Great selection of some serious tiles. Not inexpensive but you are paying for craftsmanship. Make…read moresure you check out the tiles with cork backing for use are trivets.

When I was looking at pictures of Portugal, I fell in love with their Azulejos, or tiles. They're…read morewonderful and so detail oriented. Truly beautiful pieces of art. In my research to find out where I could buy some to bring home, Fábrica Sant'Anna popped up in every blog and article I read about. They have two locations in Lisbon, the one with the original factory from the 1700's is a bit bigger than the one downtown. You can buy individual small tiles to medium sized ones to larger ones. You can buy a set that make up a picture to a large artistic piece that is several feet tall and wide. The little tiles make great little gifts for people back home. I ended up choosing several tiles of various sizes in the same color scheme to make up a collage of tiles. They also have everything from hand painted tea sets to door knobs to big and little vases to chairs and a table. The traditional colors are the white and blue tiles but I found myself drawn to the more colorful ones. They are very helpful and you can ask them if they have certain pieces or things that you want on your tile. They can also do custom orders as well and they do ship internationally. The lady that worked at the original warehouse told us that you can take a picture of what you want and that she would capture that on the tile. Outside of the original warehouse where they originally made the tiles, you can peruse the different Azulejos that they've made. All of the tiles are baked at an extremely high temperature too so you can use them outside or even as a hot pad. I highly recommend coming here, even if it's just to satisfy your artistic soul.

In all honesty, I can't say I was a regular at Muji as no frills and minimalism is not exactly my…read morestyle. I like cute stationaries and things that spell KAWAII, so everything at MUJI just feel so boring to me. However, I guess taste changes and as I get older (mature?) I seem to appreciate more this simple, understated style with natural colors and environmental friendly philosophy. MUJI may mean no brand, but don't think that means cheap. Their goods are rather pricey, though arguably of better material and workmanship. Many of their clothes, made of linen and cotton and in pastel and earth tones, gives a very soft, natural look, but can easily look wrinkled and dull on one person unless you know how to wear them. If you like their stuff, it's worth checking to see what they have on sale, as the saving can be substantial. This Muji is relatively small, with the ground level for clothes and a basement for home goods.