Late Night Magic

The flow of traffic and sales volume often result in daily remerchandising of my sales floor. However, once every 4 or 5 weeks, the entire store gets a revamping. Often, this monumental task coordinates with the window change...other times, this domino floor change occurs a week or so following the window change.

It's an odd combination of exilleration, married to the overwhelming and vast tornado of "stuff" that must find new homes. When it's time, I generally have mixed feelings about the long night ahead! Sometimes, I'm just plain tired of the same old look, and others, I'm not really tired of what I have in place...and not quite ready to mix it up! But keeping the inspiration of the retail floor is important, and fresh new ideas and new ways to use our favorites is paramount.

Yes, last night was the night!

Many nights, this is a solo affair, but last night I had the help of Nick. You may recall Nick from last seasons Holiday setups. He's great company, creative plus objective and is tall!! (This saves me from countless ladder moves as he can place inventory in high places as I direct).

This time of year, I am always a bit itchy to relieve the summer inventory with the promise of fall and holiday merchandise. Yes, Halloween is in the basement neatly contained. I left the Halloween on the shelves, but did premier a bit of fall. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the creative venture of the night.

Let's take a look!

This basket tray lends a seasonal feeling to an unusual cloche and glass tray. I placed this giant preserved sunflower head under the cloche, added a potted rosemary topiary and finished it off with a small pile of leaning books. The beauty of this centerpiece is the versatility of adding new objects when the season changes or just your mood changes!

Vintage music books become props! An unusually large fashion book from the Paris flea market is open, while smaller pages from a recently purchased set of old music books were torn out. Several of the books were warped and had water damage. But, as you can see, they are great for this purpose!

I raided my house for several old frames to use as props. Think of using such frames to frame out objects and collectibles for interest. I tore some pages out of an old atlas and looked around for something to age them with...ah, yes! Glossy wood tone should do the trick! A quick spray and they look 60 years old. Sometimes, one inspiration compounds to an entire theme---in this case, the maps, globes, clock with map face. Then, color and scale take over, thus the potted orchid and paperbacks with raffia. I love the large jacks sculpture too.

I always try to keep a selection of busts on hand. Great library accents or side table effects. In this case, I created a mantle using multiple busts with volumes of black books. These findings are fabulously priced and fly out the door quickly. Come in while the selection is good!

And this is my first touch of fall! An old laundry basket has been transformed into a basket to hold pods and maple leaves that would fool any botanist! I piled bartlet pears along with several more music pages in the open weave of the basket for interest. The addition of maple leaves (these are dark, muddy green) is the first touch of fall without looking like we're rushing things.

This interesting container just came in. It is in tones of grey and charcoal/cream and is printed with an old-world street scene image. It stands alone as a piece of art or as a home to exotic leaves and moss. Yes! I love it.

Shakespear standing guard over a small pile of books. My theme in this bookshelf was color-in this case black and white. The large jack sculpture makes an appearance in a different way here.

I hope you'll stop in for your own inspiration. Change is in the air!

And, just to assure you....Halloween offerings are tapping at the door!