Antiques Shopping: Chappell Hill Style

From the tiny Coach House, where Tall Husband and I whiled away a rainy Texas weekend, we could stand on the front porch and see this...

...the welcoming back entrance to a most wonderful antiques shop, Evans Antiques in Chappell Hill, Texas. If there is anything that Tall Husband and I excel at, it's shopping. And we especially love shopping for antiques.

Eileen Evans has made a little antique heaven right in the Texas hill country. As I was shooting, I realized that Eileen's visual formula is to let each doorway frame the large view; then within in that view are precious vignettes.


You just know that this white hare was destined to come live at The Bunny Bungalow!


As you click on photos to enlarge, look at the lighting in each room. Eileen stocks wonderful lighting fixtures and those small bulbs that you won't find elsewhere: they really look like candle flames.

Isn't that child's old red, wooden wagon wonderful?

This is a great hutch, filled with crockery.

Note the great hand-painted floor cloths on all the floors. Also, that American Windsor reproduction chair is beautiful and looks authentic. As you know, if you have antiques, reproduction chairs are best, as antique dining chairs are the most overworked pieces of furniture and don't always pass the years well.

Isn't the "halo" around that primitive angel magic? It's an artifact of the lighting but are you ready for some real magic? See that door to the left, under the old sign that reads, "Fine Lodging"? That's part of the Stagecoach Inn B&B, actually the entire shop is. You can sleep in the Antiques Shop after closing time! You have the entire place to yourself and you can shop all night in your nightgown or your birthday suit if you prefer. Eileen has your credit card number, so you just jot down items you've purchased and take them with you. We're staying there next trip to Chappell Hill. Talk about shop till you drop!

Note: Sunday morning we met the charming couple who had spent the night in the antiques shop. The wife showed us her long list of purchases. She was one happy woman!

Evans Antiques at the Stagecoach Inn, Chappell Hill, Texas