Philly Inspiration

Living so close to such a wonderful, inspiring city has been wonderful.  Philly has a lot of stores that we don't have out here in the sticks, so it's great to get there and check things out.  I headed to Philly last week with some lovely ladies from work to gather some inspiration and ideas for a big project we have coming up.

We started our day at the Art Museum.  I've run up and down those steps many times, but I've never actually been inside.  Honestly, with a lack of art knowledge, I don't think I can fully appreciate the art in the museum.  I mean, c'mon, a lot of naked adult-looking-babies dancing a jig in a creek is not my idea of art, but hey, what do I know.   But the frames were very cool!  It made me want to grab a can of neon spray paint and get to work!

The art wasn't very exciting to me, but I loved what I saw in other ways.  I love the tiny acrylic block with the number - the text stands out really well and you get some depth and shadows.  I loved the silver teapot - the way they mixed warm wood with cool silver is really beautiful.  I loved the floor in the museum - the design is really interesting.  I loved the colors in one of the many historically accurate rooms - the color combination is beautiful.

After leaving the Art Museum, we headed to Jones for lunch; a retro designed restaurant. It's good, traditional American food and my burger was beyond delicious.  The menu's were very cool.  I loved the color overlay on top of the b&w photo.

I already tried the color overlay on a few photos and I'm loving it.  Can you tell that we boost Cam's confidence a lot?


Once we finished our wonderful (and very filling) lunch, we decided to walk it off with a trip to some sweet shops...

Jack Willis was a very inspiring place.

bold wall design packed with art. awesome.

I love that the unmentionables are hanging
instead of just laying on the shelf.

great text organizaion.  love the mix of type.

I've seen a lot of things in fireplaces, but this may be the best!

white shelfing with black trim.  stunning.

This last photo is my favorite.  What an awesome way to use a bathtub.  Seriously.  The best thing you can do to market yourself is make people take a closer look, right?  Well, I definitely had to walk up to this and see what was going on: clear ornaments for bubbles and some mannequin legs really make a statement.

Paper Source is a fabulous store that we spent a lot of time in!  Actually, we only left because we couldn't afford to stay any longer.  I definitely made some exciting purchases in that store!  If I had a big enough wall, this scratch map would have been mine.


Next was Urban Outfitters:

love the colors and design of these shelves

We saved the best for last - Anthro.  And I'll save that for tomorrow.  Overall, it was a very inspiring day and I am dying to find ways to use all of these amazing things.