Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Red Shoes and Feather Your Nest

So after we left Sharon's shop, Another Man's Treasure, we headed towards Ann Arbor. With treats in hand, as you can see.


Ann Arbor is home to University of Michigan and home to a wonderful shopping district. Even the side streets are full of interesting shops. We came here to visit Red Shoes. We met Catherine, the owner, by chance when she stopped in. Her shop is whimsical and fun and just as wonderful as it looks on her website and blog. I forgot to take pics inside, because I got carried away looking at it all.


Red Shoes is also home to one of Ann Arbor's fairy doors. When I go back I'm going to try and find many of them. Red Shoe's door is undergoing a little repair. But look how sweet...the fairies even have their own little garden!


Next we headed down the road to Ypsilanti to visit Feather Your Nest Antiques.


I love to visit Jan's blog and she is just as sweet in person. That's me and Jan in the pic above. We met her daughter Cora and her husband too. I loved to listen to her husband....you could tell that he is so proud of Jan.


Her shop is adorable. Everything is displayed so nicely....tons of ideas for a shopkeeper like me! Look how she painted her cement floor~very pretty! I bought the cutest umbrella to use in my spring displays.



Jan has a lovely garden at the side of her shop. She sells the iron pieces too.


Do you have a dull little shed? Look what Jan did with hers. My mom has an ugly little shed in her yard and she wants to paint it up cute like this. As we were getting ready to head back to Ann Arbor for dinner before going back to the cottage, Jan mentioned there was an Ikea a few miles up the road. What?! None of us had ever been to one so ....


of course we had to go! From antique places where everything is one of a kind to the superstore of mass production..........but so much better designed than I've seen before. I think the shelving system might be the answer to my bookshelf problem. There is marketing genius at work in this store.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What cute little shops you've visited! My mom's side of the fam is from Detroit area, so I'll have to keep an eye out for cute shops to visit when I'm up in that area. I laughed thinking of what expression my husband would have on his face if I tried to talk him into painting our 'man' shed pink and purple...maybe I'll have to just get a 'woman's' shed for my gardening supplies and paint that pretty colors :) Oh, Ikea, there's a new one in Orlando. I could spend all day in there (and the food court's pretty good too!). We've bought many pieces from there, bookshelf, tables, bed, storage boxes - like you said, mass produced, but priced right!

Anonymous said...

looks like so much fun! i love shopping days in cute little shops!

Tammy said...

WOW you have some wonderful shops near you!
I am sooo jealous

Donna said...

I'm enjoying your trip and all the wonderful places you stop to shop. Great treasures!

~Donna

Jan~Feather Your Nest Antiques said...

Hi Joyce, I'm back from my little vacation and ran over to check your blog. Thanks for all the comments about me and my shop and especially for the sweet thing you said about my husband! I'm so glad you liked Ikea.