shopping in houston
Installations, Photo By Douglas Friedman, February 2008
- Houston Shops
- Away from the downtown high-rise sprawl is a cache of stores stocking a cool mix of Provençal antiques and modern industrial design. Rita Konig explores the side of this Texas town that's not all big blonde hair, cowboy boots and red, white and blue.
- Antique Pavilion/Crow and Company
- 2311 Westheimer Road
(713) 520-9755 We would have passed right by this '50s brick antiques emporium had Houston native Allison Sarofim not encouraged us to seek out Kathy Crow's business. Crow deals in old English pieces: silver cocktail shakers, horn cups (that make great pencil pots) and majolica, which is out of style right now (making it kind of cool—but only if you use it).
- Chateau Domingue
- 3615B West Alabama Street
(713) 961-3444 Walking into this warehouse, we were transported to France— it felt just like places we've been to in Provence. If you're looking for reclaimed stone flooring, antique tiles, stone mantels, doorways—basically any French or Italian architectural salvage from the 15th through the 20th centuries—come here. An extensive line of contemporary stone floors is useful when you can't find the quantity you need in old stock.
- Found
- 2422 Bartlett Street
#5
(713) 522-9191 Found opened last April in an old staple factory—the look is a contradiction of steel and linen, chandeliers and exposed brick. We fell for pieces like a sofa reupholstered in drop cloth for $3,000 and a picture made of old Texaco numbers used to price gasoline—the perfect souvenir from Texas.
- Indulge Maison Décor
- 2903 Saint Street
(713) 888-0181 One-stop-shopping heaven, this high-end place is geared toward bedroom, bathroom, dining and kitchen. The series of large rooms is stocked beautifully and distinctly: There are towels of every sort (scalloped edges, piped edges), table linens by Sferra and Le Jacquard Français, shelves of Juliska glass and cashmere robes. Plus, lots of Blanc d'Ivoire, a midprice line of Provençal furniture and bedding.
- Installations
- 611 West 22nd Street
(713) 864-6125 Owner Jur van der Oord is Dutch and sources in Europe; his wife, Becki, is Southern and an incredible stylist—John Derian and Steven Gambrel, eat your hearts out. She composes charming still lifes throughout this former textile mill, like a canning jar and a vintage funnel on a weighing scale. In another room are wonderful industrial lights and a bench made by Jur from an old airplane wing. This dark and mysterious depot is like being in a contemporary oil painting—a modern Vermeer.
- Kay O'Toole Antiques and Eccentricities
- 1921 Westheimer Road
(713) 523-1921 The owner of this eponymous shop is quintessentially Southern and her judgment impeccable. The selection of French and Italian antiques includes 18th-and 19th-century settees, occasional tables, objets and lots of prettily peeling gilt and painted Louis chairs.
- Shabby Slips
- 2304 Bissonnet Street
(713) 630-0066; A total misnomer and the closest I got to a Manhattan shop: The eclectic combo of wall-mounted animal heads, Louis chairs with linen slips and Lucite tables is an aesthetic we call "contemporary gay." Browse for end tables and distressed mirrors that can be ordered in any size.
- Sloan/Hall
- 2620 Westheimer Road
(713) 942-0202 The combined surnames of owners Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall sound like a great old house—appropriate considering this vendor has all the finishing touches (art books, candles, lamps) to make a home grand. The star attraction is reproduction William Spratling silver (the originals were crafted in Mexico in the 1930s). We loved the water jugs—so gorgeous filled with really blowsy garden roses on a drinks tray.
- The Antique and Design Guys
- 1726 Westheimer Road
(713) 521-2400 Most of the stock derives from private estates and represents a mix of eras: we saw a wonderful 1950s couch clad in gray silk, and we were extremely happy with the blue bubble-shaped '70s lamp we bought for $100. If you enjoy a dig, this resource is worth visiting.
- Thompson + Hanson
- 3600 West Alabama Street
(713) 622-6973 Just across from Indulge is this landscape-architecture firm, which includes a nursery, a garden shop and Tiny Boxwood's Café—an oasis of green in the middle of the metropolis. The nursery is resplendent and the planting original, such as an old French olive-oil jar spilling over with yellow thryalis and purple plumbago flowers. Many of the pots and urns are imported from Belgium—Brussels is the Oz of the European antiques market. There is also garden furniture, accessories for a garden room and botanical-inspired items like the leaf-embossed sugar spoon.
- Watkins Culver
- 2308 Bissonnet Street>br />(713) 529-0597 A dreamy venue, with a fine selection of Provençal and Italian furniture mingled with carefully vetted new picks, like wonderful iron and wood bookcases. All the people who work here are pure Houston—it's like a refined version of Dolly Parton's beauty parlor in Steel Magnolias.
