Storespiration

Have you ever walked around a store and gotten inspiration for your home? I'm thinking of Homegoods, Anthropologie, Design Within Reach. It's like the window outfits at J Crew: suddenly you're thinking about your current belongings in a whole new light, snapping pictures on your iPhone. 

I know I'm not the only one.

I saw some great ideas over the holiday break that I wanted to share with you. Hopefully I can recreate them in my own home, or else interpret them to work. The first is an incredible chandelier at the Sephora in the Meat Packing District of NYC. How cool is that! Reminds me of Dale Chihuly. It's tough to tell, but these are pink and amber glasses and bottles hanging from a square frame. The lights underneath are regular old light bulbs  I'm going to start drinking vino verde and other wines that come in blue bottles so I can recreate this on the cheap.

Next up we have an ingenious wine display that would literally cost you $10. I'm showing you the underside here so you can get an idea for the construction, but the front is just holes. Go buy yourself some 2x4s, cut them to six feet, screw in some pieces of wood to bracket it in the back, and drill in wine-neck-width holes at a slight downward angle and voila. Slap on some stain or oil, rough it up if you're an antique patina junkie, and lean it up against a wall in your kitchen or bar area. We're actually going to try this. And kill it. And sell it on Etsy.

Last one here: a very pretty christmassy display at Williams-Sonoma. It's literally some long branches, surrounded by evergreens, suspended by rope, draped with ornaments. I bet most of us could make this with things around the house. Could be a great, inexpensive holiday display in your entryway?