Ender Tasci’s Elephant Walk booth is the streetfront anchor shop for the EX-CESS field, and EX-CESS is pretty much the anchor field for the whole Antiques Show. So Elephant Walk is a hard to miss space, if only as a slow-creep-drive-by-looky-look while you sit in traffic on one of the busy days. I find myself visiting Ender once, twice, maybe three times every show, often helping friends get some truly beautiful things at great prices.
Elephant Walk’s permanent location and warehouse is in Orlando, FL of all places. Which of course got me thinking about how much the Round Top Antiques Show is like a Disney theme park experience: Completely overwhelming visual overload, endless traipsing well beyond your exhaustion point, long hot lines at the casual dining spots, groups of families and friends desperately trying to keep track of one another, parents taking turns pushing strollers, costumed characters everywhere you look… I’ll let you decide which fields are Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, etc. but Warrenton is definitely Main Street USA.
This gorgeous beaded tray is a perfect example of how things get away. I saw it two days after I was super-tempted to buy the almost matching beaded stool at a booth down near Zapp Hall. If I’d known the Zapp stool had a matching tray waiting at Ender’s I would have grabbed it for sure, but in the interest of my sanity I’ve instituted a strict a never-go-back rule for myself, so I will be without either.
You are surrounded by infinite possibilities of choice. Yikes!
Antiquing is such a thrilling feast of possibilities. What makes things even more interesting is that “possibility” is a completely relative concept. Your possible might be beyond my wildest dreams. My possible might be your so-not-worth-it. When you really think about it, that isn’t just a booth full of old treasures and castoffs, it’s an entire possibility multiverse.
As they are paid to do, interior designers, decorators, furnishers, stylists and their ilk look around the fields and tents and see even deeper layers of possibility. And here’s where Mel and El finally enter the picture. Next to their Old Depot tent full of super-stylish frenchy chairs, settees and benches that they’ve recovered in great hair-on hides, old Army bags and worn in vintage feed sacks, Mel and El also set up a complete upholstery workshop. The pros (and anyone else with the nerve) can order a pair of throw pillows for a new settee. Or they can bring some metallic leather from Arbor and an old stool from North Gate and have the whole thing redone on the spot. Or they can choose a custom fabric scheme for one of Mel and El’s own yet-to-be-done chair frames and it’ll be whipped up in a couple of days. What a handy and empowering and mind-opening resource to have in your pocket as you shop the show. Possibilties x 10!
Speaking of possibilities, let’s quickly review what I call the Sure You Can Do It, But Will You Really? possibility principle that must be kept in mind during all antiquing trips. As you find yourself slipping into the seductive “oh that burlap wreath plate charger with ombre dip-dye accents is so darling but I don’t need to buy it because I can make it myself” possibility trap, stop yourself and remember: What is possible when we get home from the show has its limits because we are involved, and we are busier and lazier than we think.
These are the beauties waiting for their turn!
And lastly, you’ll remember that my Grandmadean used to say a house or a shack or a town had “possibilities.” That’s what I thought when I saw this fabulous hide chair. The second photo shows how perfectly she fits into her new home!
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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