4 Ways to Maximize Your Magnolia Market Visit

That's the store on the left, the bakery on the right.

My husband predicted we’d be in Texas only two weeks before we visited Magnolia Market. (For the uninformed, this is the shiplap-packed mecca of Joanna and Chip Gaines from HGTV’s mega-hit Fixer Upper). As it turns out, he was only off by a couple days—Mother’s Day happened to be just shy of two weeks after our move, so we decided to make the 90-minute drive to Waco this past Saturday. (Magnolia is closed on Sunday.)  

A map of Magnolia. Silos, store, and bakery up front; play area in the middle;
food trucks and garden center in the back.

We found free street parking surprisingly quickly (we arrived at around 10:30 a.m.), and I made a mad dash for the Silos (which, funnily enough, my husband remembers seeing in a much different—i.e. decrepit—state when he worked in Waco almost a decade ago). I was surprised by the size of the campus—there really isn’t much to it, although every inch of the place is impeccably decorated and well thought out. 

Entrance to the store.

I started in the shop, which was totally packed with people. (I soon found out that, in addition to being Mother’s Day weekend, it was graduation weekend at nearby Baylor College.) Overwhelmed, I mostly just absorbed the scene, rather than doing serious shopping, although I did pick up a pack of hymn postcards (available here).

I loved this subway tile wall in the store!

 The line snaked right through the center of the store, making it tough to browse, but I did notice all of the usual Joanna Gaines suspects for sale.

Candlesticks by Clint:

And metal signs by Jimmy Don:

After I finished shopping, we let Asa play in the Astro-turf area, where there are comfy striped seats, swings, and bins full of toys, including Frisbees (I got hid in the head with one). 

Then we meandered over to the food trucks, the mix of which is constantly changing, and I stood in the searing-hot Texas sun (I could literally feel my toes burning) for about 15 minutes to buy a cupcake out of a refurbished Airstream camper. I chose the Nuts and Bolts flavor, which consists of vanilla cake speckled with walnuts and pecans and topped with cream cheese frosting. It was certainly tasty, but I probably should have gone with my first food instinct: a gourmet grilled cheese from Cheddar Box. (Note: I walked by the bakery, which also sells cupcakes, but the ridiculous line deterred me from checking it out.)

I was disappointed to learn that you can’t actually go inside the silos (although if you’re dying to tour one, you could drive down the road to the Waco highway rest stop, which has silo-shaped bathrooms!). 

That said, I will definitely be going back when friends and family come to visit—and next time, I’ll be armed with these insider tips:

1. Plan a mid-week visit. Not surprisingly, Saturday is the Silos’ busiest day, but a store clerk told me Monday is also insane. (She said they consider Monday part of the weekend, since they’re closed on Sunday.) The best time to visit? Wednesday around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, when the weekend crowd has dispersed and the day is winding down.
2. Don’t wait in line. If you’re buying non-breakable items—like postcards or a t-shirt—look for a store clerk holding an iPad, who can ring you up and spare you a crazy-long wait in line. 
3. Check your inbox. See a lot of items you love? Buy something small that you can easily carry in your suitcase, then write down the names of bigger items you like and order them online later. After making my purchase, I received a 20% off coupon for online items (most items for sale at the Silos are available on the website), which allows you to save a little money and avoid the cost and hassle of arranging shipping while you’re in the store. 
4. Drive around back. As you approach the Silos from the highway, you’ll see church parking for $10. But if you keep going, you’ll find free parking behind Magnolia Market. It may be full if you visit at a peak time, but it’s worth a try! 

Next post: All the other must-see Waco sights! 

Destination Dallas: Designing My Dream Home (Part 1)

The yellow areas are the spaces covered in this post!

Our builder’s design center was a Pinterest dream come true. A model home with a beautiful kitchen and gorgeous furnishings, it also had a work space full of every tile and countertop imaginable. I met with the in-house designer, who, as much as I’d like to think I could do this thing on my own, was a valuable sounding board as I brought my visions to life in, oh, about four hours. (Normally, clients take two trips to the design center, but because of our schedule, I had to settle for one.) 

One of the builder's design centers

Even though I had less than 24 hours to plan for my appointment—I spent pretty much the entire night before lying in bed visualizing my designs—I already had a strong sense of the look I wanted: gray, glam (but not gaudy), with, of course, a white kitchen (think Hollywood Regency meets transitional style). That helped eliminate more than half of the options in design center right off the bat (I rejected anything cream-colored or beige), which made my job a little easier. 

We started from the front door and worked our way back. I opted for the builder-grade door—a six-panel mahogany one—but you don’t have to wait long for my first big design moment. It happens literally as soon as you walk inside: Our house has an octagonal, rotunda-style foyer, so to highlight this unique feature, the wood flooring will be laid in a herringbone pattern (with a 12” mitered-edge border). I haven’t met with the lighting specialist yet, but I’m envisioning an orb chandelier hanging overhead, with a pretty foyer table (and fresh flowers!) underneath.  

Herringbone wood floor (my stain is a bit darker)

The walls throughout the whole house will be painted Sherwin Williams On the Rocks, with white ceilings (apparently, in Texas, it’s standard to paint ceilings the same color as the walls, so we had to pay a hefty upgrade fee just for white ceilings!). 

Next: the kitchen! 

Kitchen inspiration! I'm a sucker for subtle Asian design elements (think pagoda lights and Chippendale chairs), paired with glam finishings. (Photo: Studio-McGee.com)

This part of the project was high stakes for me. I’ve never had an amazing kitchen—in our first home, a ho-hum 1970s rancher, I refinished the dated oak cabinets and installed granite, but it was more of a “make this work until we move out” scenario. Our current home’s kitchen is pretty, but small—the house was built in the early 1900s when kitchens were strictly functional—and the cabinets are cream-colored, rather than white. So this was my chance to go all out! 

For the cabinet doors, I chose...can you guess it...white, with rectangular insets. Then I selected a quartz countertop, Carrara Gioia, that (as the name suggests) looks very similar to Carrara marble but without the maintenance concerns (no staining!). 

Samples of our flooring, backsplash tile, and countertop.

My husband, ever the engineer, can’t stand the wasted space above cabinets, so we upgraded to ceiling-height, glass-front, upper-upper cabinets, where we’ll store pretty bowls and other things we rarely use but want to display. Sort of like this (but in white):

Photo: http://miss-dixie.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-subway-tile-obsession.html

We also added a decorative vent hood cover over the stove, and chose these legs for the island (they'll be painted white):

To echo the front foyer flooring, we're going with a herringbone backsplash, in matte gray subway tile with white grout. Sort of like this, but lighter:

Photo: HouseofTurquoise.com

For the most part, the design center had the materials I’d hoped for—except for brushed gold hardware. So I’m waiting until after the house is finished to install my cabinet handles. I’m still deciding between these options (each only about $6 each at Lowe's):

We’ll have two pendant lights over the island. I’m leaning toward a pagoda-style lantern…sort of like this: 

Lightingconnection.com; $250

I’m still deciding on the fixture for the eat-in area next to the kitchen, but I do have a few leading contenders:

Too much Asian influence with the pagoda lanterns? I still have to decide.

I love the style of this, but don't like the $1,000 price tag! 

At $275, this one's much more reasonably priced, but not as beautiful.

Next post: the master bath and Asa’s bath! 

Destination Dallas: House Hunting!

A rancher shouldn't be that pricey, right? Nope: This white-brick Dallas beauty was $750K.
Talk about a real-estate wake-up call.

I never thought I’d be a Texan—I don’t like crazy-hot weather, flat land, or McMansions, which were pretty much the only things I knew about Texas a few months ago. I don't even particularly care for shiplap. But then Frank got offered a job we simply couldn’t pass up, so here we are, on our way to the Lone Star state.

Beautiful Fort Worth bungalow, with a not-so-stunning neighborhood.

His office is just outside of Dallas, so I initially focused my search on historic homes in Dallas or Fort Worth. After living in a 100-year-old home with close proximity to a downtown—albeit a one-street downtown—I was determined to replicate the lifestyle I love in the big city. But on our first house-hunting trip, I came back to Maryland discouraged: Every old home I looked at, no matter how tastefully done, was smack dab in the middle of a bad neighborhood. With a toddler in tow, that wasn’t going to work—so I did what I said I’d never do: shifted my search to the suburbs. 

I had a lengthy list of must-haves: a white kitchen, four bedrooms, a fenced yard, a short drive to amenities and Frank’s office, and a good-sized garage. (Basically, everything the unreasonable buyers on House Hunters demand!)  After weeks of scouring Zillow, I wasn’t feeling optimistic. Despite what everyone says about Texas real estate (“You can get so much house for your money!”), the homes were high-priced and short on style: a whole lot of brick behemoths, with hyper-vaulted ceilings (which I hate), tile living rooms, and textured walls. I couldn’t fathom spending so much money on so ugly a house.

I don't want to house-shame any of the actual properties we perused. So here's a nice visual summary of Texas living. (Photo: McMansion Hell)

With so little inventory I actually liked, I sent my poor realtor a list of 31 homes—all of which we needed to see in one weekend. I figured if I saw enough of ‘em, one was bound to stick. And one did…but unbeknownst to us, the owners were already in talks with another buyer. I woke up Sunday morning prepared to make an offer after walking through the house a second time—and as I stood in the home’s foyer, my realtor informed me the place was already under contract. It’s no wonder I developed shingles that weekend. The stress was awful!

I trudged through the remaining homes on my list, and every last one fell short. Doggy stench, outdated kitchens, vaulted foyers—they all seemed to be reminding me that I’d lost the only house I could love in the entire DFW metro-area. But then my realtor suggested meeting with builders, an idea I’d resisted, since I didn’t wanted a postage-stamp yard or a treeless neighborhood. 

The first builder was a flop: The houses were already framed, which meant it was too late to select my own finishings—and the salesman couldn't show me what, exactly, had been selected for the home. I wasn’t willing to buy a house without seeing what it would look like. Pass.

The second builder was a totally different story. I was told I could pick everything—from the countertops to the flooring to the faucets, and I knew this was a good fit. We walked around a few framed-out two-story homes, but they all had vaulted living rooms and corner fireplaces—total turn-offs to me. The salesperson mentioned they had one single-story home in the works with cathedral ceilings (A-shaped, instead of vaulted). We currently live in a three-story home, and I’ve fallen down nearly every set of stairs. So I liked the idea.

Exterior rendering of our new home

Long story short, we fell in love with the home (well, the floor plan—the foundation hadn’t even been poured) and rescheduled our flights so I could spend the next day in the design center choosing all of my finishes. Although I’d never suggest doing this in a few hours—talk about stress!—it was also a blast. And I got to choose all the little details I’ve dreamed about—hex tiles, white kitchen cabinets, herringbone wood flooring. But more on that next time!