Round Top & Warrenton

 Mr. Ella and I just came back from Antique Week in the Round Top area. We mainly shop the fields in Warrenton when we are there.You just never know what you will find .  I was taking a short cut between some buildings when I spotted these cute blue chairs. They didn't come home with me though.

 We stopped by Zapp Hall. 

 These metal shelves did come home with us. They are really cool because they fold up. (We had just bought some other wonderful metal shelves and they wouldn't fit in our trailer, so we had to get our money back...)

 I loved the industrial twist on this farm table and wanted it 

sooo much. Mr. Ella didn't.

 He like this more traditional one. He promised to build me a table.

It will  be the best.

 We were hunting for a mantel to put in our historic home. We loved this tall one with a mirror, but after thinking about it, I decided it would limit my seasonal decorating.

 I liked this one, but it was just okay.

 This one caught my eye, but it still was not the one. 

Notice the pink bucket of water and the brown grass?

If you wanted to smoke a cigarette, you either had to be near a bucket of water or have a cup/bottle of water in your hand at the same time. It was so HOT and DRY there.

This is THE ONE. It has just enough carved details for our house. It came from a home in New Orleans. With a lot of TLC it will be spiffied up and enjoy a life in Texas.

If you are going to Antique Week I suggest you take a hat, sunscreen, light clothing and a smile!

Oh, the places I go

I can't tell you how many times people ask me where I buy my stuff. I always answer,

"Wherever I am....". I don't think this is exactly the answer they are looking for.

They want me to give up my sources. I will not tell you all of my secrets.

This post will take you to a few of the types of places we frequently shop.

We will start in Colorado.

Mr. Ella just did a search for architectural salvage and it brought us to the closed gates of a junk yard near Denver.

We found a phone number and an hour later the owner came and let us in.

He had some cool stuff. Pricey stuff. I think hoarders that don't want to let go of anything price it so high it won't sell.

Great looking radiators. I like the look, but not exactly in high demand.

Cute, but wouldn't fit in my carry on.

Maybe the American Pickers should visit here. This is definitely a guy thing.

One of my favorite places to go is Warrenton, Texas during Antique Week. It is very relaxing to me to wander around. The photo above shows a group of furniture that Rachel Ashwell had bought. If you notice behind it there are Bubba signs. Such a contrast. This is a good indication of the variety of what you run across and the time it takes to sift through it all.

They also have lots and lots to dig through. Baby wipes a must!

Now, there are also Estate Sales. You never know what you will find. This particular sale advertised that there were several out buildings full of antiques. Judge for yourself...

Not too bad.

Not too good...

This is another type of place we buy.

The organized junk dealer who is ready to deal.

Somewhere in the MidWest.

Then you have a not so organized junk dealer who thinks every piece is worth its weight in gold. This is somewhere in Texas.

Mr. Ella and I had fun roaming around to see what we could find. We were really glad it wasn't during the hot Texas Summer though.

This is all we found after about an hour digging and another 1/2 hour listening to the owner tell stories.

We make several stops during one "hunting" trip and our car usually looks like this! Now, if everything would just unload itself, clean itself up, repair itself and price itself it would make it all sooo much more fun...

Garden Antqs at Warrenton

My trip to Warrenton just would not have been complete until I spent time with Theresa of Garden Antqs Vintage.

Her booth was filled with a dreamy vanilla palette with her classic touch of robin egg blue.

Enjoy browsing!

Theresa is also set up in the Antique Company Mall in McKinney, Texas.

Just up the aisle from Ella's corner booth.

Will we win?

Last weekend My Dear Hubby and I traveled up to Kansas for the Mid America Flea Market.

The above photo is one I took as we were leaving. The photo below is one I took when we first arrived. The sun is not up a 5:30 in the morning...

The dealers are not able to set up in the building until 5:30. They all started showing up and began to quietly unload. It was intriguing to watch. Shoppers (me) were walking around asking prices before the items even hit the floor.

My dealer friend from McKinney and her husband have been going to this market for years. Carolyn and Kent met us there and showed us the ropes.

It was fun watching the "building" of this sale.

See the dirt area?

I will tell you about that in a couple of photos.

Tables seemed to just appear out of no where. We constantly had to walk around to see what newly arriving dealers had to offer.

Rows appeared along with more and more shoppers.

At 8: 30ish an announcement over the speaker brought even more dealers to the arena (dirt) area. I quickly made my way over to see what else I couldn't possibly pass up. I found two columns just as they came off a trailer. I also found some metal bread trays. I asked the dealer how much they were and she told me the price. I decided I wanted a few and was picking through them when a man walked up and asked the dealer how much they were and she told him the price. He said " I will take them all." Of all the nerve. I looked up at him and said I was buying some... I must have had some look on my face, because he backed up and said he would take what was left then. I had a good mind to buy them all. That is what the little devil on one of my shoulders told me to do. Thankfully the angel on the other shoulder won out and I was nice.

The crowd kept growing.

I started stacking a small part of what I bought over by the door.

MDH started loading the Tahoe. Now ,you have to realize we had been buying for several days before this sale started. Caroline and Kent said they would share a trailer with us. We agreed, but had no idea that we wouldn't' be able to find one to rent when we needed it. This left us with the one option of entering the contest ~

"How much can YOU cram into a Chevy Tahoe..???."

I looked around and there was way more stuff on the ground than would ever fit. I voiced this opinion out loud to my MDH. He didn't say anything. I knew he had his doubts too or he would have done that man thing of, " Oh no, it will fit, I can do anything..."

I just started handing him whatever item he thought would work in each strategic move.

At this point one would call this full. But, no we still had more.

( Two of the bread trays I bought are at the back.) We couldn't leave this cool basket, cute child's chair or the neat stool behind, could we? Or this shabby shelf, plant holder and great cabinet? How on earth would they ever fit?

He did it!! He WON!!!

Now, what about our luggage? This was my view all the way home.... Stay tuned for more pics of everything unpacked.

Distinct Displays

Here are a few pics of the displays I saw down at the Warrenton/Roundtop show. This old cotton gin is a perfect backdrop for the repurposed architectural salvage.

The inner artist in me kept being pulled towards these well used art palettes until I finally just took a picture.

Sweet Theresa of Garden Antqs Vintage. She is always so calm and easy going. I caught her early in the show while she was still setting up. I would have been running around going crazy if it was me...

Her talent for creating eye catching displays was very evident in every glance.

I love the ribbon rolls.

Theresa has posted more photos on her blog. Go check them out...

On to Clutter. I couldn't wait until they opened on Saturday. I feel like their style is a great predictor of what will be popular next.

Don't know what to do with all the pretty bark cloth pieces you have collected? Staple them to boards and make an incredible wall statement .

Clutter groups most of their displays by color themes.

My favorite decorating Ella-ment , songbook pages.

More Clutter.

I thought this photo was kind of funny. I didn't notice my reflection in the mirror until I put it on my computer. I will pay a little more attention next time I take a picture in front of a mirror.

(Taken at Theresa's.)

Well, I hope you enjoyed a little taste of my trip. I will have one more post about something pretty cool I stumbled on while there... You will just have to wait and see.