Image from Modern in MN I love happy accidents. I was researching pictures for my next blog post on alternative headboard ideas and I stumbled across the Modern in MN blog. It is the documentation of a Minnesotan’s quest to design and build a modern-industrial loft house in MN. She has gorgeous ideas as to how to infuse bold colors into rooms and still keep the place looking cozy. Please take a moment to take a look!
I hope everyone has been having a great holiday season! Now that we are going to be seeing less Christmas lights, there are still beautiful ways to decorate your home for the rest of the 3 more months that we have winter. I found these Global Ice Lanterns at Patina’s new sister store, Shoppe Local on Bryant Ave and W 50th St. They cost around $12 and they are super easy and fun to make. When making the globe, make sure to give the ball several days to freeze before using it for a special occasion. I does take longer to freeze than one would think. The one I made above is a bit thin, but still pretty. For a safer globe, go get battery operated candles to illuminate the globe, and then you have a beautiful outdoor eye-catcher!
Tons of people use Thanksgiving as their time to get door buster sales, but for furniture aficionados, the day after Christmas is the time to get up early and go shopping. Why? Because it is time for the annual Room and Board Floor Sample sale! This is the time to get the best prices of the year on discontinued 2009 R&B products. You may shop online at their website for clearance pieces, but go to the Edina store to get an additional discount on the floor sample versions. Make sure you really want the floor samples though, they are final sale once you buy them. Also, you may pick up your pieces/ have them delivered starting early/mid January.
Make sure to line up early because it is first come, first served. Doors open at 10am. Clearanced products go up on the web shortly after midnight on December 26th. Room and Board is located at 7010 France Ave S, Edina, MN, 55435 and nationwide.
Maybe you are doing some last minute shopping right now before Thursday and Friday. Before you head out, take one look at your tree and consider, do I need some new ornaments? This time of year is a perfect time to snap up the ornaments that are just beginning to become discounted and think ahead for next year’s tree. Bibelot is offering 20% off all their ornaments through December 24th. Check it out!
Former Gabberts design team alum, Colleen Santi, has started her own interior design business, Santi Style. She knows how to work with all different design styles from contemporary to traditional. Drawing on her past travelling excursions throughout Europe, she takes her knowledge of the international cultures, architecture and design influences and uses them as inspiration for her design schemes, making each project unique and and individualized for her client. Check out some of examples of her work below and also at her website.
On the way to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, I had to take a double take at this building featured above. The typography looked so similar to the real Bauhaus School in Germany that I had to investigate later as to what is housed in this building? It turns out you can own a piece of the Bauhaus yourself! The Bauhaus Flats are condos that are inspired by the international style that shuns ornamentation and uses asymmetry versus symmetry. I am adding pictures taken from the Bauhaus Flat’s website to showcase the awesome interiors. It looks like most of the furniture is from Room and Board. 
After struggling to get the lights up on the roof or strung into trees in the cold weather, I think that fellow Twin Citians owe it to their neighbors to enjoy the labor, love and art of their Christmas light displays. Growing up, it was a yearly tradition to bundle up, jump in the car and drive around some of the more ritzy parts of the Twin Cities and play, “Dude, look at that person’s house!” The lighting displays never disappointed.
From my past experience, some of the more impressive lighting displays that I personally encountered are in old Edina, in the neighborhood north of W 50th St between Hwy 100 and France Ave. Also, the neighborhoods all around Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and Lake Harriet, especially in Linden Hills. The Kenwood Parkway neighborhood is also not to be missed. Shamefully, I am not as familiar with the hotspots in St. Paul, but Mears Park in Lowertown is especially pretty and one can hop across the street to Barrio or the Bulldog and enjoy dinner while looking at the lights. Summit Ave is also a wonderful spot to see the historical houses of Minnesota illuminated. YOu can also see the Governer’s Mansion along this street.
Here are some other sources to help you plan your Christmas light excursion:
LazyLightning.org -A great resource for people in the south metro. This local blogger put together points on a google map of locations that are worth checking out.
Holiday Lights in the Park -St. Paul’s Phalen park has a spectacular lighting display that raises money for charities such as, Second Harvest Heartland, Twin Cities Union Gospel Mission, St. Paul Parks Conservancy, and UnderConstruction.
About.com/Minneapolis-St.Paul -has compiled a fantastic list of various spots across Minnesota of sights to see.
The 3M Building in Maplewood -always fun to see and one does have to wonder who is in charge of figuring out which lights to leave on every night?
Nicollet Mall’s Holidazzle Parade -whether you come for Target’s Holidazzle parade or strolling along Nicollet Mall in the after hours, this strip is always so beautiful. I always feel like it is movie scene worthy. I bet that is what inspired the movie producers to film the best Christmas movie ever, Jingle All the Way, in Minneapolis. Check out photographer Jason Bain’s beautiful pictures of Nicollet Mall at Christmas time at his Flickr page.
Month old Guild is the new kid on the block to the growing Excelsior and Grand area of St. Louis Park. Carrying the nickname “G,” this new retail store is the home to many local designers and artists who come together to offer their unique creations in one spot.
Part antiques, part consignment, part new creations, this store brings together some notables in the Twin Cities design community including furniture maker, Henry Taly, stylist, James Conrad Hanson, and Laurie Leuhmann, who finds her home here after closing her store earlier this year on 50th and Bryant.
What makes this store so fun is that there are so many classic, kitchy, antique-like items that you can’t possibly take everything in at one time. That is what will bring people back over and over again.
Guild is hosting a series of trunk shows in December and a holiday open house. The first trunk show starts tomorrow, December 9th from 5-8pm. Entitled, “Home Health and Hearth,” tomorrow show features merchandise from Nola Home, Cake, Organic Divas, 3 Janes, Donna Menne, Kathleen Hurley, and The Abby.
After tomorrow, there are the additional trunk shows:
December 16th, 5-8 p.m. “The Glorious Gift of Food”
Holiday Open House, December 17th, 6-9 p.m. With goodies and wine tastings hosted by Jennings Wine and Spirits
December 23rd, 5-8 p.m. “Last Minute Gifts & Men’s Night” (With a hosted scotch bar)
Please visit Guild at:
4414 Excelsior Boulevard
Minneapolis, MN 55416-4814
(952) 378-1815
Midwest Home Magazine gathered a collection of alternative ways to illuminate one’s yard for the holiday season outside of the standard strands of Christmas lights. The photo above is my favorite. These simple orbs are made in Germany from Moonlight Globes. They range in price from $309 to $1,567. One can use them as permanent fixtures in the home, or as portable indoor/outdoor lights. Order them directly from Moonlight Globes at their webpage.
These icicle-like torches can be inserted into the ground, grass or they come with a rubber suspension to hang. They are designed by Pernille Vea for Menu of Denmark. The set of 2 light torches can be purchased at the Walker Art Center’s gift shop website.
The Moravian star is a simple hanging light fixture that can be found at Lavish in St. Paul for $29.99.
Click here to read the original Midwest Home Magazine article.
