Colors & Bottles – Cleveland

Tried to get a hold of them today after being referred by a friend. Website is not valid, phone # is a fax. I think they are out of business.

Bought a groupon as a Christmas gift (expires Oct 2015), registered for a class in May and Tracie Sell VP of Private Event Operations canceled the class and told us to book another in May. My mom emailed a few times to ask about other upcoming months because we did not have any interest in the other two May paintings and did not receive a single response. There aren’t any classes posted for the rest of the year. We didn’t want to waste our money painting something we were not interested in. I cannot get in touch through email, phone, or Facebook. I am completely disgusted with the unprofessionalism.

Colors & Bottles is one of those paint and drink classes that you can sign up for. They have pre-​set dates that you and your friends can sign up for where they have already picked a location, painting, date and time and you just show up after signing up ($ 35) and paint and drink!
If you have more than 10 people, you can actually book your own private party! I ended up doing this option for a work outing I planned for my coworkers and myself last month. The planning process was SO easy since they help you through every step. They even find a venue for you. For my event, I worked with Tracie and Cory. On the day of the event, the painter was Dave.
I was initially looking for a place that would allow us to bring our own liquor, but most places charged an additional fee, so we ended up having ours at Bar Louie on W.6^th. Colors & Bottles already has an established rapport with Bar Louie, so they rent them their private room for free. We picked our painting that we wanted to do off of their website and I picked a date and time. All they require for a private booking is at least 10 people to sign up and a 4 person deposit before they create the event on their website. Then, they send you a link and everyone can go to the site and pay their own $ 35 reservation fee (or you could pay it all in full, but it’s less hassle for you if you do the first option). Then, you just show up on the date and time and everything (including aprons, canvas, paintbrushes, water cups, and paint instructor) is provided for you!
The actual event was fun! We had a few hiccups, which is why I hesitated to give the full five stars — but overall, we had a blast (I mean, we ARE a very fun group ;)). Bar Louie had 2 servers that were coming down to our private room to take orders for drinks and food and were constantly coming back to see what else they could get us. Great hosts, for sure!
When the painting instructor was given the headcount to bring enough supplies, the planners didn’t include the 4 that I had prepaid for with my deposit, so he was short supplies. Which didn’t end up being too big of an issue because he had extra supplies in his car. We started a bit late (because of stragglers and the fact that we didn’t have enough supplies to begin with), and the painter was complaining about it (which I get). I also wish we had someone who interacted better with the group. He was pretty serious throughout the whole thing and didn’t have much of a personality — very talented so did well with getting us through the painting (we picked a complicated one), but if you’re going to host a party, try to converse with the people you’re spending a few hours with. A coworker tried to make conversation with him, and he just wasn’t having it. I did like the fact that he walked around every now and then to give pointers and help fix mistakes (I had plenty… trust me. I was NOT good at this).
Overall, we had a great time and have discussed planning another one :) A very seamless process when planning since they help you with everything! I want to check out one of the ones at chocolate bar since it’s right down the street but am waiting for a painting I really want to (attempt to) paint.