Creativity— that’s what we pursue in a creative field like design, but sometimes the temptation to design spaces that look like So-and-So or that hot pin on Pinterest is nearly overwhelming. In our field you even have to compete with your own creativity when new clients request spaces that look like another job in your portfolio! Because sometimes I feel like creativity can stagnate, I wanted to really see where we could go when designing Christmas themes for the store. The balancing act with retail is that someone’s still got to want to buy it! I love traditional red-and-green as much as the next girl but what else could we try? After doing research here’s where we landed and why we landed there.
Watercolor Fantasy
When I started planning for Christmas themes, I knew I wanted one to encourage things like imagination, creativity, and make believe! We used these words as our inspiration when we went to market and we found a ton of beautiful things that fit with our Watercolor Fantasy theme including these drip-painted mercury glass trees and blown glass ornaments. We paired the finds with cool scraps of watercolored art and old artists brushes and palettes to emphasize the imaginative nature of the collection. We hope that when you step into our store and see this theme you’re inspired to dream–the grown-girl version of make believe.
Royal Holiday
We had a Royal wedding this year, y’all, and you can BET we were up before dawn to watch it all live! The pageantry! There’s nothing more traditional than the QUEEN but I wanted to be a bit more creative. I imagined the Queen’s tree–it would have to have red velvet, deep maroons, lots of gold, and oranges with cloves. To give it our twist we included pink, and fuchsia and traded the oranges for orange glass balls, then added in a touch of asian with blue and white chinoiserie ornaments, red temple ornaments.
Wild Isle
I went to Ireland this summer and truly couldn’t believe my eyes! I loved this mist, the rock, the greens–I knew it had to be a Christmas theme! We decided to go with green, navy blue, aqua, and natural elements like pecan stems and wood-bark garland. While this theme is simple color-wise, I hoped it would encourage us to adventure! Who knows what other beautiful sights are out there to behold? This theme reminds me of the thrill of finding the new, of driving on the wrong side of the road, of people assuming I’m Irish just because I’m a pale-skinned red-head!
Now we’ve let you behind the curtain of Christmas buying! You know the thought, planning, and creativity that went into each theme. I want to encourage you to come in and experience each theme anew now that you know our intent!
— Sarah
