Farmhouse fatigue has officially set in across the South, especially in Texas, where — to the chagrin of many — even spec builders succumbed to the trend. Not since the decade-long reign of Texas Tuscan has a design style (a word this author is using begrudgingly) ingratiated itself upon the masses so completely. In response to the farmhouse fracas, designers are stripping things back — way back. To where exactly? Nineteenth century Europe.
For quite some time now, designers have been quietly replacing kitchen cabinetry with oversized wooden fixtures from European pharmacies, apothecaries, haberdasheries, bakeries, and so much more. Sourced by specialty importers, these foreboding fixtures are now used as the keystone for fine design, with builders and cabinetmakers creating entire kitchens and dining rooms around furniture, and not the other way around.
While this practice is hardly uncommon across the pond, the lack of mainstream exposure in the States has allowed furniture-forward kitchen design to enjoy a slow matriculation. As with most modern trends, the vehicle for change is a combination of television and social media presence.
In this instance, the British design firm deVOL is moving this trend ahead. Around for decades, it wasn’t until their design show For the Love of Kitchens premiered a few years ago that people stateside began paying attention.
Whether a person’s tastes bend towards bleached, raw, stained, waxed, or painted woodwork, there is nothing that time hasn’t touched, resulting in patina and patination that is impossible to replicate. Cabinets retaining their original glazing offer the charm of telltale “wavy glass” and hand-forged hardware are sure to last several more lifetimes. The question is: where are these pieces hiding? Believe it or not, they’re sitting in La Grange.
Round Top regulars are familiar with Amy Brown and her presence at the fall and spring shows. Her La Grange store Old World Antieks has been a go-to for designers for over 15 years. She and her Europe-based business partner have been sourcing oversized antiques of every kind to be used as either stand alone furniture or anchor pieces for kitchens, dining rooms, offices, and the like.
Designers-in-the-know flock to her store in La Grange, but it’s her presence in Round Top that always gets folks excited. With pieces spanning well over ten feet wide and towering just as high, it’s no wonder that Brown’s European finds have put her on the map. Her business is booming now more than ever as the “furniture as the kitchen” craze has taken the design world by storm.
“I love it! Europeans have the most badass taste — I love European stuff,” Brown tells CultureMap. “I follow mostly European accounts on Instagram, and their designers. I love kitchens and I love those crazy stoves, they are the best. They have the best craftsmanship and they have great classic stuff that lasts forever — Europeans know what they’re doing.”
Brown isn’t at all surprised by the farmhouse fizzle, as most of her clients are designers who move in very opposite directions. After all, people can only take so much shiplap. Black, white, steel — we get it, and we’re exhausted.
“I think it’s [farmhouse] fizzing out. Change the record, this song sucks,” says Brown. “Can we do something more interesting? I mean, we’ve really seen it all done. We’ve seen every type of house flipped. We’ve seen it all — do something different.”
What’s interesting about the European import market is the scarcity. Every year more and more Americans start buying pieces by the container load, and there are only so many authentic pieces to go around. Brown thinks the scarcity will contribute to the longevity of the design trend due to the fact that it can’t be scaled to the masses. Her business partner has even made the jump to India, Egypt, Turkey, and the Middle East to get ahead of the curve.
“There was a small group of us that imported antiques 15 or more years ago, and now everyone is going back there. Now it’s easy to buy off of pictures — it’s easy to buy and import. I mean, it’s not easy, you have to know people and figure it out, but people are doing it. These are hard to find and people don’t get these a lot anymore. The competition is fierce over in Europe, but they’re fun.”
Brown attributes a lot of the success of the Old World trend to social media, especially TikTok, which she has been surprised by. “I just thought it was a dance site for kids, but there are so many older people and designers on there, I had no idea,” she says. With creators pitching “get ready with me” and cooking videos, it was only a matter of time before viewers started asking questions about the rooms.
In La Grange, the influx of day trip shoppers who make Old World Antieks their entire destination have driven Brown to create a coffee shop, bar, and lounge in the store — complete with an antique indoor conservatory — for vibes, obviously. Her existing liquor license from her popular “Tipsy Texan” cocktail trailer that services Round Top antiques show lovers at Zapp Hall made the decision a breeze, with Brown claiming that she’d let people smoke cigars in the lounge if it were legal. Like many old school antiques dealers, Brown is an absolute legend among regular Round Top shoppers.
While Old World Antieks is renowned for its oversized European store fixtures, the store sells plenty of other items that fit well within the confines of standard modern homes. Shop coffee tables, dining sets, and pretty much everything else one would expect to find in a furniture-focused antiques store. Brown has even gotten into a bit of manufacturing, with adaptations of pieces into lighting fixtures and things like that.
Like Brown, even the pros at deVOL are aware of the scarcity crisis of their designs. For quite some time now, the latter of the two have begun crafting their own Old World-inspired designs in its kitchen build outs. As mentioned, Brown is dealing with this by taking a more global approach, but she warns against imposters, which run roughshod in the antiques trade.
“Everything is ‘from France,’” jokes Brown. “Is it though, or did it come out of Kansas? We always laugh about that. Everyone wants a story, and I get that, but if you say ‘France,’ it’s sold. That’s where people take advantage because not everything is from France — there’s Belgium, Germany, and all over Europe.”
Brown imparts some sage advice to those who want to hop aboard the European kitchen train and create their own French apothecary or pharmacy vibe, “Before you even get plans [from your builder] — here’s your plan right here [the piece] — and then you get your plans. One thing is, don’t get attached because everyone is going to copy it.”
Old World Antieks will be at the Round Top Antiques Show running from October 17-31. Find them at Blue Hills Barn F, or visit its location in La Grange at 5414 W. SH-71.
