Dream On: Shopping in My Nightgown

When we cover the Round Top Antiques Shows, Tall Husband and I find that there are plenty of interesting local places to lay our heads, that is if we plan ahead, months ahead. This picturesque little cottage is Evans Antiques at Stage Coach Inn in Chappell Hill, Texas where we stayed. I did a posting last year about the Stage Coach Inn, which is about an hours drive from Round Top for the average driver; for a crazed antique hunter it's forty minutes away.

Most of us hate those four-letter words but shopping is not a four-letter word...and if it can be done in your night gown, after the shop has closed, it's even more fun! Yes, these were our digs for the night. As Tall Husband watched television and played with the remote, I shopped!

The place was stocked with wonderful antiques and reproduction early American items from tabletop to lighting.

Oh shoot! The old grandfather clock is sold. But not to despair, for everything is for sale...I think Eileen Evans, the shopkeeper, would even sell her husband Steve.

Just look at the patina on that old hutch. And if you look closely, you can see Tall Husband working that remote.

Soups on!

Even the bed we slept in was for sale, as were the lovely antique sheets and pillows. Watch out for the price tags, they stick you in your sleep!

View from the bed.

Just one last shot and I was off to bed to dream of all the antiques around me. I fell asleep to the scent of beeswax candles and lavender drying on old racks across the hall.

Note: I didn't buy anything, as I had spent my allowance at Round Top and the historic little town of Brenham (more about that later.)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from The Bunny Bungalow!

White Wednesday around Chappell Hill Texas

What's better than a white country church?

An old, white doorknob on the door to an ancient corn crib.

An antique house, freshly painted white.

An old buggy anchor on the porch of an old cabin.


White Wednesday is hosted by Faded Charm Cottage, where you'll find links to wonderful white stuff.

The Rabbit Hole: A Texas Roadtrip

A small, stone rabbit peers through a rabbit hole in the side of the Parker Corn Crib Cabin in Chappell Hill, Texas.

In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice follows a white rabbit through the Rabbit Hole into Wonderland, a place inhabited by strange and wonderful sights and characters. Tall Husband and I fell through such a portal this weekend, finding sights and characters every bit as wonderful as Alice's entourage.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

John Beland in Historic Downtown Brenham, Texas.

At lunch at Ernie's American Bistro in Brenham, Texas, we found John Beland, the legendary session guitarist. Tall Husband, who plays classical guitar, immediately informed me that this guitarist is "scary good." After lunch, we sat awhile, listening to John's wonderful stories and more music.

We found a beautiful little shop on Main Street in historic Chappell Hill, Texas. The shop has been thoughtfully restored, retaining its original ladder and board ceiling and walls. The shopkeepers had great stories about the renovation and a family friend who hand weaves all their baskets.

We discovered a wonderful historic church, also on Main Street. The keeper there told us of how people always want the bell to ring at events, however, she says that she refuses to climb up to the 18 foot ceiling, crawl through the small opening and replace the rope. Tall Husband is bothered by anything that doesn't work, so he has come up with solutions, which I suspect he will foist upon the Baptists of Chappell Hill.

Parker Corn Crib Cabin. Please notice that the little two-burner stove is by Wolf...first Class for this little jewel of a cabin!

This little corn crib turned guest cabin has more stories to reveal than most libraries. We met John Zimmerman who told us the story of how he and his crew engineered moving the old fireplace, along with it's chimney, from a nearby town and installed it in the middle of the rebuilt cabin. The owner, Kathy, had found the fireplace and it's chimney standing sans house in the middle of a field.

A precious little trinket embedded in the chimney.

Though we had visited this cabin before, we had not discovered the old tiny china dolls embedded long ago in the surface of the fireplace by an unknown whimsical soul. This time we found them! Fellow Bloggers, could that magical person be our soul mate?

Have a look at Maryanne's Beadboard UpCountry posting on The Country Homes of Chappell Hill Holiday Home Tour.

A Final Glance at Last Weekend

A drive-by shot of Bluebonnets on a rainy morning in Chappell Hill, Texas

Ha, and you thought you had escaped the obligatory look at Texas Bluebonnets!

Trees at Stagecoach Inn, Chappell Hill, Texas

Tall Husband censored my lurid comments about the birds and the bees and the trees. So you are left to your imagination while viewing the trees, above (think, "Rorschach Test.")

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

An Excellent Weekend Adventure

Under an overcast morning sky: the tiny Coach House at Stagecoach Inn, in historic Chappell Hill, Texas

The weekend weather reports: They told us more than they knew: "Warm, dry, sunny." So, Tall Husband and I booked a weekend in the old carriage house at the Stagecoach Inn in Chappell Hill, Texas...just an hour by car from The Bunny Bungalow in Houston. But as you can see in the photographs, it was overcast with a constant drizzle. And cold. How did we feel about that? Delighted! The drought was ending here in Texas.

Steve and Eileen Evans are wonderful hosts and the famous innkeepers of the Stagecoach Inn. In October 2003, Country Home magazine published an article about them. Recently, Texas Highways: The Travel Magazine of Texas did a story about Historic Chappell Hill which featured Steve and Eileen's Stagecoach Inn and their Antiques shop. They live in an 1850 Greek Revival home on the highest hill in town. On their three-acre property, behind that Greek Revival, is the historic Weems house, in which they have their antiques shop, and behind that is the tiny, two-story Carriage House.

Many houses in Chappell Hill began life elsewhere and were moved to their present locations. That's how the Weems house, an 1866 Greek Revival, ended up in Steve and Eileen's backyard. It seems that folks in Chappell Hill prefer to move a house than to ruin the historic architecture of their homes with additions. "Your Mom's coming to visit? Well, let's just move a house out back." I like that!

How did they know that we love bunnies? This one welcomed us to the tiny Carriage House.

This is the first time we have slept in an antique, four poster. It was so cozy falling asleep under the quilt, hearing the welcome rain outside. (The quilt is handmade of cotton fabric in a small brown check.) But when I awoke, I didn't know where I was; looking up and seeing the canopy netting, I thought, "I'm in a cage! How did this happen?"

From the front porch of our weekend digs, we could see the antiques shop. What could be better? Just one thing...which you will learn tomorrow. Plus, you can see the great antiques that Eileen has in store.

Also, later in the week, you can read about great finds at Beadboard UpCountry in Brenham, Texas, which is just down the road from Cappell Hill.