A Visit to Downtown Home & Garden

While The Family was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to see The Boy graduate from the University of Michigan recently, I had a chance to visit one of my favorite stores.

Downtown Home & Garden is an Ann Arbor institution, stuffed with wonderful things that Martha Stewart would love. It sells almost anything you can think of that would enhance, well, home or garden. I love wandering its aisles and looking at the goods for sale.

Itty-bitty cast-iron pan (fried egg for one?) by Lodge:

Blue-and-white china galore:

This little cutie isn't for sale. A vintage, Magic Chef four-burner stove and oven:

Love that green shade!:

Hats for gardening in, or just strolling in the sun:

The bench is for sale, but the pad isn't. It's for "Wallace":

This is Wallace, the store cat. He's a rescue, and he has happily stepped into the vacancy left by Lewis, the store's former beloved orange tabby cat. Wallace is settling in very nicely:

He's a sweetheart, just like Lewis, and has tons of fans. It's not hard to see why:

I love a pegboard wall full of utensils. Oh, the possibilities!:

Old-fashioned bushels filled with potatoes. These spuds aren't for eating; they're for planting:

This beauty caught my eye. It may be old, but it still is working:

A rainbow of colorful pots:

Can't fit these lovelies in my suitcase, but I sure wish I could:

This is the mountain of hay bales where Wallace finds a mouse, almost daily:

Not for sale, just for show, this carriage dates back to the time when a large carriage-making factory existed just across the street from Downtown Home & Garden:

If you ever find yourself in Ann Arbor, Michigan, be sure to visit Downtown Home & Garden. You'll be glad you did!

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:

Ann Arbor Lovelies

In Ann Arbor  last week, I spent a lot of time inside IKEA and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. When I wasn't in the Twin Temples of College Consumerism, I was helping The Boy move into his frat house while trying to avoid tripping on piles of luggage, giant shoes, and half-built bed lofts. With the little time left over from all that, I was ogling the houses in Ann Arbor.

I've never seen such a concentrated collection of beauties. As I drove through the streets with my tongue hanging out like a dog, The Boy teased, "So, how many of these houses would you like to fix up and move into, Mom?"

Like, 99.5% of them! Here are some of my favorites.

This lovely is just two doors down from The Boy's digs. Look at those gorgeous paned windows! It's a sorority, he tells me. Not sure why, but in the middle of the well-manicured lawn, there's a full-size anchor:

This one caught my eye, with its sloping roof and interesting angles:

There's a distinct chance I've photographed this house before, back in the fall of 2011, when we first visited Ann Arbor. But, seriously? The trifecta of blue house, porch, and bike leaning on the stair rail gets me every time:

This is also a sorority house. Talk about an important-looking front porch!

This porch is dressed to impress:

I love, love, LOVE the roof lines on this turn-of-last-century queen. The way the upper siding flares out ever so slightly, over the lower facade of brick? Such personality:

And what a cozy-looking porch! Somebody has wisely chosen hot-colored flowers and white pots to pop against the house's dark brick and even darker trim:

Speaking of things growing, I saw a lot of hostas, walking around Ann Arbor neighborhoods. One hardly ever sees them in L.A. Such pretty things, with their distinctive, ribbed leaves:

This home  reminds me of a lot of East Coast houses, with its fish-scale shingles up top, clapboard siding, and curve-within-a-triangle shape of the entry:

This sweet little house looks like it came right out of Cape Cod: Gambrel roof, white clapboard, blue shutters, and classic white picket fence:

A lot of the homes near The Boy's frat house are college housing. The years (and students) have taken a toll on the buildings. But this lucky one was getting renovated when we passed by:

Some frat houses were amazingly grand structures. This one had its own coat of arms, for Heaven's sake:

And this sorority house? It looks every inch like some of the historical homes in Pasadena, CA. What pillar of society must have built this grande dame?:

Here's my idea of house heaven: clapboard siding, shutters, and not one but TWO wraparound porches. Yes, please!:

And although the shot isn't very good, I must share with you this Tudor fantasy, below. And this is just the back side! (I forgot to take a photo of the front side, which has a legitimate moat and arched, stone bridge. No kidding.)

I'll snap the front side next time I'm in town. Because I am SO going back to look for more Ann Arbor lovelies!