working girl - spooky juice

At IKEA, constantly revitalizing roomsets is one of the biggest ways to attract repeat customers within our market. Simply put, people visit more often when there is always something new to see! One of our big goals this year is to inject more seasonality into the store, and reflect more of what is actually going on in the daily lives of our customers. Right now, the weather is cooling down, people are coming indoors to relax, and everyone is getting geared up for upcoming holiday celebrations. After receiving my assignment to revitalize a roomsetting using Halloween as inspiration, I decided to turn it out, and create a small whimsical celebration!

Here's some old pics of the roomset before:

And here's the seasonal after:

First of all, let me say that it's amazing what switching out accent doors can do for a kitchen! Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of the lime green doors, but there's something about the black glass that makes the kitchen more striking and sophisticated. It also doesn't detract as many customers who felt as though the lime green was a bit too overbearing. The black definitely brought that darker Fall look that I was going for. The new bar stools also enhance the look. Not to mention, black is perfect for a little Halloween party!

By far, the most challenging aspect of creating seasonality with our products is that IKEA doesn't sell typical Halloween decorations like our big box competitors. I decided to play up this perceived weakness as a strength by specifying key products that could evoke the feeling of Halloween when used together, but easily transition into their daily lives once the holiday was over. I also had to choose wisely when it came to stock and availability of the products because nothing's worse for the customer than running out of something on display. And I mean NOTHING!

What really brought home the idea of a Halloween party were the inexpensive curtains that I used as faux spider webs. To create the look, I only used one panel from the set. To get the edges to curl, I cut the panel just a bit with scissors and ripped the rest apart until it gave me the effect I wanted. I love creating tips and ideas for the customer! :) On the other side, I set up a little party spread for six.

By far, the biggest positive reactions I've gotten from my co-workers has almost always included a comment about my creation of the term "spooky juice". Gotta love it! While looking for another shot of orange, which I learned is very scarce in the range right now because IKEA is always a year ahead when it comes to color trends, I was a little bit scattered. (Ex: our range was full of orange last year, but coincidentally Tangerine Tango is Pantone's color of the year for 2012) I did however stumble upon meter fabric with a bird and tree motif that evoked the idea of Fall just perfectly.

Because this kitchen was always scarcely propped to reinforce the style expression, I figured a big vase of sticks that reminded me of crow feathers and Beetlejuice really couldn't hurt.

And of course what's Halloween without candy? Thankfully, our Swedish food market sells little candies that are perfectly wrapped to fit the color scheme.

Never forget, Adults like candy too!

So what do you think? Sometimes small changes can make a pretty big impact! I can't wait to implement the next season!