April Showers Rain Ideas

Thanks to deadlines, this article is being written in February while Connecticut snow — almost a foot of the stuff — clouds my vision. How can I uncover spring's lovely potential without a shovel? Let's take a trip to the hardware store, past the snow removal equipment, and into the garden department. Every garden department has tools that just scream "spring!"

Watering cans are the first non-toxic things I see as I jog past the lawn chemicals. You can really have some fun with watering cans. Granted, they won't spot you for drinks, dinner, and a movie — but they make great displays.

Imagine hanging three matching watering cans in your window. (If you've been reading this column over the last two years you may already have a ceiling grid positioned over your window. If not, now is the time to install one to make display hanging quick and easy.) Odd numbers are more interesting than even numbers — one can is better than two, and three are better than four.

Watering cans can be of either plastic or metal. Either can be painted, but paint will stick better to the metal. (Krylon spray paints work on both materials.) For your first display, you may want to leave the cans their original color, then reuse them in other displays painted with bright colors that highlight your merchandise assortment.

Face the watering cans' spouts in the direction of your front door. The spouts can be "pouring" water in the form of clear or pale-blue plastic wrap. Or you can really have some fun with garlands of small flowers pouring out of the spout into pots, vases, or glasses.

Do you have extra Barbie dolls or Beanie Babies? How about showing them climbing out of the cans? Others can be placed on the window floor or around the merchandise. Just make sure they interact with the merchandise in an interesting way. You can keep the Barbies in position using a glue gun, but the Beanies will have to be pinned.

Rakes also make wonderful display props. I saw one of my favorite displays on New York's Fifth Avenue several years ago. It consisted of an upright rake with Ferragamo silk ties woven through the rake's tines. The concept would work equally well with belts, greeting cards, ribbons, or any flat merchandise you carry.

Another idea uses the rake to "clean up" the store. It can be suspended from your ceiling grid at an angle that leads the customer's eye straight to your front door. The rake can be natural or painted some great color, like bright yellow, to attract attention. Cluster merchandise behind the rake as if it's being "cleaned up," and then have other pieces scattered around the floor like fallen leaves. This display works for both spring and fall. I would paint the rake a bright orange or purple for fall, and add leaves to the scene.

Depending on the size of your window, you can do a lot with small lawn-edge fences as well as the taller, flexible fencing — composed of wood and wire — that you see on sand dunes or in snow country. Arrange the flexible fencing in a serpentine pattern throughout your window, allowing areas for beach grass (real or fake) combined with merchandise. The fence can be used over and over by adding kites, flowers, falling leaves, and snow as the seasons advance.

Another great prop found at hardware stores are wooden ladders. Paint a short stepladder a color that matches your merchandise. Then slide glass or wooden shelves through the rungs to create an eye-catching triangular display. To make the window really "work," make sure that the merchandise color story corresponds to the ladder color. Too much color combined with a bright ladder will be overkill, and you'll lose the surprise element. For example, if you paint your ladder hot pink you can use white, pale green, lavender, or light yellow merchandise. Neutral colors such as bone, gray, or beige will also be enhanced by hot pink. Naturally, when you tire of the ladder for a display prop you can easily convert it back to its intended use.

Finally, look for mailboxes as you leave the garden department of your hardware store. I bought some from Home Depot for $7 apiece, and they are perfect for displays. Set up a standing mailbox in your window. Surround it with florist's Styrofoam, and cover the foam with moss and dozens of artificial flowers. Place some wonderful piece of merchandise in the open mailbox and place other pieces on moss-covered risers near the box.

But not everything in your local hardware store will work as a display prop. Lattice is too "busy," and detracts from your merchandise. Plastic rakes are just plain ugly. And be careful with oversized planter boxes — they should be scaled to enhance rather than overpower your merchandise.

Remember, you can tell your customers how terrific you are through your window displays.