pictures galore

I won't bore you with too much language in this blogs. These pictures should be able to give you a lot of details about how this lovely fall weekend was spent. But first! I finally arrived at work before the sun came up to capture some images of my first window at the new store... This window is a few weeks old and I've already sketched out what the new holiday window will look like but lets give these windows a blog of their own before they are replaced by the newer/hipper/younger window, shall we?

Woohoo! I'm trying not to get overly excited about my new window sketches but they MIGHT be my favorite window thus far... hint hint it involves a life size swan.

I digress...

I took a quick 36 hour trip back to old Ohio as a random getaway to see the family before holiday planning gets too crazy and it was such a great mix of relaxation and activity. For all you New Yahkers out there that read this blog, just gaze at how gorgeous (and courteous) my hometown is.

If you aren't from NE Ohio you probably won't understand the glory that is captured in the picture below, but its your loss.

Connecticut camping

It was a great work week - all the prototypes have been released for holiday so on top of my usual display coordinator duties, I got to start dreaming up where I want certain displays to go in the store, how I want to alter them to work best in our new store, and what special touches I want to make. I'll sketch them out next week but I've already started prepping displays for the christmas trees with the rest of the staff at morning meetings! It really is nice starting holiday work so early because it gets me excited about Christmas, which we all know is the best time of the year. There is just something about the Christmas mindset that makes everything special, so I don't mind having that feeling a month or two early :)

I started work November 4th of last year and at that time there had been no display coordinator in the store, and very little visual assistance the preceding few months so when I arrived almost no holiday display had been started.  I'm very excited that this year i'll be able to take a little time, plan things out, and even get started early so that I can create some thoughtful holiday displays on top of our concept displays. Anyway enough work talk - all week I have been so excited about going camping!

We did most of our packing the night before and woke up early on Saturday to head to Connecticut. We got to our campsite around 10 and immediately started a fire and threw our tent up. We acquired a few new (to us) camping amenities from the Anthony's including sleeping mat's and cookware so of course we put those to good use! 

We took it easy on the camping trip - no hiking because mike has stitches on his calf and we didn't want them ripping open but we did forage for our fire wood! 

Taking it easy involved crossword puzzles, good ol' truth or dare, and a trip into town to look at some antique shops and estate sales.

I made my chocolate-less lauren style smores. Cinnamon graham crackers, fire roasted banana and marshmallow. Then you scarf!

Don't you want some?

Sunday it started raining almost as soon as we woke up so we made a fire and had breakfast to see if it would blow over but after about an hour it only started getting worse so we packed up the campsite and hit the road.

We headed for Terrain, Anthropologie's natural cousin. It is a primarily kitchen and garden store with hints of luxury bath items, books, speciality food, lighting, and accents. There are only a hand few around the country and everyone at work couldn't believe I hadn't checked it out yet. After visiting I can see why.

There is a cafe inside where you can buy coffee, cocktails, or treats to enjoy while you walk around the store or sit at one of their bistro tables. We opted to have brunch in the midst of our walking around gawking at things.

For their brunch you can choose from indoor or outdoor tables which of course are to die for and make you feel as if your are in the gardening mecca. They serve you bread that has been baked in a terracotta gardening pot with butter that has been infused with lavender, maple, and sea salt. Needless to say we requested a second serving after finishing our first.

Brunch itself was amazing - I ordered a portabella mushroom sandwich and Mike got the quiche of the day. We ate in our camping gear while those around us wore their connecticut best, right down to the sweaters tied around their shoulders. 

I could have walked around that store all day, and I'm sure I'll be back around Christmas time to purchase some presents for people! Also if anyone is stumped for my christmas present there are always these petrified wood serving boards that they had set up as placemat sets. They looked ah-mazing.

Finally a perfect weekend

What an amazing weekend! Lots of activities and also time for relaxation- my kind of weekend. On Friday I met Mike, his co workers, and Chrissy at bar fly, my favorite manhattan dive bar. Cheap beers, blt's, and friends old and new.



Saturday we had a relaxing morning, I cleaned out my closet and Mike made some dank breakfast sandwiches. Afterwards we hopped on the Long Island Rail Road into penn station to see the lion king on Broadway.

I promised Mike that if he didn't like this musical I wouldn't make him go to anymore and honestly the show disappointed us both. Although Mike liked it more than Wicked, I thought the story line was stretched and wasn't very exciting. The props, set design, and costumes were all absolutely amazing. Overall I'm glad I went but don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone. After the show it was raining to we popped into Elmo for drinks, Rohm Thai for dinner, and L.A. Bourdick for dessert. What else is there to do when it rains then have a full meal in 3 different locations?

On Sunday we got right to work when we woke up - doing laundry, cleaning the apartment, and rewarding ourselves with the some Mexican brunch. We definitely indulged this weekend but I think we earned it! Afterwards we headed to the city for. Kat's first ever rooftop yoga session. She had about a dozen of her friends up to the roof of her LES apartment and lead a vinyasa yoga class. It was such a great experience. The weather was great, it was a fantastic work out, and ended right at sunset. A perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.

Cheers all!

the deed is done

Its done, its done, its done! The store looks beautiful. It took a lot of hard work but it was 100 percent worth it. We've got a new store manager (left), a new visual manager (middle), and the same old display coordinator who are working together swimmingly.



The visual team came from all parts of the country and consisted of visual managers, display coordinators, and a wonderful visual lead. Everyone was assigned to a concept within the store and had sales associates helping them with whatever tasks they could throughout the 12 day relocation process. I was lucky enough to get assigned to the windows!

These windows are radically different than my previous windows. There are 2 medium sized windows and dun, dun, dun.... they have art walls! Which means that all the displays I make in the window will have a backdrop of my choosing. In the old store the windows were completely open meaning anything I put in the window had to be beautiful from the outside and inside of the store. Having art walls means I can focus on designing the windows from the way they are meant to be viewed and they can make more of an impact.

Anyway, back to the amazing visual team. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, with a very talented team. Although it was an exhausting experience it was overshadowed by the immense opportunity to get to share ideas, techniques, tricks of the trade, horror stories, and laughs with people who have the exact same job as me in different stores. Its nice to know that your not the only one stressing out about certain things. And now I have a great group of creatives to stay in contact with. Thanks everyone!

It was also nice to get to work with associates in the store and having them assist with display projects. Throughout the week I heard a lot of ...."so if there weren't 5 of us helping you right now, you'd have to create all of this on your own?" hahahaha the answer - yes. I have helped on the sales floor in rare occasions and definitely appreciate how hard it is for all of them to deal with customers so it was nice for them to get to experience a little bit of my job. Mutual respect is always a good thing.

Anyway, enough of my chatter - you wanna see pictures! I'll be photographing the windows at night (yes, I still have the glare issue) so I will be posting pictures of those later this month.

Here is me testing some color swatches and dyed fabric in the window. This window is not next to the entrance of the building (this is the emergency exit door) so it needs to be dramatic enough to be seen from the street.

 This is the "entry" window where customers will be walking by so it may be a little less dramatic but a lot more detailed close up than the "street view" window.

finished street view window with glare -yipee

Detail shot of the street view window. These leaves are cut out of contact paper laid on top of tissue paper, dry brushed with paint, then ink stamped with the veins of real leaves. The window has about 6 thousand of them.

This is an upwards shot of the branch and leaf chandeliers I made for the entry window.

 This is our "stable" concept for bedding.

Another display detail for "stable"

 The merchandising was beautiful!

This is our "field" dinnerware concept made up of mostly real wheat with some handmade stalks.

One of my favorite things in the store. Another display coordinator did a wheat sculpture that I got to work on after she had to leave.

This is primrose. A kitchen concept that is made of up tromp l'oeil details. Most of this room was dne by another display coordinator. I got to complete the hanging lamp once she left.

 In love with the fire place she did!

This is Mollie, our front of store apparel concept. I made the original hanging tapestries for the old store and they were redone and added to by another display coordinator for the new store.

This is a letter display cut from wood in "Quinn" our desk to dusk girl. She is an apparel concept with an emphasis on stationary and monograms

View of our large staircase in the middle of the store.

 

We had sweet treats and champagne for our grand opening