Window Shopping for Design Inspiration

There is a joy in the unhurried stroll down a paved sidewalk lined with curated shops. Windows sparkle and pull us closer. What to notice first; the graphic lettering of the shop name or that of the proprietor, the arrangement of the objects, the drape of the fabric…all can provide us with inspiration for interior design, garden design, clothing design, and the art of arranging.

Taking photographs of appealing windows allows you to save the thought. For me, it is as if the objects become mine for a moment. This window of an antique store in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. is an example. The creams, moss green, and shades of white are lovely together. The door propped up in the display is striking and even if we will not own it, it might encourage us to attempt to bring a piece of furniture or a door to its original raw wood state. The small stone table and faux bois chair invite visions of sitting in the garden. 

This ornate white wrought iron love seat conjured memories of traveling with my grandparents to visit friends who had a wrought iron bench circling a tree in their garden. Later, we would have a wrought iron recamier in our garden, traveling with us from place to place until we moved to an historic city loft and passed it on to someone who had a garden to hold it.

In Paris one winter evening these windows pulled me closer. The photos are in color but look almost black and white as the wedding dresses pressed close together echo the colors of the limestone buildings outside the window.

This dress, alone on an upper floor seems to watch over the people below.

These images taken in the window of a lingerie shop in Venice stayed in my mind and inspired me to make my own nightgowns embellished with antique trim and buttons.

This shop had a thoughtfully arranged window display framed by crisp gold painted letters incised in the wooden window frame.

But it was the elegant simplicity of the unadorned ankle boot behind the grill of a smaller window on the wall that held my attention.

Sometimes shop windows give us specific ideas about interior design. This painted chest for example. We might be inspired to sand a dresser or chest and paint it with chalk paint or a lime wash.

Here is a photo of an old cabinet painted gray and washed with a white gel stain now serving as a dressing table in our guest room closet.

My husband stopped at this chocolate shop one evening in Paris. We had eaten dinner at a tiny pizzeria in the Marais district and he felt a chocolate or two would be a grand finale; something we could eat while walking through the Place des Vosges. For me, the pale mint green and mahogany brown were a winning color combination.

The look of these blue and white dishes on the blue-black shelves in the window of a shop in the Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, just north of Paris is something to remember…still thinking about painting the bookcase in our laundry room!

It is difficult for me to pass up an opportunity to take a photo of an interesting chandelier. This one was in the window of a shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans. It has inspired a three-strand choker necklace and a collection of crystal chandelier drops we hang on our Christmas tree.

This tiny topiary was outside a florist shop in Paris, but still a part of the window display. Topiaries like these are covetable and quite difficult to create (at least for me). You may have read that Bunny Mellon grew small potted topiaries and gave them as gifts.

Sometimes a shop window is such that you are drawn inside. The smell in this bake shop or patisserie with its ancient marble counters was enticing. The crescent cookies covered in confectioner’s sugar reminded me of the cookies my grandmother made during the holidays. She stored them in black and white enamel roasting pans lined with cotton dish towels.

While in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. we stopped in at L.A. Burdick for a cup of the world’s best hot chocolate.

The walls are paneled in two sheets of bespoke hand painted paper made especially for the shop and protected behind plexiglass.

Further down the street and around the corner we found the lush greenery in the window for a shop called Manse. These amaryllis bulbs in white ceramic pots were so tempting. Inside we purchased a couple of white amaryllis bulbs, wrapped them in tissue, tucked them in our suitcase, and planted them in our white ironstone Victorian jelly molds. They are now resting on the windowsill in the laundry room, growing taller every day.

This tiny gilt chair upholstered in rust colored velvet was in the window of a shop on West Alabama in Houston, Texas. The photographs make it look as if it is sitting out on the street. A bit of surrealism to end this post!