Message Boards

I am moving my Salon to the downtown district and this is the building.I need your help.I will add another bench like the one here on the other side & would like to put 2 urens beside the benches with a topary in each pot.I want it to stand out where people will see it and i want it to look nice.What would you do ? Please can some design it for me.Can't change the color of the building but can add flowers.Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jeanette,

Hi Jeanette....what a wonderful blank slate you have. There are some businesses in town who use urns flanking the building entrance. One has those tall pencil holly trees for the "thriller". For the "filler" & "spiller" they use seasonal flowers. The prettiest one is on the north side of the square, so the flowers only get some morning sun. The owner uses shade plants to fill around the holly with trailing plants to spill over. Your possibilities are endless with this idea. They also decorate with flags/hearts/bunnies/pumpkins for the season...little things nestled among the plants. Other businesses use big whiskey barrels with the same principal.

These brighten up the square and everyone enjoys the diversity each business owner brings to their little outdoor garden. I'm sure others will have some better ideas.

ve

One small town near us...a LOT of the businesses have urns/pots out front with all kinds of different things in them. But most do like VE said with adding annuals for color & filler. Some use ornamental sweet potato vines for their spillers....and those come in at least 2 colors.
This town also has pots on all 4 corners up/down one entire street...it's an old original brick street (ROUGH)! They don't put anything too tall in those but some have had cordyline...a sort of ornamental grass w/those swt. tater vines and a few other things for blooms/color.
I don't particularly care for topiarys...just so ya know.
And VE was also right about the different places putting seasonal goodies in among their plants.

No real suggestions on plants, but be sure you container is large enough. Small containers blow over easily and also dry out quicker. The plantings should be large enough to anchor the front of the building, not be tiny and look like they were just stuck out there as an afterthought.

http://pinterest.com/thebeachb...orefront-decorating/

Really cute examples of store front decorating at this website.

SSTR WOW...isn't Pinterest great? Love the examples you posted, just beautiful!

I thought those were kind of fun to look at too. Couple years ago we were considering buying a store front property on the town square of our little town in Kansas. I found a website that had loads of ideas for decorating the outside & window. I looked for this particular site (which I had eventually deleted from my favorites) but I couldn't find that particular site.

Congratulations Jeanette on your new salon location!

When I had my store I never left anything outside when the store was closed as things had sometimes been vandalized at other businesses. I used my little red wagon to haul things in and out. Don't know what it's like in your town but it's something that can happen and may need to be taken into consideration.

Because your storefront is grey and blue using bright colored flowers will energize it and bring in more business. I'd use red, white, and either yellow or blue. Another possible combo would be burgundy or purple, white, and blue. Lots of choices but IMO this is *not* the place for pale monochromatic colors.

I would put an urn on each side of the doorway on the sidewalk so they are not in the way of the entrance but emphasize it.

Another thing I recommend is to make some sort of decorative display inside your windows. You could use bookshelves that come to window level and put plants or decorative objects on them. Something that looks good from inside and outside. Makes it more inviting for people to come in.