Joyful Holiday Displays

I was in downtown Snohomish yesterday morning, completing the new setup in our antique space at Faded Elegance. (See more on our retreat design blog). Mr Deb met me for lunch, and we stolled down the sidewalks to the Snohomish Bakery.

On the way, we passed Joyworks, where I saw the darling sweater snowman in the window, shown above. Jana's done yet another great window display... so I had to go in and ask her if she'd mind if I took a photo and shared it with you here. She said of course I could, so I took the shot! I also took a few more of all of her great windows - Joyworks is known for both the huge assorment of products they carry AND their fabulous windows. Take a peek!




Jana, thanks for the OK! You've done a marvelous job this year.
Visit the Joyworks blog here to see some of their wonderful interior displays, too!

Playing House

MaryBeth sent me a link to her blog so she could share photos of a FABulous display prop that she and her family created. It's a little playhouse, used as a backdrop for a booth at a recent show MaryBeth's daughter Megan was in.

As you can see from the photo above, it does a great job of catching the eye in the midst of visual chaos. The white interior is a perfect backdrop for the colorful yet small items displayed in the booth. And I just adore the playful pink stripes!

The Playhouse is simple but effective, so do go and visit MaryBeth's blog to see photos of the process. I also love that this is made from styro - it's light, easy to transport, goes together in a snap, and stores flat. Thats what perfect display props do - do the job and get outta' the way when it's done!

This reminds me of the setup that Rosanna did for the gift show a few years ago - check out this post for photos.

Megan (aka Princess Lasertron!) has built a business creating & selling funderful artsy things like felt corsages and button flower bouquets. Check out her blog! This past weekend, she was a vendor at the Silver Bella event in Omaha. Silver Bella is the brainchild of designer extraordinaire Teresa McFayden, and you can see from the first photo that there were many beautiful products to see in the marketplace.

Having props and display fixtures that transport easily and set up fast is a huge bonus for those who sell at shows. Flat-pack props mean you can fit in more bins of product, as well....after all, selling is the goal.

O Christmas Tree

In the midst of moving my home and business last week, I installed the holiday merchandise displays at Columbia Winery. We did things a BIT differently this year...

For the past five years that I have been handling the visual merchandising for Columbia, installing the wonderland of Christmas merchandise, props, and decorations has been a massive undertaking. It has taken my crew of five fab chicks three full days to install merchandise displays & holiday decor in the facility. Due to many changes over the past year, there was no decor to install and a very limited amount of product to display. In four hours, three of us had it done! If there was ever a good time for this to be the case, this year was it. I have a lot on my plate right now.

Even with lots of changes, the focus in the shop remains on the wine. Holiday gifts and entertaining/decorating items are kept to a minimum. Making an impact with the displays is still possible, using effective placement within the space to maximize lighting and accessibility, plus use of a few unique props. Rather than go with anything remotely 'normal' or 'Christmassy', I chose to go with a contemporary holiday style that fits the brand image and customer demographic of this business.

On the left side of the shop, the more elegant items are displayed. The round table holds an ivory, sage, and gold theme. The longer table behind it holds a crystal, silver, and dark brown theme. Farther back in the space, there are displays of copper & glass items, and green ceramic & wood products. These are everyday items, but the colors work well when seen with the holiday merchandise up front. These combinations don't fight with each other visually, so a customers' eye travels all through the space and sees everything.

You see some stylized trees in each setup - I created those for each of the themes of product ordered. They fit well with the facility decor, don't overwhelm the products, and add a bit of sparkle and holiday cheer.

The gold trees sit on several clear vases that are filled with ornaments and topped with a gold charger. It's an easy way to get variances in height to add interest.

Here the trees are placed on top of large baskets and a fixture, to lift the white color up. It was important to add the white to this theme to express a holiday mood.

On the right side of the shop, the displays feature products that are a bit more whimsical and definitely more colorful. The sightline allows you to see them all from the entry doors, so the color story is carried through the whole space.

Not seen in this photo are two other displays, holding everyday merchandise & food products. They also include various shades of red, green, and yellow, adding to the whole look of the shop this season. Not to mention that it isn't necessary - or even preferred - to add holiday merchandise or props to EVERY display in the shop. Some neutrality is needed, and the color connection provides continuity.

Another pair of trees in red & white candystriped tinsel set off this display of snowmen and candy cane products.

This tree is a bit rustic, a bit industrial, with several tiers of greenery. It's a great way to display ornaments, even tho these basic balls are more for decor than for sale.

So, have you figured out the trees yet?

Cheap tinsel garland wrapped around..... (wait for it)....Tomato cages. Less than half an hour to make each one. About fifteen minutes to make the tiered green one, cause two of those tiers are wreaths. Oh yeah, I was alllllll about decorating the DIVADeb way: Fast. Cheap. Easy.TM

And I'm back to moving......