and with the work we needed to do inside. We're hoping for a mid-March opening.  We'll keep you posted.

Our new studio address is 118 North Main Street, Saint Albans.  It's one block north of City Hall, directly across the street from the new Ace Hardware building under construction.



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Here are some photos of the new space and our progress thus far if you'd like to follow along.

This was our first walk through.  In the back of the space there's a little utility room to the left, plus an office and large storage closet.  There's also a bathroom that's out of sight.  
Inside and out: 

Step one was to repaint everything to brighten and clean. We got rid of the orange panels and most of the black trim work. The production area is the main space you see (now white).  The floor tiles were really loose and needed replacing, so that became project number two. 

Now we are working on finishing the parlor area.  We've been slowly gathering furniture and storage cases. The top part of the walls are painted, and the trim is mostly finished.  We're going to try wallpapering the lower half with that green burlap fabric behind the chair…. We'll see how that goes!  

First though we've got to get all the stuff that's been collecting in the space to it's rightful place, including the sink!  (I LOVE my new sink! Lots of room for soap buckets! :)

















We'll add more photos as we make progress.