What is Round Top? Some people call it Round Top, Round Top Antique Show, Round Top Antique Fair, etc. There are many names (and many dates) but only one Round Top! So what is it?
It is said to be the largest antique’s fair in the COUNTRY!
It is a 15 mile stretch down the Texas Highway 237 and it happens twice a year. The original show started in 1968 and has grown rapidly ever since. There is a mix of permanent buildings and pop-up tent cities where people sell everything from vintage Italian sofas that are collectors’ quality, to a rusty old doorknob and other junk.
Here you will find everything: high end, low end and a whole lot of stuff in the middle. (There are quite literally cow fields & pastures in between vendors. So if you think you’re lost, keep driving.) The event technically takes up THREE towns: Carmine, Round Top and Warrenton.
A few buildings require payment for entry, but most are free to enter and open to the public. The only tricky thing is: the opening dates. Some buildings open before others. Weeks before others! But they do have a general week where everyone is open and that is listed on the website: Round Top Texas Antiques.
TREND 1 - Sherpa & Boucle
Fuzzy wuzzy was a chair. Cozy season is here and we saw LOTS of cozy things at Round Top. From Chairs, to Sofas, to throw pillows and everything in between, it was furry, fluffy & cozy. The majority of what we saw was Sherpa, but some was boucle and there are other fabrics as well. But they all give the ultra-textural look & feel. Below are some images of the Sherpa-inspired pieces we saw.
TREND 2 - Antique Wooden Chairs
SO. MANY. WOOD. CHAIRS. It was a sea of vintage wooden chairs, and I’m not lying. Every shape, color and wood species was accounted for. Long backs, short backs, holes in the back, intricately carved backs. They had it. Tiny seats, upholstered seats, flat seats, curvy seats. They had it. They had dining tables full of 8 matching dining chairs, and they had one-offs. One thing we noticed was most of the chairs had some type of hole in the back. These were used as “grab holes” in the past to grab the chair and slide it out from the table. But, naturally, that ebbed & flowed & changed over time. These types of chairs have been extraordinarily popular among luxury designers and are often seen gracing the pages of Architectural Digest. Everybody wants a vintage chair from the Alps, or France, or Belgium these days. Antique dealers are all the rage and I don’t see that going away any time soon.
TREND 3 - Statues & Busts
Nothing says “I’m so fancy” like a bust or full-body statue. While we did see some cherubs and creepy baby faces, the main thing we saw was full body statues in bronze, wood or some sort of plaster material. Adding a bust to your office creates an inquisitive intellectual aesthetic and adding a full-scale female sculpture to your garden basically makes you Louis XIV. (Architecture history joke. See The Gardens of Versailles for context.) Que the song “Somebody’s Watching Me,” by Rockwell. But in a fun sculptural kind of way. I love this trend. I love sculptures & busts because there is a story there, you just have to find out what is. Was this person real or someone’s idea of perfection? When was this sculpture made? Is it truly vintage or is it a replica? If it is a replica, what era is it trying to replicate? How does the sculpture make you feel? When you look at art you have to find a piece you connect with. Most people think of this when it comes to canvas art, but it also applies to sculptures.
TREND 4 - Cognac Leather
Aaaahhh leather. It stands the test of time and SHOWS the test of time. Leather tells a story of where it’s been and what it’s lived through because it is animal skin. You can see scratches in leather. What story does that have to tell? Was it scratched by fingernails? Accidently scratched by a pencil? Or a tool? Maybe something was dropped on it, or someone with those be-dazzled jean pockets sat on it. You can also see where moisture sat on the leather for too long. Even human skin has natural oils in it and that rubs off on leather. Same with body lotions, hair products and more!
We saw SO MUCH more at Round Top and we’d love to continue sharing with you. Please tell us what you want to know! Perhaps we will share tips on How to get around in Round Top, where to stay and what to eat. I’ve had requests for a wardrobe breakdown so I’ll have to do a post on that as well. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
TREND 5- GIGANTIC POTS
