Downtown Home and Garden

The Hubby and I were in Ann Arbor recently to visit The Boy, attend a football game (U of Michigan won!), and take a quick look at the house he'll live in next year. It's old and lovely:

Filled with architectural details:

 And I'm sure he and his friends will thoroughly trash it, in true frat boy tradition. *Sigh.*

I also had time to visit one of my favorite Ann Arbor shops: Downtown Home & Garden. A century ago, it was a feed and seed store, and you can still see traces of that in the stacks of hay bales, bags of chow, and an old-fashioned buggy parked indoors:

But now Downtown H&G sells a huge array of things for, well, home and garden. This time of year, the store is aglow with cute things for the holidays, like these adorable glass teapot tree ornaments:

And little critter ornaments made from...I'm not sure what. Straw? Paper?

The blown-glass ornament were so unusual. Piccolos! (Or are those flutes?):

Trailers and VW vans!:

Retro lights, like this set:

The store had yards and yards of fresh evergreens for sale:

And stuff to make sure the wild critters in the back yard have a merry holiday season, too:

 I loved their sweet, retro-style toys:

And they have a dear Shop Kitty, too, seen here with some of his fan mail from local children:

But what really makes my heart go pitty-pat when I visit the store is its amazing assortment of big-kid toys, like these colorful Le Creuset teakettles:

 and matching frying pans:

Dishtowelling by the yard (I went home with some of the blue-and-white):

Teensy tart pans (I tucked a marble in one so you could see just how small they are):

Polka-dot aprons:

Gloves for heavy and light work:

These rolling pins are used to make a kind of cookie, I think:

 Now, here's something you don't see in Los Angeles!:

Since I was last there, Downtown Home & Garden has added a Beer Garden out back, with a kiosk selling spirits and snacks, and fire pits to gather 'round:

If you are ever in Ann Arbor, be sure to visit this lovely store. And pop out to the Beer Garden, too. They've saved a seat for you: