Set-ups, Day 7: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (and women)

• Rejoice in not setting alarm the night previously; sleep until we wake up on our own

• Blog, relax, get ready for church
• Attempt self-portrait prior to departure for church; lament unavoidable presence of dark under-eye circles despite extra sleep
• Enjoy a quick nap after church, before making dinner
• Agree to take a quick trip to the store to tidy up after busy sale weekend
• Finally get around to front window re-vamp
• Sneak rare photo of Susan wearing athletic shoes

Set-ups, Day 4: Over the River and Through the Woods

• Pick up newly-delivered greens at store to complete outdoor urns; head back to Princeton
• Arrive at set-up greeted by dozens of XL Rubbermaid tote bins with contents waiting to be unpacked, spruced, primped, hung, tied, embellished, and displayed
• Attempt to stifle mild panic at amount of work to be finished in allotted time
• Feel immense gratitude and relief for having highly competent team of six workers--especially JJ, who cheerfully fulfilled all assignments requiring climbing ladders to dizzying heights and all jobs involving hefting of live trees to second-story balconies
• Breathe a sigh of relief when client's 12' tree full of collector Radko and McKenzie Childs ornaments is up with only one minor casualty
• Express exasperation upon realization that hectic pace of the day preempted extensive photo documentation
• Feel happy that Shannon took time to snap a few photos of the outdoor urns
• 
  
• Leave client's house (Susan) just in time to breeze into Light the Lights! store event (leaving remaining team members behind to finish the job)
• Finish set-up with remaining team; stop on way back to store for a gourmet meal at Wawa deli
• Chuckle at missing Person alert posted at deli counter

Sneak Peek!

After only one more night until the wee hours of the morning...Black-eyed Susan (retail division) has been thoroughly flipped and we've ended up with a whole new look! And I will tell you that it's quite a bit different than giving my little Yardley 900 sq. ft. store a new look. Good and bad.

I haven't taken any fun shots of the new inspirations yet, but tonight at dusk I took a few shots of the new window display. Take a look!





I promise the window mullions are not royal blue! Whatever! The vision started with these three dining room chairs that were past their prime for everyday use. Several cans of favorite paint colors were scouted out from the stockroom-voila! A few coats later, darn cute props!

My new windows are proving to be quite challenging to work with. The visual distraction of the muntins and mullions are difficult. Having established quite a reputation for striking windows that are changed on a monthly basis, it's a bit frustrating. I guess time will help me figure out the best way to configure my displays.





I'm finding that daily, we have new customers stopping in saying "I keep passing by the store and wanting to stop in! Today's the day I finally pulled in." The windows are a big part of the draw. I decided to use my tag line of "MORE SPACE MORE STYLE"...

along with "YOUR COLOR" framed in an old baroque frame to suggest creative thinking.


The windows are a challenge, for sure. I"ll keep you posted every time I make a change and we'll see how I work it out!

And, for the record, Sneelock is very frustrated with photographing the windows as well. I'm pretty sure he would want me to admit that I'm the one who took these snapshots.

*sigh*

Note to self-new store challenges=bigger footprint/longer hours/difficult windows/hotter in summer/colder in winter...what else will I discover? Still, basically, it's all good.

Come see the magic.

Fresh Flowers are My Drug of Choice

I feel like I've fallen off the blogger cycle! The move to my new location preoccupied me for far too long...Princeton Designer House took it's toll...multiple traveling distractions...designer house tear-down (more about this later)...well,you get the picture. I feel like I have a lifetime of posts saved up in this creative brain of mine, and no time to get to them. Thus, the hour at present, EEK!

Last week I had a fun assignment from a retail client to design fresh flowers for a big event that she was hosting. As much as I love my beautiful selection of artificial (to fool the eye for sure) flowers from Black-eyed Susan, fresh flowers make me simply heady with delight! The designing is a different ball game all together, and it's taken some experience to get to feel competent with working with fresh. I think I have it down now and I love my designs! This particular client gives me total creative license and a fabulous budget. Those two together spell joy and creative delight!

My dear friend and creative coheart Shannon, came to the rescue to help do the design and made the day even more fun! It was really hard to edit the photos to a manageable amount, but here goes.

This is how we started the design process,with bucket after bucket of beautiful bunches-colorful, strong and heady scents filled the kitchen. (I have yet to install a utility sink at the new location, thus my kitchen became the design center).


One of my personal favorites, Jade Roses. Fresh, green (!) and neatly packed in rows. What a sight to feast on.

Sweet tulips! Soft peachy-pink and white. Note the cymbidium orchids gracing the background.

Just couldn't resist the closeup of these beauties.



I had established the pallet to be mainly whites and greens , hints of coral-y pink and lavender for one particular areas. These kermits are always welcome in my designs!

A closeup of one of the finished arrangements

Ferns and hosta leaves lining the glass containers.

This design was made for my client's daughter's closet! Yes, I said her closet. She is a dancer and her mother had a small kitchen budget in mind when they built her closet! Her favorite color is lavender, thus the hydrangeas. I love grouping like flowers and the weepy tulips were the perfect choice for this. Note the green hypernicum berries as filler! Way cute.

Trash building on the kitchen floor...only the beginning!

I consider lizianthus trash flowers! I've never been fond of them and my supplier sent them as options for items that he was unable to get for me. No way. It doesn't look so bad here, but trust me, they're not desirable.

Another completed design with cymbidium orchids and monstera leaves...I love those things! Note the limes in the water. Just plain style. Some sliced, some whole. Oh, so cute.

I'm not sure why these look so large in this photo...remember when I documented the baby cabbages used in floral design in Paris? I've been a fan of them since! I ordered them for my designs, but my supplier was unable to get them at the last minute. Luckily, I had these fake ones in my store! I used them in one of the arrangements and you couldn't even tell! They are really only about the size of a large lemon. Great save.

A favorite low packed arrangement-flat sided,low round container. It's perfect for the full mounds of roses, spider mums (oh, the color!), hypernicum berries, monstera leaf and kermits. The jade roses and fresh whole limes can't be seen on the other side, but I love the shot of the sword fern wrapped around the outside edge of the vase.




Bear with me. Just a few more! I repeated an idea that I had used for a dinner party that I had hosted some time ago with this tiered wire basket filled with fresh leaf lettuce, granny smith apples, coral hypernicum berries, parsley, basil, and cilantro. Wow! It was a big hit and the fragrance was to die for. Definitely worthy of repeating. This one is so easy to create at home. Try it!

A closeup of said cool arrangement!

I used a bunch of sweet tulips on one side of the bottom tier. I recommend this for an instant centerpiece. A bit on the expensive side, but definitely worth it.

The occasional request for fresh arrangements keeps me looking forward to the next assignment. There's not much like the thrill of working with these natural elements to create style.

I'll be happy to create something unique for your next event, large or small. Just give me a few weeks notice. Ahhhhhh.