What We Bought for ourselves at Round Top

The loot! The scores! Yesterday I showed you what I bought for Chairish (and I did buy a few things back, sorry! But there are a few amazing pieces left so if you haven’t already go shop the sale). Well today we’ll show you some of what we bought for ourselves.

While shopping I didn’t want my crew to stress about shopping so like a mom shopping for her teenager’s prom dress, I gave them each $150 of play money so they could shop guilt-free, with the one caveat that they had to purchase some pieces for us to blog about. First up (in no particular order except me last, so you’ll keep reading) is Ginny:

As you know Ginny is British and she collects these little english porcelain toothpaste containers. I almost bought that brass box, then passed on it only to have her steal it. Here’s a bit more in Ginny’s own words:

“I bought a lot of things that either came from England or remind me of home. I have a growing collection on vintage ceramic jars that were used for preserves, pate and other non-perishable foods. I mainly have taller jars at home but this time I bought three trinket box style ones with lids which are super cute. I just love the print on top of them and the fact they have the queens crest or say London / Manchester on them gets me giddy! I also collect jugs (or pitchers) so I added a very sweet blue toile jug to my collection. The flag isn’t actually for me because I already have a huge English flag, so I bought this for a friend of mine. My one single regret is the horse painting that was featured on Emily’s Chairish sale. UGH I’m almost crying writing this. I actually ended up putting in an offer on it and then someone swooped it up and paid full price!!! Lesson learned here. It was perfect. Melanie spotted it when we were shopping for the sale and I should have gone for it then. I know I’ll get over it but really hope whoever is the owner of it really appreciates it (and if they are reading this and want to sell it they know who to contact!)”

Next is Sara’s collection: I love all of those things and almost bought those two miniature black bells, but didn’t and then lo and behold she snatched them up.

Here’s what Sara had to say: “Since we’re shooting my place for the ‘Makeover Takeover’ series soon, I was desperate for some cool accents for the apartment. Which probably led me to being a little more trigger happy than I would have normally been, but luckily I regret nothing. I’m excited to find little spots for everything I bought, especially those Danish flags and my new collection of vintage puppets. Which some people might say are creepy, but I think are awesome (and kind of creepy). Not pictured is my very last, but possibly favorite, purchase – a hunter green and brass mid-century desk lamp (which you’ll see in the office soon!). Also, I didn’t realize until staring at this photo that the charcoal portrait I nabbed has an uncanny resemblance to Professor Quirrell (if you don’t know who that is, don’t worry about it). I’m not sure if that makes it better, or not . . . but probably better, right?”

Up next is Brady. He scored some awesome studio sketches while we were all shopping together at Eneby, and although I found them I know that no one else would appreciate them quite like he would.

Here is what he had to say about what he brought home: “I am sure you are looking at this rather petit collection of mine and thinking how underwhelming and small it is, but unlike others on the team I am typically a VERY hard sale. When I fall in love with a piece I immediately buy it but if I don’t then I quickly move on (much like the boys in my past – minus the buying part). I digress. My first purchase was that original nude oil piece which I have in my kitchen and LOVE, it was $10 and although it may be fairly new (not sure) I still love the neutral colors and how it reminds me that we all need to show off our best “ass”ets. I am a total sucker for nudes and sketches. Next up was the vintage round mirror ($20). It looks totally generic in this picture but the silver has a perfect patina, and the mirror has nicks and a slight wave to it due to it’s age so I was into it. The three studio sketches I scored (only one is pictured – the other two are rolled up) are by far my favorite find. Emily was looking at them and knowing me as well as she does yelled at me to come over and I immediately got aggressive and grabbed the entire roll of them and picked out my favorites without even thinking twice. They were each $40 and are huge at around 24×36″. They are also signed and dated 11′ which I am telling myself is 1911 although Ginny is convinced they cant be that old and are from 2011. I prefer my date over hers, but regardless of age they were done by a Danish artist and somehow found there way over to this small little country town in Texas which makes them a fun find for me. The jacket is a vintage military jacket that was an impulse purchase while I got separated from the girls and was pulling the car up for them, but it has some interesting detailing so I caved on that one. The last thing I purchased was the leather and wood fly swatter. 100% not practical at all and nothing I will actually ever use but it was so beautiful and well-made that I couldn’t pass on it at $15. All in all I wish I would have bought more, but the things I did come home with I love so I left a very satisfied customer. Is it time to go back yet?!”

Up next is Mel: Hi Y’all, it’s Mel ready to tell you all about my purchases you see above! (the hat is not from Texas and is just a styling tool, but wow that would have been a find).  I purchased a wood and brass desk set, a rattan chicken egg holder and a dog illustration with a massive mat. Unfortunately, I have both types of buyers remorse though. I wish I bought so much more! And I also wish I didn’t buy the mail sorting set. The second I saw the egg holder I knew I couldn’t live without it. No idea why, but the feeling still holds. I’d also been looking for a hat stand for ever but the amount of times in my life I try to buy something that is ‘NFS’ (not for sale) is seriously so frequent and sad. Luckily this time I convinced the vender and got to bring something practical home! As for my regrets with the desk set, I started to like it less and less the longer it was in my possession. I think the sales person said it was 80s after I gave her my cash and I subconsciously turned on it. It’s also just too chunky for my desk. C’est la vie, let’s go back so I can buy more!

Above is Jess’s look and here’s what she had to say: “Much like Mel I am a neutrals loving lady. Show me aged brown leather and anything made of worn in wood and my eyes light right up! As you can see in Round Top finds, I did not stray from my norm. Walking through these amazing booths and shops I was nearly on total sensory overload. I told myself that I was going to stay fiscally responsible (insert side eye emoji) but find at least one thing that was really special. With that said, ladies and gentleman let me introduce you to my $25 dollar (originally $49) leather trash can! She is perfect. Emily jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) almost pulled seniority and bought it off me but then must have seen the look of true love in my eyes and knew we were meant for each other. As for my other purchases I bought the wooden bowl for $15 which was a steal and looks awesome on my kitchen counter, the wooden mixer (salvaged from an old barn) was $10 and the spoon with the metal hook was $3. It’s hard to tell from the picture but the wooden piece is a bell attached to what the seller thought once was a wooden stirrup. I loved that it was kinda different, very aged and only $30 (down from $40). Right now it’s hanging off a curtain rod in my living room but once my MOTO gets fully underway I will find a better spot for him. Lastly my ‘No Sale’ painting. To be honest I’m not sure why I was so drawn to it because graphic art is not my typical style. But I was digging through a big bin of miscellaneous art and I thought ‘O this is cool!” The colors are neutral enough for me while still making the piece pop…and it was only $10. All in all I love my finds and am pretty proud that I was able to keep my total under $100! One piece that I am still thinking about but is not a true regret because it was VERY out of what I was willing to spend on a single home accessory was this delicate and intricate Navajo Woven Basket for $1400. Man was it BEAUTIFUL but my wallet said “Ummm maybe next time Jess.” O and it was brown. Are you surprised?

An of course or photographer Tessa scored some as well. Here’s what Tessa Had to Say: “Oh man there were so many big pieces I wish I could have bought, ie 15 foot farmhouse tables and 6 foot white wood horses (Something I did not know I needed until Round Top) but as it is I was ripping the frames off these painted screens ($20 for the pair) at the airport desperately trying to cram them into other peoples suitcases. My favorite and most practical purchase…obviously the 5 mini chairs. My favorite color is white anddd I have knack for hoarding small tiny useless items. Em tried to talk me into just buying 1 maybe 3, nice try. We all know I need 5.”

For the record, Tessa, I LOVE those mini chairs and ladder, I mean, have you met me??? The detail that she left out was that they were $130 for all of them which I felt was very expensive although I’m glad she bought them 🙂

Ok, down to me:

Now I really tried to only buy what was really needed as we aren’t really doing the flea anymore (buying to sell + having to staff someone on it made the prices too high and stressed me out). So this trip was more about stuff that we couldn’t live without or pieces we really, really needed. We didn’t have a truck to ship back and shipping was super expensive. I ended up asking Big Daddy’s if they wouldn’t mind taking a couple of my pieces, but I certainly wasn’t going to fill their truck so it was more about smalls than bigs.

My collection makes me look like I’m 12 years old, in 1982.  There is good reason: I knew that I wanted to do a paint by numbers collection in Charlie’s room, which he approved so that is why there are so many of those. I also bought him a vintage airplane diagram (I think from an old encyclopedia) and when I got back and showed him he practically spit on the paint by numbers, preferring the plane diagram. Since then he’s been literally walking around holding the print all day, often hugging it. Hopefully I’ll still use the paint by numbers somewhere because they added up. They were all around $15 – $30. The plane print was $6.

Their was a serious dog theme happening during the shopping, apparently with that painted dog portrait which is also for the kids room, but maybe their bathroom? The still life in the middle is dark and moody, what with the black pipe and all. It was $140 from Eneby. The wood sculpture collection is insane (fun fact, Brady was the one that bought the rest of them off Chairish!). They were each $10 which made the whole collection expensive, but they came down to $8 each. They are special and the kids have already played bowling with them with their race cars, I am sure once they tire of them Brady will gladly give them a good home. The flag was a set from a whole Scottish church which I thought would be amazing for the castle. But in retrospect they can’t live outside without disintegrating. Sure, I can frame them and keep them inside – Charlie’s room, but that means that I have paint by numbers, plane diagrams and castle flags in his room… I still don’t have a clear vision for his room and this isn’t helping. PLUS, and you are going to cringe, they were $190 for the set of two. SO Overpriced. SO pretty, but definitely too expensive. The good news is that we’ll be using them as an inspiration for the flags that we’ll make out of real outdoor fabric for the castle. Although I’ll put an H on it (check my insta-story today for castle update!). The porcelain wall tray can be in a bathroom – I think the powder tins ($20) and the blue french bowls were an impulse buy but are looking so pretty in my kitchen shelving. (Check my insta-story today and I’ll show you everything else that is hard to see in this photo)

Now to the bigs:

That french cabinet from the early 1900’s is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for, although I don’t know where exactly it is going to go. The color and the patina are PERFECT and right now I have a few too many wood pieces and could use some painted. UGH. It’s so pretty. I’m thinking it could go in the entry but it could also be great in the kitchen where my taller hutch is right now (Ginny said she would buy my hutch from me). This piece was originally $900, reduced to $800. It was day 1 at Marburger farms and while if I had waited they may have come down more, I couldn’t risk it and I really do love it.

Once I opened the ‘I’m going to ship furniture home’ floodgates I added a few more pieces. That little antique pine dresser from the same dealer (Hedgegrow antiques) is great for kids storage in the family room (hopefully) and was $350. The scale of it is great (super narrow) and those little key holes are so charming.

Now for maybe the best score – this primitive windsor chair:

You may not be able to see how old and stunning it is, but it is like 100 years old, from Pennsylvania (it even came with paperwork) and it has so much detail. I really needed a tall sculptural chair for a vignette in my house and this is it. It was originally $525 but the dealer quickly came down to $375. That might not seem like a deal to you, but in LA or on 1st dibs that would be $1300 – $1800 (or so i’m telling myself).

Lastly is this INSANE mirror from Eneby (which is where Brady snagged his sketches):

It has a super delicate, gorgeous black and gold frame and as you can see it’s incredibly aged. I’ve been looking for one to put in my stairway but I wanted something special. It was $650, but the same dealer gave me the still life painting if I’d instagram/insta-story and tag him so I justified the price (and of course little did he know that I would have anyway :)).

I haven’t gotten those pieces yet but man am I excited to style them and show you why I splurged.

It was so fun you guys.

I love my crew so much and want almost everything that they bought.

Thanks, Chairish for helping to sponsor this trip (shop the rest of the collection now!) and The Vintage Round Top for hosting us and showing us the best Texan experience ever.

WE. WILL. BE. BACK. Y’ALL.

Now,  I’m curious – is there one thing here that you would steal? Or are there some that you think are mistakes or crazy over priced? You have to remember that in LA there is a ton of midcentury but there isn’t a lot of this more aged, country, primitive, european vibe which is what we are all strangely going for right now. So while things are more expensive than you might be able to find at a thrift store in Indiana or Paris, for us West Coast city folk we felt we found deals… But, we sure do love opinions. Who made the mistakes and who got the best loot??? Let us know below!