WarrenTON

It’s that time again. That time where my 23 year old self heads to middle of nowhere Texas to go antique shopping, much to my friend’s confusion. Actually, to be honest, my friends would not find this surprising from me at all. To my defense, if you were to come with me, I have a feeling you would catch the bug too. Round Top holds a bi-annual antique show that is one of the biggest in the nation (I actually don’t know that for a fact but it has to be) Vendors from all over the country come to sell they’re best stuff at a great price. Now I normally hit up Warrenton, a small town near Round Top that has miles of booths and vendors that are a little cheaper because it is all outdoors,  instead of the big show because I want to really dig through the junk and find treasures. Check out my last visit to Warrenton to see my previous treasures: http://creativeallthetime.blogspot.com/2011/04/round-topwell-almost.html

 I’ve written about my Warrenton/Round Top purchases before (and how much I love them) and how much luck I have had there.  This year was no exception. I headed down after a short trip to Waco to watch my Bears beat my hometown Rice owls (sic em!). After a few wrong turns and a stop at Buccee’s I finally made it. If you want a tip, I like to park at Carl’s  (large white building with some nicer antiques and booths inside) because it’s nice, easy to remember and get in and out of, and it’s free.  Carl’s place also has a booth with great old school pennants, including my alma mater (again sic em).  Then I headed out, braving the Texas heat to find some good deals. The past few times I’ve been out there the weather has been unnervingly perfect so I knew that it was only a matter of time before the Texas I typically call home  (aka over 100 degree weather at the end of September)  showed itself.  We headed out towards some of my favorite booths that have lots of over sized architectural salvage and interesting furniture. Designers frequent this part because they have such awesome stuff, again you have to dig to find the real deals but everything is at a better price than it would be in a store. I love all the architectural salvage because it gives such wonderful ideas of what I could make or how to re purpose or reuse something to make it something unique and personal. 

Driving into Warrenton

I wanted these little lockers so bad!

Love that car bumper.

Wouldn't that Vegas looking sign look so great in a cute downtown loft somewhere?? My mind was buzzing when I saw this!

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this, but they wanted too much for it :(

We continued on into junk heaven  and did end up finding some great things including my new little nightstand.  As soon as I saw it I was in love, the handle, the mid century modern style, I was drooling. I try really hard not to make a beeline for the things I love, but typically I become a five year old child again running towards something shiny. I know it’s bad antique etiquette (definition to follow). I did it anyway and after the owner told me the price, I was sold. My $20 nightstand is slightly beat up but still in great shape and is just so awesome, don’t you think?

Antique Etiquette: you must not run, jump or lunge, towards things. This will cause others to look at the most magnificent piece that you have bought and after seeing how beautiful it is they will use your good style sense and snatch it up before you can. If you grab it and pick it up, don’t let go unless you really really don’t want it and are OK with giving it up. These rules were self learned after having one too many vultures (mostly with white powder puffs on top of their heads) steal my lovely finds.

After this find I spend another hour or so wandering around scouring booths for something special. I did find this little cutie:

I also found lots of crazy things...LOTS of crazy things. I know I've tried to explain it before but really only pictures do it justice.

Do you smell that smell?

What SHOE doin?

This is Julio. He's become a staple in Warrenton. He even made a cameo in my last post about my junk hunting. He's quite the charmer.

Really who doesn't need a giraffe leg table?

This is awesome. If you haven't seen Picker Sisters on Lifetime, it's a show about 2 designers that find unusual junk and re purpose them into unique and chic pieces.

My poor little feet were definitely feeling it at this point. This may have been this pair of Rainbow's final run.

Needless to say, it's always an adventure what you will find when you venture into Junkland searching through the TON in WarrenTON. Despite the heat (I wish the weather would have been more like this past weekend!) I did have a great time and I'm excited to see what my cute little nightstand can become! I already spent this Sunday afternoon sanding it down getting it ready to re stain. But I'll have to focus because now that it's officially fall, there's so many other fun things to do outside! I'm also really excited about trying this recipe so I'm sharing it on my blog, hope you enjoy!!

Apple Pancake Rings: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Carla-Hall-Fried-Apple-Pancake-Rings