Last week 2 girlfriends and I headed to Round Top Texas for the Spring Antique show and had the best time. The last time I went to Round Top was 10 years ago and wow has it changed! I got lots of questions about what we did, etc, so today I am recapping the details.
In case you don’t know, Round Top Antique Weekend happens twice a year in the Spring and Fall for about 2 weeks. About 100k people flock to this area in Texas to attend one of the biggest (if not the biggest) antique fairs in the US. It is pretty much 1 road that runs through Warrenton, Round Top, Carmine & Fayetteville. Each side of the road has fields lined with antique shows. These “shows” consist of buildings, barns, tents, etc full of treasures. You can pretty much find anything in Round Top. Furniture, Decor, Jewelry, Fashion and some very unique one-of-a-kind pieces.
Heather, Leslie & I headed out on Thursday at 6 am to beat the traffic. Its about a 4.5 hour drive from McKinney. We stopped in Waco (close to half way) for breakfast at Magnolia Table. Yall, it was so yummy! They had a great menu with lots of fun unique items. We had lemon lavender donut holes, pancakes, bacon, avocado toast, etc. It was delicious. In true Joanna style it was adorable too! If you are in the area I highly recommend going. We got lucky and had zero wait on a Thursday!
After an amazing breakfast, we headed to Round Top. My friend Natalie goes to Round Top twice a year so she was a wealth of information. She told me the places to make sure we saw and the ones we could skip! First stop was Blue Hills. Blue Hills is a great show with tons of amazing curated antiques, decor, fashion, gifts, etc. You definitely need to stop here if you go to Round Top.
This map is via the Blue Hills website and gives a good idea of what most of the shows are like. There is one main entrance and then they are made up of a bunch of different buildings full of goodies. I will tell you. Blue Hills is the only place I bought anything. So. . .a little back story. The last time I went to Round Top was 10 years ago and it has completely changed. When I went last time it was still a popular show, but nothing like it is now. Back then it was really a country show. There weren’t many restaurants, you could search for tons of good deals, etc. Now, it is a destination and has become more touristy in my opinion. Pro. . . there are a ton of cute places to go now. Lots of restaurants, places to stay, activities, etc. Con . . .the prices are soooo much higher. We had a great time on this trip, but once we got there the goal of the trip changed. Originally I thought I would find a bunch of great things for our new house, but after looking at the prices, that wasn’t going to be the case. Don’t get me wrong, we still had a blast, it just changed from a shopping trip to a fun browsing, getting ideas, hanging out trip if that makes sense.
The only thing I bought on the trip was large charcuterie/bread boards and they were at one of the first booths we visited. I LOVE them. To give an idea of prices they were $60 for the large board and $50 for the round board. Other items we saw on the trip were dressers for $6000, chairs for $4000, etc. Those prices were not what I was looking for. Especially to throw in the back of my truck and haul home. Listen, there are some great antiques, one-of-a-kind finds, etc that are worth it, just nothing that we needed on this trip.
After Blue Hills we hit up Market Hill and were so disappointed in Paul Michael. I used to love that store and it has completely changed! It truly felt like a completely different store. The style is totally different. Not sure what happened. We were not there long at all. After a few hours of shopping, we decided to go find a patio somewhere and enjoy some queso and margaritas. We headed into downtown Round Top and relaxed at Manditos. We did a little more shopping and then headed back to our rental to unpack/get ready for dinner.
We had reservations at Royers that evening and that place was fun. It is a tiny restaurant with good food and they are famous for Pie!
After dinner, we headed around the corner to Ellis Motel (it is actually a cute bar), then went back to our house for wine, cheese and girl time. FYI most of the shops close around 6.
The next morning we headed to Marburger Farms. That is a very famous show that is only a few days during the entire event. If you want to attend this one you have to make sure you go when it is open. It is the only show we had to pay to get into. It was $15 a person. Marburger is very curated. . . they only pick the top vendors. There are many buildings and tents and lots of food options. You could be at this one spot for many hours!
I fell in love with these boxes. They were old document boxes, but they were $200 each! See what I mean about the prices. Can you imagine back in the days getting documents in a beautiful box like that! Today we get an ugly folder or a PDF!
HA! If you follow me on Instagram stories you will know this longhorn! It was April Fools Day so I shared that I was going to be purchasing this for our new home in the circle drive! He was cute, but definitely not my style ;)! APRIL FOOLS!
We grabbed a bite to eat at Marburger and then headed off to The Compound. This was such a cute stop. Lots of different little barns full of decor. Lots of inspiration here! They also have a champagne vending machine in one of the barns! WHATT??!! It was so cute! I had never seen one before!
After The Compound, we hit up Ex-cess 1 & 2. These were more “junk” fields and actually some of my favorites. I really enjoy digging through stuff and trying to find a deal. You got more of that feel in these fields.
We were pretty much shopped out at the point so we went to Prost Wine Bar for a glass of wine and then over to The Garden Co for our dinner reservations. You really need to make reservations before you go because all these places fill up quickly. The Garden Co has the most gorgeous tree in front. I mean it is incredible. The patio is built under the branches and feels like you are in a tree house. This part of Texas is just so beautiful! I had the steak and yall, it was delicious! I mean, one of the best steaks I have had in awhile! The scallop potatoes were also amazing!
(Funny story about this photo. We asked a lady to take it who had a dog and while she was taking the photo her dog ate Leslie’s leftovers from dinner. We were cracking up)
After dinner we were wiped out so we headed back home and hung out in our PJs.
The next morning we headed out of town. We stopped at some antique shops on the way home and my friends scored big time at those. The prices were much more reasonable and it was way less overwhelming! We were glad we had the truck at this point.
We had such a fun time on this trip. If you are looking for a fun girls trip this is a good one. Didn’t find all the treasures I was expecting, but it was all good. Definitely made lots of memories.