Fresh Windows

We are moving into a new cycle for purchasing. Customers tend to focus on school preparation over the next three weeks and this typically spells slow sales for me. After the first week in September and reading lists have been obtained my sales return to normal. To welcome those customers back to the store and hopefully draw in some new ones I have redecorated the window displays . I have decorated the windows many times with some success and some failure. One customer commented that they thought I was a furniture store after looking at one of my window displays.

I took the time this year to participate in a couple free seminars on creating displays. This mighty boost of ideas and enthusiasm has paid off. The end results are a sight worth seeing. (In my un-biased opinion) I'll run you through the window and divulge some of the neat and cheap tricks I learned at the free seminar. I also learned the window decorating errors I'm making: never display product on the floor, always have signage, add area lighting. (Oops)

Some of the things I learned. Try to display product around eye level or just below. Gather it in groupings to create individual areas of interest. Hang something in the window to stop the eye and make it look at the product in front of it. Unify the window with a theme (colour, subject, activity, etc). Wash the windows inside. Signage, signage, signage. (nothing hand written please) Hang a backdrop from floor to ceiling to make a bold impression about your display.

The hardware store is a fantastic place to get cheap things to make windows great. Sono tubes with large tiles are excellent display tables. Cut the sono tube into lengths (try for pairs the same height). Paint them and put the large cermaic tiles on top. Presto-magiko, a display table. Use two tubes with a larger piece of glass on top and it's a table. The ceramic chimney tops also make great table legs (for really short tables). Wall-paper from the discount bin is excellent for the backdrop. One roll at $3-$4 is a bargain when you can use it in the window for months. Discounted fabric from the fabric store is also an excellent addition to the window. Use this for the back drop also or cover the floor with it all bunched up to create mounds or cover a table top with it.

Apparently, the hot new colours are a light, wedgewood blue with white or silver. This I used in the north window and have promoted my sideline product, Memorybook Supplies. I'm supposed to communicate a message in the window. The message is "On a scrapbook cloud". I had some leftover snow fencing at home. I painted a section of it a creamy white and have hung it vertically from the ceiling against the back wall. Over this I hung a strip of wallpaper the correct colours. I purchased something called "Cool Tule" or "Mesh" in the same creamy white (22in x 10ft). This is bunched, twisted, draped and swagged from the ceiling to floor zig-zagged over the snow fence and wall-paper. Wrapped around this is a narrow strip of wall-paper border in a slightly darker wedgewood blue, cream and a hint of tan. I painted my sono tube lengths the same creamy white, wrapped the tiles in the wall-paper to create the tops. In front of the vertical wall hanging I have placed a white table. So now I have several surfaces to display product and the whole thing is pulled together by colour. I've thrown in a few accessories: blue birdhouse, cream and silver table lamp/silver candle lantern. Shaped glass jar with blue and white beads inside. The sign is hung. Product in matching colours is added.

Window two (South) didn't come together as easily but the end result is eye catching. (humble opinion, again) The other hot new colour combo is dull earthtones accented with a splash of a jewel tone. I'm using purple and gold to jazz up a window with green walls and carpeting. There are two giant (two feet across) flowers made from the same "mesh"/"cool tule", one in purple the other purple and gold hung on the back wall. Three gold baskets in the shapes of stars are hung from the ceiling in the middle of the window and the same sono tube/tile top display stands are being used. A short art easel presents a poster of fields of lavander in Provence and I spray painted a bouquet of large thistles purple and added to the window. The base of the window is lined in greenery garland. This window is filled up with books all in the purple and gold colours and voila!

Window two was more difficult because I got jumbled on the theme. It started as "Pick your own". Making a play on the pick your own farms. I'm not exactly sure what the theme is now! It's still something about gardening, growing. I'm still making mistakes but at least things look different and interesting.

I've had a couple positive comments on the windows already. Keep your fingers crossed.