People who say, “There’s no place like home” haven’t been to Honor & Folly, a micro hotel along a revitalizing stretch of Michigan Avenue in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.
The inn, which can sleep up to four, makes typical boutique hotels look nearly corporate. The intimacy is owing to more than its petite dimensions. Proprietor Meghan McEwen furnished the second-floor space with vintage and handmade objects that lend a Euro-farmhouse feel.
“I tried to set it up like an apartment, so guests feel at home,” McEwen says. “They can stock the kitchen with food, cook there, entertain. It’s a great cooking/entertaining space.”
McEwen cited guests who traveled here to visit friends in Detroit and — rather than running around, catching up with local pals during their stay — invited people over to see them at the inn.
Since opening last December, guests have hailed from as far away as Australia and Hong Kong and as close as Ann Arbor. “The Detroit tourist is a very curious and interesting traveler,” McEwen says.
Curious explorers find Honor & Folly’s neighborhood is as intimate as their sleeping quarters. Within walking distance are coffee, exercise, music, craft cocktails, beer, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the form of Astro Coffee, True Body Fitness, the Lager House, The Sugar House, Nemo’s, Slows Bar BQ, Mercury Burger Bar, Mudgie’s Deli, and, of course, downtown.
Although the history of the inn’s address is unclear (locals vaguely recall it having housed a Chinese restaurant or dry cleaner), the tiny urban inn at 2132 Michigan Ave. now has a distinct and memorable personality. That charm, as Southerners will tell us, is the beginning of hospitality.
For more information and to purchase local crafts featured in Honor & Folly’s décor, see honorandfolly.com.
$10 purchase that was refurbished with the help of McEwen’s children. Cubbies display family-style pieces, including clay pinch pots and balls of yarn.
The kitchen is open to the living area, which fosters entertaining and cooking events. Furnishings
and accents include a George Nelson Bubble Lamp, a Michigan Woolen Blanket ($200) made with wool from a bicentennial farm in the U.P., a vintage pie cupboard, wooden candlesticks, and rocking chair
The turquoise vessels are by Abigail Murray
Stacked vintage suitcases serve as bedroom nightstands. “I wanted to create a place where someone
who was visiting could get a feel for the aesthetic and design that was happening locally,” says Honor & Folly owner McEwen, who furnished her tiny urban inn with items from area artisans.
A triptych of texts crafted from hand-cast, hand-dyed, and hand-carved paper suspended in Italian beeswax was created by Megan O’Connell, founding director of Signal Return letterpress print shop in Eastern Market. The works were inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. A vintage quilt, circa 1800s, is displayed on a ladder. McEwen decided to show the back of the headboard in the guest room because she liked the graphic appeal of the letters and numbers. The quilt and accent pillow are vintage.
The book page includes a Dorothy Parker poem.
The living-room sofa from Ikea is the only new piece in the space. McEwen had the daybed
(from Eastern Market Antiques) reupholstered at Dimitrie Upholstering in Royal Oak using new fabric with a vintage-quilt look. A collection of thrift-find stools, many of them organ stools, provide seating at the harvest-style table, which was made by Phil Cooley, who also installed the stained-glass window panels. The rug is Moroccan.
The wallpaper (on the kitchen island) is “Parsnipity,” by wallpaper/fabric designer Casey Gunschel of Palacepapers, Chicago.
McEwen says the stuffed pheasant perched atop open shelving represents Detroit and its wild-bird population. Displayed dishware is by Ann Arbor ceramicist Abigail Murray. The Baymiller Bag ($160) is by Brush Factory. Displayed work by local craftspeople is for sale and can be viewed at the inn’s website, honorandfolly.com.
Stacked vintage suitcases serve as bedroom nightstands. Innkeeper Meghan McEwen found the luggage at Detroit shops, including Eastern Market Antiques and Senate Antiques. The lamp, from The Treasure Mart in Ann Arbor, is one of a pair flanking the bed. One figure is a male, the other a female.
