Inspiration All Around Us

I have been in Toronto, Ontario for the last week visiting family members. Most of them were surprised when I told them that I didn’t want to do any shopping. In disbelief, my family members urged me to go to Downtown Toronto to shop on Bloor Street. Not totally opposed to the idea, I went to Bloor Street yesterday. Bloor Street is full of luxury shops – all around were shops like Holt Renfrew, Gucci, Burberry, Escada, etc. Given that I couldn’t afford to shop at (all) of these places, I decided this was a good opportunity to learn how these luxury shops decorate their stores for the Christmas season.

I stood in front of Harry Rosen for a really long time before digging out my camera from my purse. As I was taking a picture, a random guy came up to me and asked if I would like him to take a picture of me in front of the Harry Rosen sign. I politely declined and told him that I was taking a picture of the tree in front of the Harry Rosen sign. He said “Oh” and quickly walked away. He probably thinks I am crazy. What captured my attention was the entrance arrangement. I love the colors, heights, and textures they incorporated. The arrangement has a mixture of fresh cedar and dried branches in a variety of shapes. The arrangement gave a winter feeling without it being the usual white and blue scheme. Lesson learned: You can have the same "winter" feeling using unconventional colors and conventional items.

Across the street at Tiffany & Co. workers were setting up some fresh cedar around the front entrance. What captured my attention was how they could attach the fresh cedar to the flat marble tiles. Not being able to figure it out, I walked (up to the crosswalk) and crossed the street to “investigate” some more. It turns out that the workers had attached little hour glass shaped metal pieces between the tiles and stretched a wire across the cedar. Lesson learned: It is not impossible to attach decorations to flat surfaces, you just need to be creative!

Once again, inspiration is all around us. Sometimes you will learn different color schemes, different use of textures, and different applications. Keep your eyes open, your camera close at all times, and don’t be afraid of telling people what you are really interested in (and taking a picture of!)