Madewell: Confetti System in the Window!

We have a thing or two in common with the names behind Confetti System. Nicholas Andersen and Julie Ho are artists, stylists and designers. They are friends that share a love of old-fashioned celebration and craft-making. Dwell magazine did a fun Q+A with the pair not to long ago and when asked what's best about their job, they simply said, "Being able to do what we love". That's pretty sweet. Their tassel garlands and zany pinatas instantly made them darlings of the magazine and design blog world. It's an amazingly simple concept executed to pure visual delight. Our studio maven Laurel shared a craft space with Nicholas while working at Martha Stewart in NYC and reached out to him for inspiration in designing our summer window display. She took cues from earlier J.Crew look books where neon pink flirts with natural materials from burlap to linen. We realized quickly after that Confetti System actually installed the window displays in J.Crew in 2010. The result is a faux lemonade stand of sorts: bright, fun and unrestrained! Now, onto the D.I.Y window goodness.  

Materials Needed:
- butcher's paper or newspaper to protect your work area
- high gloss house paint {we used 1 quart each of Peach Medley + Strawberry Fresh}
- painter's drop cloth
- a paintbrush 

1. Cut drop cloth to desired size and shape. Ours was long and narrow so we cut it in half and overlapped the two pieces when setting the table.
2. Lay out paper on the floor and put the drop cloth over it.  {Note: even though drop cloth is meant to protect your floor from paint, when putting this much paint on the cloth, it will seep through}.

 

3. Choose a design and start painting.  We chose something graphic and simple. Feel free to get messy!

4. Let dry.
For the jar "cups":
1. Lay out paper to protect your work surface.

2. Unscrew lids from jars {you won't need these}.
3. Dip only about the bottom third of the jar into the paint.
4. Allow excess paint to drip off.
5. Turn over and place on paper to dry.

Note: these are cups in our window display, but we wouldn't recommend actually drinking out of them! We're pretty sure licking house paint isn't a good idea. Use them instead as vases, votives or jars for storing things.  {OR - if you're super careful not to let the paint drip all the way to rim (Laurel recommends blasting with a hairdryer while they drip to dry them faster), you could maybe drink with straws!  Just consider this a warning and/or disclaimer}

We added some Sno Balls, Reese's peanut butter cups, and donuts to our dessert trays, and some pink grapefruits to our water container {since, you know, we didn't really want a real beverage sitting in there for weeks....but for a party we recommend a pink drink}.