Window Shopping At Clover In Richmond Virginia: a house log

We consistently enjoy crashing a well designed house to get some inspiration and steal some ideas. But we also know that homes are not the only place to look for decor inspiration. Which is why we chose to take you shopping with us for some fairly remarkable and totally implementable at-home ideas. Allow us to introduce you to Clover.

It is an amazingly cool consignment shop for kids that simply opened in Richmond’s Carytown district last month – and they gave us a sneak peek at the space before they unlocked the doors to the public. We scored the special treatment because the shop is a spin-off concept from our friend Lesley who opened the grown-up consignment version called Clementine years ago simply across the street (both are now owned by two other fams). We also crashed her charming abode back in ’08, so we know she’s the real deal when it comes to having some serious style.

Oh, and you likely remember us mentioning Clover a few weeks ago in this giveaway because their floors sport the Sunny Goode paint treatment.

But the creative and inspiring decor does not stop at those insanely remarkable stenciled floors. Clover is full of playful Hands-on projects that are as adventurous as they are affordable – and it is consistently good to remember that sometimes you simply have to go for it to achieve that perma-smile-inducing look. It is certainly not your typical kids clothing store:

Let us start with what you cannot miss when you walk in: the dragon. This colorful Chinese dragon greets you at the front and weaves its way all the way to the back of the store. They scored it at Pearl River Mart in NYC (a store that Sherry frequently reminisces about- I have never been, but it was on Design Star this season for their first challenge). After Lesley hung it she wondered if it would scare any kids, but luckily they all seem to enjoy the playful and imagination-inducing addition to the space. Perhaps it is that cheerful yellow color or those furry pink lips that keep the scare-factor down?

The front half of the store is split into boys’ clothes to your left and girls’ to your right. Each wall features an art installation – like buoys, which act as a colorful twist on the traditional nautical theme. The authentic buoys were a found on eBay for simply $5.99 a pop (Lesley saved on shipping by making sure to order them all from the same vendor). The excellent 2″ thick braided rope also came from eBay – apparently it is the same stuff you will find schoolkids climbing in gym class.

Over on the other side was a 3D collage that was strangely fascinating and striking at the same time. Lesley meticulously pinned and velcro’d flash cards, paint swatches, playing cards, and even Pez dispensers into a wave of bright colors that anchors the whole wall (scroll up to the second photo to see it from afar). Even though there is no apparent theme to the items, it is somehow inherently playful and lively – and weirdly hard to take your eyes off of! Kind of like Where’s Waldo without the guy in the striped shirt. And we enjoy that she used free items (like paint swatches) and especially affordable things (like playing cards- 52 for $1) to cover a lot of ground without breaking the bank.

The wall art is not the only non-traditional element when it comes to the clothing areas. Even the racks themselves are a unique creation for Clover. They took metal plumbing pipes and had them fashioned into double- and single-level racks to house a slew of consigned clothing at the exact heights and lengths that they needed. We think it is so cool that they did not go the expected route by defaulting to a basic wire rack. It adds simply a glimmer of edge to this kids store, which keep things from veering off into the sugary-sweet territory.

And speaking of shelving, to house some of the non-hanging items, Lesley scored two of these wicker and glass shelves on Craislist for $45 each, then painted them a bold watermelon color (leftover from the floor) to fit seamlessly into the space. Sherry was especially enamored with the chic criss-cross back:

Back in the dressing area (little kids need to try stuff on too, right?) they converted a closet space into a private changing room with some clover-esque Ikea fabric ($8/yard) that they paired with a colorful backing (see the stripes reflected in the mirror?) and embellished with some red pom-pom trim. Lesley even loaned us some leftover fabric for one of Clara’s weekly photos. Score!

Next door to the dressing room is a little spot to entertain compact shoppers, complete with two pint-sized chairs scored for $10 at a yard sale and painted a bright cloverly green (with already-owned paint). I picture this as the spot where exhausted baby husbands rest their feet while their baby wives try on outfit after outfit (at least there is a pleasant little flat screen TV for watching Sportscenter Sponge Bob).

And of course there is the spot where money is forked over. Clover opted for a plain teacher-style desk (which was scored at a local thrift store and painted black) to act as their check-out HQ, which is especially ideal for pre-teen purchasers who are simply learning to pay for their own things.

Above the desk hang two pendant lamps that Lesley in fact fashioned out of $10 industrial lamps from Home Depot topped with red bushel baskets (the top of the lamps feature a ceramic resting point for the basket so they never threaten to overheat the woven buckets). So plain and smart, right? And the DIYed pendant lights fit right into the color scheme thanks to some red paint (applied by none other than Lesley herself).

On the desk itself, they had a piece of glass cut to size and underneath it they laid some lively patterned fabric. But it is not simply any fabric, it is custom Clover fabric that they had made by Spoonflower.com. We hadn’t seen any Spoonflower fabrics in person before Lesley’s, but we’d been in love with the concept for a while. In short you can upload your own design (any design! the sky’s the limit!) and get it turned into custom fabric for as little as $16/yard. You can even check out a sample swatch before finalizing your order to make sure it is ideal. We enjoy unique and thoughtful touches like this- especially because Lesley only needed two yards of fabric and now has a desk that she literally “designed” to take Clover’s decor to the next level. Plus the desk was such a low-cost thrift store find that she did not flinch when springing for the custom fabric to finish it off.

Last but not least, we will take all of you organization nuts ’round to the “employees only” part of the store where Leslie worked her magic again to beautifully arrange all of their extra inventory and supplies (despite it not truly being directly visible to shoppers). They created an excellent workspace with butcher block counters (which they snagged on discount from Lumber Liquidators, who knew you could get a countertop there?). We enjoy how clean and organized it all looks – and of course the fact that Lesley used more steel piping as fabric rods to close off some of the compartments below has us especially enamored.

And how could we not share a close-up of the über-organized baskets with charming tag labels that pepper the space. If you can believe it, the baskets were from Walgreens of all places (small ones were 2 for $5, big ones were 2 for $10). Does not it nearly make you want to work at Clover – simply so you can bask in the striking order of things?

So that is our spin around all the inspiration that is Clover. We hope you folks spotted as many fresh ideas in there as we did… perhaps even a few that you can adapt for your own home! If you are here in Richmond you will totally have to swing by (they are near the Galaxy Diner) to see it for yourself – especially if you’ve got little ones to clothe (or simply entertain for a while). And a big thanks to Lesley, Lyn, Jill and all the other Clover-folk for letting us pop by to enjoy all the remarkable Hands-on details.

Did you folks spot anything in particular that caught your eye? Let us play the consistently entertaining what is-your-go-to-part game. And feel free to share any retail stores in your area that also boast unique decor. Who knows, if it is not too far from Central Virginia we may simply swing on over…