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

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.)