Twin Cities weekend trip

Over the weekend we took a quick trip up to the Twin Cities to do some shopping and relaxing before our busy summer starts.  The Twin Cities have so many little neighborhoods that it was impossible to see everything we wanted to, but we did manage to squeeze in as much as possible.  Here are a few recommendations in case you are planning a trip to Minnesota soon!

We stayed downtown at The Hotel Minneapolis.  It is located inside a converted bank, so think lots of marble pillars and floors and black and white photographs of old downtown Minneapolis, with updates like neon lights and modern furniture.  Here are a couple pics of the hotel in case you are like me and like to see where you're going to be staying before you get there!

 

I thought this graphic wallpaper was kind of fun in the bathroom.

You could get a similar look with these picture lights at IKEA and some framed black and white photos of your own (or check the RIBBA collection!).

Seating area in the lobby with Barcelona chairs, a Platner table, and a waterfall lit with neon.

There are a couple of the old bank vaults in the hotel.  The bigger one (not pictured here) has been outfitted as a wine cellar.  I like that you can see the original brick walls around this smaller vault.

 

Just keep in mind that if you stay downtown, you typically have to pay for parking, which can add on an extra $20-30 per day, so plan for that or try to find a hotel special that includes valet parking.

And of course I had to find some kind of little project inspiration during our trip!  Our hotel room had a little niche with a set of floating drawers, with the coffee maker and ice bucket sitting on top.

 

You could easily recreate this look with a MALM set of drawers in the black-brown finish.  Top it off with a glass top (paint the backside first in whatever color you like -- the red here looks nice!).  Then hang a LUNTA light above and you've got a very similar look!

Speaking of...

Whenever we are in the Twin Cities we try to make a trip to IKEA.  Sometimes these are quick trips, and other times we are there for hours.  This time we made a list beforehand and power walked through the store.

I finally managed to find some juice glasses, which I had been needing for a long time -- these hand-blown white glass ones were perfect and not insanely expensive at $2 a glass.  We also got a new desk for the office redo and a few items for the boy's bedroom, which is changing subtly to be more of a big boy's room.  I'll share photos of both projects when they get further along.

We made a quick trip to Edina, which has some stores we don't have locally (Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Container Store, etc.) but spent a good part of the day in the Uptown area of Minneapolis (which, weirdly enough, is south of downtown).  We had an early dinner on the rooftop of Stella's, a terrific seafood restaurant with a great view of downtown Minneapolis, and walked through the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center.

If you like outlet shopping, Albertville Premium Oulets are north of the cities off of I-94 and have a pretty good selection of stores.  We ended up shopping during a huge thunderstorm, getting completely soaked.  Ah, what we will do for deals!

We dried off and warmed up at Three Squares Restaurant in Maple Grove, northwest of the cities.  They have all-day breakfast, plus lots of great options for lunch and dinner.  We've been there before, and everything I've ever gotten was really good!

Of course there is always the Mall of America (see photos of the LEGO store here), but sometimes the crowds are too much for me!

I'm hoping we'll get up to MN again sometime this summer; there are lots of places on my "to go" list still!  What about you?  Any favorite local places in the Twin Cities?  Feel free to make suggestions in the comments section.  I am always looking for new places to visit!

 p.s. - Check out my friend Nikki's blog post on their recent visit for her shopping / eating recommendations.




All photographs mine except Albertville Outlet Mall photo (from their website here).