Hunting for Junk at Antiques Week in Round Top and Warrenton, Texas
Stop what you’re doing! Take a break! Grab a few friends, borrow a truck and trailer and let’s go hunting for junk!!! Be sure and take plenty of cash. This is important since a lot of the vendors only take cash. And because of recent decorating trends, the rusty, dusty, chippy items are bringing higher prices now. Sometimes the prices are like YIKES!!! SERIOUSLY???
First: Stop what you are doing!!!
What? In the middle of a bathroom remodel, halfway through with the SUBWAY TILE WALL, I stopped what I was doing. I was ready to be finished with that job. Frustrated is what I was feeling, to put it mildly. The hope was that if I left for several days then the other workers (Demo Dude, Baby Bird, and His Lady) would be able to finish their jobs. Well, let me just say, “THAT DIDN”T HAPPEN”!!! But that’s okay. Patience. This trip had been on my calendar for several months. I was ready.
The Round Top Antiques Shows History began with one woman and one building.
In the fall of 1968, Emma Lee Turney established a two-day “country antiques show with unsurpassed standards of excellence” and called it the Round Top Antiques Fair.
Twice a year more than 100,000 people arrive in rural Texas, to shop more than 60 antique, collector, decor and fashion shows in barns, dance halls, under tents and in fields.
Spring Shows: March/April Fall Shows: September/October
Second: Take a break!!! Because there is so much to see be sure and allow yourself plenty of time.
Round Top and Warrenton, here we come. We took 4 days off. It was 2 days for travel and 2 days for shopping. Two days is really not even close to enough to see everything. We never even made it to Round Top.
Next: Grab some friends!!!
Actually, they grabbed me. We were ready to go hunting for junk, for sure. They were ready for a break too. Melissa was busy selling real estate and Jackie was trying to get their foster daughter ready for prom night.
Don’t you just love our “I Have All the Junk I Need” t-shirts? You can get your’s HERE
There were several things on my list of junk that I was hunting for. The hunt is part of the fun.
- A cabinet or something for towels in my soon to be finished bathroom
- Black lace and burgundy lace for the upcoming wedding
- Something for me to wear to the wedding
- A white enamel coffee pot to fill an empty spot on my RUSTIC COFFEE CUP RACK.
- Models for paintings
- And whatever else rusty, chippy treasures that I couldn’t live without
- A vertical Laundry sign for my newly spruced up LAUNDRY ROOM
Jackie spotted this “just the right size” coffee pot. I would have preferred red trim but this would work great to fill that spot.
Someone had told us that we needed to eat lunch at Zap Hall. Zap Hall is a section or field at Warrenton. We were in the Bar W section so we headed across the field and over a little bridge.
They were right! The food at Royer’s Cafe in Zap Hall was big and delicious! She is having a two- hands grilled chicken sandwich and I had the Funky Chunky Chicken Salad on a bed of lettuce, served with sides and a roll. Yummy!!!
This junk bench was outside of R&W Trading Company in the Renck Hall Field. I was going to link them but they don’t have a website.
Next: Borrow or take a truck and a trailer
We didn’t have to borrow a truck. Jackie had that but she did borrow a trailer.
There were silver platters were in several booths. It was hard to resist the temptation to bring them home but I stayed with my list.
I may not have brought them home with me in a bag but I got several photos so that will have to satisfy me for now.
The creativity of some of the vendors was amazing. Isn’t this colander light fixture so cute?
You could make this but would you? By the time you find just the right colander, go and purchase the lamp kit, get your drill, try to remember where you (or your helpers) put the set of bits, clear a space, find the time and actually get it done, you actually could have bought it and been done!
Remember: Take plenty of cash. You will need it!
Are you old enough to remember these? We played with these long before there were electronic devices. Memories and good ol’ days. these were $85.00 each.
Just a little side note: When you are hunting for junk and find that perfect treasure, take photos of what you bought, grab the vendor’s business card and make sure you know what field and tent or space number.
Why would I tell you to do this? Because Melissa and her daughter and I got so lost. We were really turned around and we kept ending up at the Scary Baby Hotel. No photos here. That was creepy.
Then we finally found Jackie. She was seriously hunting for junk.
She was digging through a box of TXDOT sign letters. That’s Texas Department of Transportation. The letters are huge. Well, maybe not huge but they are much larger than I thought. Truth be known I have never really thought about how large those sign letters actually are. Have you ever thought about how big they are? I bet not!
She was looking for decor for their new real estate office.
Here’s Jackie with the letter she found. So cute! Since we were all back together again and finally knew where we had parked the truck and trailer I told them, “It’s time to get the “H” out of here!!!” And that’s exactly what I said. I was so inspired by her holding the “H” that I just had to say that.
What a great day it had been hunting for junk with good friends. It was suppertime and we were hungry. We loaded up our rusty trash and our chippy treasures and headed back to Jessica’s house where supper was waiting.
We had a bite to eat and then sat by the pool and soaked our tired feet. This was just the first day.
I can’t wait to tell you about our second day there, so I hope you will stop back by again. Maybe the tips I shared with you will be helpful the next time go you hunting for junk or hunting for hidden treasures.
Just another little note: In our walk with the Lord we might need to also use some of these same tips.
Stop what you are doing. Do you ever do that? Just stop what you are doing and thank Him for His goodness and mercy. 2 Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Lamentations 3:23 “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
Take a break. Take longer than just a moment or two. Go on a retreat or a sabbatical. Draw aside. Spend time in His Word and in His Presence. Matthew 14:23 “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening came, he was there alone.”
Grab a few friends. We need friends, we need each other, and we need the Body of Christ. Ecclesiastes 4:9 ” Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor:”
You won’t need a truck and trailer but how about a journal and/or a journaling Bible. Write down the treasures you have found in His Word. Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Cash? You won’t need any. It’s free. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment if this has been helpful.
’til next time
Nathalie
Loved this story. What true blessing it is to have junkie friends. I’m going next time, or I wonder will there be a next time? Start saving my money now.
Junkin’ friends are so much fun!!! The next one is in October. They are twice a year. Start saving.