In another lifetime I’d be designing window displays.  Not the corporate-sheik windows that come in a box over from China, but the ad hock masterpieces that merge high-end concepts with low budget materials.  One of the cheapest tools designers can use to showcase their ideas is perishable foods.  A mass market example of this can be found in M&M Premiums latest advertising efforts, where monochromatic sculptures reveal the latest flavors. Combining everyday materials for a more permanent display, Anthropologie sews bread loaves together with red shoe string to convey fashionable kitchenware in their Fifth Ave location.  

Continuing with the bread theme, Anthropologie creates a splash of texture contrasts, spiraling doughy slices against the back wall.  The resulting sun motifs are as clever as they are creative. Even Simon Doonan, Barney’s famed Window Dresser agrees [...]

We recently featured a few ideas on how to decorate your walls on a budget. If you’re looking for more inexpensive ways to brighten up your home, The New York Times recently challenged five interior designers to renovate and refresh the rooms of recently unemployed people on a budget of just $300.  Click here to check it out!

When times are tough, retail environments pull out all the stops, forcing their design teams to get crafty in lieu of spending big bucks.  Sometimes these ad hock compilations are miserable collages and other times, wondrously creative ideas emerge.  Anthropologie’s artistic displays typically fall into the later of the two categories.  Inspired by Parisian wallpaper styles, the back wall of the retailer’s Fifth Avenue location pairs kitchen wares with floral chalk panels.  Using a $10 can of blackboard paint and a steady hand, Anthro’s budget illustrations are incredibly chic and can easily be translated to any wall in your home.

Inspiration: Floral Striping

When designing floral striping, all inspirational elements must be considered.  Here is a mood board that combines paralleling themes through the use of nature, Parisian craftsmanship and modern techinique.