The Anthropologie Experience

I remember the day we discovered Anthropologie.  Gregg and I were spending a weekend up in Newport Beach, attending our first Married Couples' Retreat.  During our free time we decided to spend it perusing the Fashion Island mall.  During our meandering we saw it - an amazing storefront display!  It was so interesting and so creative, we had to have a look inside the store!

I wish I had taken some pictures of their window display and some of the cool decor we liked in the store.  With things like that, I have this internal apprehension about breaking some sort of rule of consumer etiquette.  I know you can't take a picture of an Apple storefront and so I guess I figure taking pictures of Anthropologie's creative design ideas would be perceived as potential thievery as well.  Since the hay bail couch was outside the Newport Beach store, I did take a picture of that.

Thanks to Google, I discovered that there are others out there not as apprehensive as me, so I was able to find some photos to post to give you a visual idea of my Anthropologie experiences.

The couple photos I found below are similar to what we saw in Newport Beach in September 2009.  Using paperback books to create an eye-catching display must have been the design theme that year.

[photo found here]

 [photo found here]

The westfield.com/utc store page for Anthropologie says it, "was founded in 1992 by a small group of people with a love for making things that inspire the imagination."  If you've ever set foot in an Anthropologie store, you know this to be true.  I learned in Newport Beach that entering an Anthropologie store didn't provide a mere shopping experience, but a scope for frugal creativity.  Their ability to take something common and turn it into a work of art is impressive!  They really are expert at transforming trash into treasure!  In fact, while Googling images of Anthropologie storefronts, I came across several blogs from people who actually created their displays, like here.  I think that would be such a fun job!

Well, as fun as it is to browse through an Anthropologie store, getting to buy something is even better!  Thanks to a giveaway on the beautiful journey blog last month, I won a $50 gift card!  It came in a cute little patterned pouch and with a little booklet where I could write down my "Likes & Loves" from their store.

So I did my online homework to get an idea of what I might buy when we took a trip to a nearby Anthropologie store.  We actually had 3 locations to pick from, so I posted a poll on my Facebook Wall to see which would be the best one to go to.  The Forum in Carlsbad was highly recommended for their bigger selection of sale items.

So the Forum it was and we took our special little trip on Memorial Day, which Gregg had off from work.  Leala came along too.  There wasn't a special storefront display to capture and once again, when we saw displays we liked in the store, I got apprehensive about taking pictures of Anthropologie's design ideas.  Thankfully, instead of merely having to use descriptive words to give you an image of the cool things we saw, this wonderful blogger happened to attend the Carlsbad Anthropologie Summer Fashion Show last month and snapped a shot of the cool denim wall Gregg and I liked.  To the left of that denim display, (you can only see the top right corner of it in the picture), Gregg thought the scrap pieces of wood assembled vertically looked cool and said that they throw that kind of stuff away at his work all the time.  I told him that maybe someday he could make something like that as decor for our home.  Gregg also thought that a coffee table made of woven scraps of fabric stretched over a wooden frame held up with wooden legs, was cool too (not pictured).  Other than that, there weren't really any other spectacular displays.

[photo found here]

I was really excited when I spotted the book I had seen online - How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew!

The title and the brief book description captured my attention on Anthropologie's website and I was able to take a peak inside the book on Amazon.com.  Once I started going down the Table of Contents I was hooked and I knew this book was right down my alley!

Wake Up Happy:  How to Make Blueberry Pancakes
Be a Strong Chick:  How to Roast a Whole Chicken
Rise Up and Save Dough:  How to Bake Bread
Drink to Your Health:  How to Make a Smoothie with Fruit or Veggies
Fill Your Plate:  How to Plan a Week's Menu
Grow Your Own:  How to Plant a Vegetable Garden
Keep Away Pests:  How to Naturally Protect Your Garden from No-Good Insects
Spice Up Your Life:  How to Start a Windowsill Herb Garden
Preserve Knowledge:  How to Dry Apples
Stash Your Bounty:  How to Can Your Own Fruits and Veggies
Sweeten Your Day:  How to Make (and Can) Strawberry Jam
Cure Wrinkles:  How to Properly Fold a Fitted Sheet
Freshen Up:  How to Spring Clean
Clean Naturally:  How to Use Vinegar to Clean Almost Anything
Clean More Stuff Naturally:  How to Use Baking Soda Around the House
Toast Your Tootsies:  How to Darn Wool Socks
Get Crafty:  How to Make an Apron
Make A Mends:  How to Patch a Hole
Omit Oopsies:  How to Remove Most Stains
Breathe Deep:  How to Scent Your Home Without Candles
Spark Imagination:  How to Make a Baby Toy
Teach Responsibility:  How to Delegate Chores
Shoulder Up:  How to Be a Strong Partner
Kindle Romance:  How to Make the Most of a Night In
Welcome Your Honey Home:  How to Heal a Hard Day
Banish Debt:  How to Shop Without Using Credit
Live a Richer Life:  How to Share Your Good Fortune (Even When Things Are Tight)
Be Neighborly:  How to Enjoy the Folks Next Door
Keep the Peace:  How to Deal With a Problem in Your Neighborhood

This list only covers some of this book's contents.  There were just so many good ones to list though!

Q.  Were there any topics you especially liked?

The author interviewed ten grandmothers, all of whom lived through the Great Depression.  I love Erin Bried's heart to learn from the older generation and to preserve their stories before they're lost for all time.  She encourages the reader to learn from their own grandmothers, if they have them, which I've been wanting to do with mine, and even though she lives a couple states away, I'm inspired to find ways to hear her stories and glean from her life experience while I can.  Erin's humor thrown into the step-by-step instructions makes for a fun read too!

This was the other item I was hoping to get:

Alphabet Blocks by Uncle Goose

However, their kids' section was small and they didn't have them in stock.  I'm hoping that one of the other Anthropologie stores has them so that I can save myself $6.50 for shipping and handling.  Plus, I'm sure the other stores have some different displays that would be cool to take pictures of (which I'm determined I would have the guts to do next time!).  So hopefully I'll be posting about "Another Anthropologie Experience" with more cool photos and some cute ones too of Leala playing with her blocks.