Our Story

In the early 1990’s Lee Knox, owner of Tile and Designs, along with her daughter Laura Young dreamed of an expansion to their family business above and beyond the hardscapes and tiles they installed around the beautiful homes of Pittsburgh. A vacant storefront attached to their main building, provided the inspiration, an idea. And, the Idea Shops were born.

Laura and Lee traveled the country and selected bespoke items for the home and garden that weren’t readily available in the Pittsburgh area, making the Idea Shops a true destination retailer featuring home and garden decor. Their love of gardening inspires their product selection at the store, showcased in their large floor to ceiling window displays; a large selection of faux stems, bouquets and succulents arranged in beautiful urns make for gorgeous window shopping along Ellsworth avenue. The Idea Shops has a wide variety of pots, planters and containers to house your favorite green friends. The range of pottery and planters is vast, from large outdoor containers of fiberglass and terra cotta, to small stone pots for your indoor succulent garden.

Throughout the years the idea shops have evolved and when Lee’s daughter moved to Paris, they now found themselves with a French correspondent, providing the shop access to hand made parisian jewelry, garden items from various european flea markets, hand painted italian tables and chairs and many more unique and one of a kind european products.

Stop by the showroom to spark your next great idea.