The Rodeo Royalty ladies have transformed Round Top’s iconic Merry Christmas store into a heavenly space for their fashion fantasies, and it’s open weekends year round. The space is now a romantic beach shack, submerged in light and full of waves and waves of lacy, frothy bits. So very,
very pretty!
My trusty iPhone 4S camera seemed possessed by this store. Every single shot glows with girliness.
What’s best about the new Rendezvous field is that it truly is a place to rendezvous. There’s primo shopping, of course, but there’s also bottled beer, wine and margaritas, great food from the Bake Shoppe and Cafe, and Shivers’ frostyful snow cones (Yes, you definitely want the Rendezvous Special with lemon, cream and lavender sprinkles).
The location is practically across from Marburger, so when you’re in the neighborhood be sure to pull in, pull up a picnic bench and join the bloggers, birthday partiers and plain old happy antiquers for the refreshment of your choice.
At the end of a long day walking the fields, I found a new frame of mind.
The combination of actual still life items against painted settings has become a recent obsession of mine. I’ve been intending to affix little shelves or hooks to all of the two-dimensional art on my walls and then add a dried orange or a golden bell or a raku pot to the piece. It seems like a smart way to invigorate paintings that I still adore but have gone a bit stale and unseen.
So when I discovered Maria Teresa’s booth in the way way back of Arbor Field, her dimensional paintings leapt right out at me. A real linen curtain in front of the lovely seated lady. A billowing wire cage as Frida’ skirt, tied with mysterious offerings. A tattered, twiny, bewitching family tree. Bones and test tubes, sacks and threads, jewels and tassels and talismans. Yes.
Please excuse me while I go hang some hooks and shelves.
Gather up your gilt mirrors, your marble busts, your vintage china, your grand taxidermy and your impossibly poised Grecian daybed.
Now artfully arrange it all on pallets and stacks of hay and carpets of sawdust, under mossy twigs and newspaper shreds and frayed tussles of rope and twine.
Voilá. Your Marburger booth is now a standout space and the buzz of the show.
Sometimes, just sometimes, my home accessories obsession expands to include fashion accessories.
This western-y Warrenton booth grabs you with its mountainous pile of big plastic letters. But if you wander in a bit you’ll see that in fact, it’s a great source of vintage bags, western shirts, belts and other fashion finds. The Gypsy Thredz blanket totes were my favorite, all tricked out with super nice leather details. Someone on my list will be getting one of these next Christmas, so cross your fingers.
And DIYers check it out: Mexican blankets… transformed into an upholstered footstool with a leather pouch appliqué detail that takes it to the next level of fabulous. Shouldn’t we all promise to add a special little patch or pocket or something to our future reupholstery projects?
There’s so much coming at me during the show that I can start to shut down and go a little numb. I don’t fight the overload fatigue; I just stay in cruise control and wait for something fresh and surprising to jump out at me, like these phenomenal custom mirrors from the Mirror-tique guys in the Arbor Field tents.
Some are distressed and some are imprinted with patterns of lace, landscapes, water droplets or abstract art. Some go modern, some are granny cool. All of them are smoky and subtle and any one of them would be perfect on your dining room wall.
The good news? You've discovered The Crush List. The not so good? I haven't been actively posting here for a few years now, which means the never terribly reliable details about my crushes are even more unreliable. Antique vendors have switched venues, shops in town have moved or passed on, donkeys may or may not be in the same front yards... In spite of the risks of massive misdirection I've left the site up in hopes that it still achieves its goal - to inspire you to visit Round Top for the Antiques Show or any time you have the time.
With that said, I leave you to explore this random list of my very favorite things about my very favorite place. I’ve tried to capture the area’s special pieces and parts. Some are big deal, some are small gestures, some are legendary and some are just tiny pip and squeak.
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