TIME FLIES

Posted on August 25, 2015 by tiffany

It’s true! Time flies, much like a gen.u.ine FREE spirit. Since opening The Coop on March 25th, we’ve had so much fun nestling into our Burton home. We honestly LOVE the community and all our new friends. Thank you ALL for making our first few months in business a tremendous success!

Hard to believe we are weeks away from another Texas Antiques Week!

Getting Ready for the BIG SHOW

Jeff and I will hit the road again for a buying trip. I already have a large load waiting to be picked up! I am super excited to visit my favorite dealers to see what they’ve uncovered in their latest hunting adventures. This promises to be epic!

Flown The Coop will be closed August 30 – September 22. The Coop will undergo a complete redo to prepare for Texas Antiques Week. During this time we will bring back our new treasures and create all new vignettes. Sorry, no sneak peaking…

The Burton Antiques Market

September 23rd – Kicking off the Burton Antique Market

Flown The Coop will throw open the doors September 23rd at 9:00 am. Be the first to grab the newest treasures from our buying trip and one of our BRAND NEW gen.u.ine FREE spirit tees. Don’t forget to snap a pic in front of our gen.u.ine FREE spirit mural. Tag us #2flownthecoop so we can highlight your pic on our FB and Instagram accounts.

Later that night we have a BIG treat for you… Flown The Coop will open our backyard stage from 7:30 pm – midnight for Kountry Chic Karoake & DJ. Bring your lawn chairs and BYOBeverages! It will be a fun evening under the stars with Denise and our favorite local karaoke stars.

September 26th – White Linen Night

Several months ago the idea for White Linen Night came to me while dreaming up events for Texas Antiques Week. I saw a throwback picture on Facebook from one of Theresa Cano’s Blogger Parties. All the ladies showed up dressed in white. The idea popped into my head: Burton needs a White Linen Night, much like the New Orleans and Houston Heights tradition celebrating the arts and surviving another sultry summer. So ladies and gentlemen, get out your favorite white outfit and join us on September 26th from 6pm – 9pm for Burton’s FIRST EVER White Linen Night!

Flown The Coop is teaming up with Market Realty/ Rita’s Antiques to sponsor White Linen Night. Artists, creatives and makers will line Live Oak St. in front of Flown The Coop. Live music will be on the porch of Market Realty. Food by the Burton Volunteer Fire Department will be located in front of Market Realty.

There is still room for artists, creatives and makers to join White Linen Night! Email me at eckhardt.tiffany@gmail.com for registration!

Check out the White Linen Night Fabebook Event for the updated list of Artists * Music * Food * Fun.

Burton Antique Market

Putting Burton on the Antiques Show Map! Burton will roll out the welcome mat for pilgrims of Texas Antiques Week September 23 – October 3rd. Our charming little secret town has even more new Antique Stores and will host a few events you will want to be aware of during this bi-annual event.

September 26th Burton Trade Days, because it’s nearly impossible to have a garage sale in the country. Located at The Railroad Details from 9am – 5pm.

September 23 – 25th Volunteer Fire Department will serve BBQ at the Fire Department under the water tower. 11am – 7pm

Flown The Coop will be open daily September 23 – October 3rd 9am- 7pm

The BIG FUN will be here before you know it… I can’t wait to see all my friends I’ve made over the past several years! #TexasAntiquesWeek #BurtonAntiqueMarket #BringmetoBurton

Urban Market Houston

Posted on February 3, 2014 by tiffany

This coming weekend is Urban Market Houston weekend! The fun starts on Saturday, Feb. 8th at 3pm and continues through Sunday at 4pm. We are excited about another Urban adventure in our own backyard.

We’ve been working on projects at the Flown The Coop headquarters in preparation for this weekend.

Here’s a sneak peak…

These corbels from Ohio have been updated with a metallic finish. The table below has the same finish.

Guess I’ve had a little too much fun with my new paints and techniques I learned in Vegas!

After several different techniques, I think I can call this workbench finished.

In addition to the projects, we have several pieces from the last Ohio buying trip and new pieces from recent auctions.

Hope to see you this weekend… Spread the word & bring a friend!

~Tiffany

And the birds fluttered around her writing “YES” in the sky!

Lessons learned in 2012

Posted on January 2, 2013 by tiffany

Flown The Coop will take part in Folk Magazines year long Journaling Agenda, a community journaling/blogging project. Here’s to the first blog of the year!

Dear Tiffany,

It is safe to say, 2012 is over and you can move on.

Looking at your 2012 ~ Goals, Mantras and Dreams Board on Pinterest, the message is clearly the importance of pressing on. You are a dreamer. You always will believe that you can create the life you want.

2012 challenged that belief.

The year started with a move to Houston, Texas. This was not your choice. Leaving your two grown children in Ohio was difficult. Fulfilling Jeff’s dream of living near his family, you made the move with the love of your life and was hoping for the best. You didn’t do so well. You missed your family back in Ohio and the best friends in the world! You learned that you are a small town girl, who enjoys knowing your neighbors and walking around a historic downtown with lovely old homes. You missed The Depot, your favorite coffee shop, where the community gathers for their daily dose of Java and everyone knows your name.

With a wounded heart, but not a wounded spirit, you pressed on. Not many people in your new home understood that you were having a crisis of belief. You questioned, “Could you really be happy and fly free when you didn’t have the ability to choose your circumstances?”

Despite the Houston traffic, you managed to find your way around the “fourth largest city in the US.” Exploring a new city is always fun! You even managed to find a new coffee house to frequent, Boomtown. You enjoyed decorating your little flat in Rice Village, but parking tickets and loud college students made it clear that it wasn’t the ideal situation. You longed for community and a feeling of place. You and Jeff decided to end 2012 by placing a deposit on a rental house in the Heights. The Heights is a neighborhood inside the loop that in many ways feels like your small town and is the only thing like it in Houston. The cost of living is drastically higher than we are used to, but the decision felt like a leap towards creating the life that you wanted. After your move in January, you will be able to make new friends, get involved in community and even walk to Boomtown! You learned that given time, you can find what your heart longs for if you are willing to pay the price.

You hustled in 2012 and will need to hustle some more in 2013!

Flown The Coop made the move to Texas too. It was a scary move for you. How would you find ways to buy and sell, restore and repurpose wonderful Junque? You rose to the challenge and Hustled.

You set up at several shows in Texas. You did Canton, Warrenton, Junk Salvation, Discovery Green Flea Market and the prestigious Urban Market Houston. In July you opened a booth at Chippendale Eastlake Antiques on 19th street in the Heights. Your were even invited to help out The Seed Box at the Dallas Market. All of these opportunities inspired you work harder at Flown The Coop. You learned a lot about merchandising from the pros in the business. You were encouraged to discover a niche, which is still a work in progress. The best part in stepping out in the various opportunities was making fabulous new friends! You have the best colleagues and customers who continually support your dream of flying free!

Creating a life on purpose is very important to you. In 2012 you learned that even when life isn’t zesty, you don’t have to be caged. You can fly free! The happiness you long for isn’t in a destination, but is in the way you travel. You’ve proved to yourself that you are strong, willing to persist and that you have the ability to start over!

Life is a journey, come travel with me!

~Tiffany

“And the birds fluttered around her writing “YES” in the sky!”

Flown The Coop has a new roost

Posted on May 17, 2012 by tiffany

I can finally spill the beans…

The adventure continues

I am very excited to announce Flown The Coop has joined the antique co-op at Chippendale Eastlake Antiques on 19th street in the Heights. You will be able to shop Flown The Coop at our new roost beginning in June!!!

Serendipity!

For months Jeff & I have toyed with the idea of finding a shop location. We love the Flea, but also like the idea of a permanent location to roost in between shows. The idea seemed like a distant dream… but ya’all know we dream TEXAS SIZED DREAMS. 🙂

Saturday afternoon Jeff & I set out to explore our options. We love the eclectic, funky, fun-loving Heights area of Houston and ultimately want to live there. I thought we should start by driving around looking at houses. Jeff wanted to shop… who am I to argue with that? Strolling through the shops on 19th is always fun!

I had already talked to a few shop owners on 19th and was leaning more towards a booth space with a co-op instead of a full fledge shop. A co-op space would provide a coop to roost in, with the freedom to continue flying off to junking adventures… remaining true to our dedication to those who can’t be caged. Earlier in the week I checked with one antique mall in the area who only could offer me a display case as a way to get my “foot in the door.” I wasn’t excited about that idea. Admittedly, I was thinking there was little chance of finding a space anytime soon. We walked in Chippendales Eastlake Antiques to inquire about getting on a dealer’s waiting list. To our surprise, we learned that there is a space available for the first time in three years. Serendipity! (Jeff loves that word) After talking to Heather, I was sure this could be a good fit for Flown The Coop!

Chippendale has been located on the corner of 19th and Rutland in the Houston Heights for twenty three years. Previous to Chippendales, the location was home to a gas station, Lewis and Coker grocery store and a green stamp store. Currently there are twenty one dealers who make up the antique co-op. Jeff and I are excited to be apart of such an established group of dealers and love the idea of locating on 19th street. There is so much scope for imagination!

New space/ new friends

The ideas just keep coming… shifting my paradigm from filling a 20X20 space in the field to filling our new indoor space will be a fresh challenge.

I am excited about getting involved in a new community of “junk” lovers and developing new friendships! One of my first friends at Chippendale… meet Carlos Antonio, the shop dog. He is a rescued long haired Chihuahua. Isn’t he handsome with his summer cut? Seemed to pose when I got the camera out.

BTW: Chippendale Eastlake is a pet friendly shop!!!!! Most of the antique shops on19th have at least one “shop dog” and are open to dog walkers and pets 🙂 Pretty cool.

Our Coop away from Coop….

We haven’t flown away from the Flea all together… the Flea will remain our “coop away from coop.” This month we will be set up in our regular spot at Canton Trade Days (May 30th – June 3rd). However, this will most likely be our last month in the “field” at Canton… we are exploring pavilion options. Please come visit our beloved corner in the field! (Row 52/ Row 98 by the creek between the Civic Center and the Pavillions)

Our flight pattern will also include Warrenton at Cole’s Antique Show twice a year and other possible shows.

Sign says “Walk.”

Jeff and I are enjoying our Flown The Coop journey… we are flying free, taking tiny steps forward and loving where it is taking us. We are thankful that we took the time to explore our options and stepped into Chippendale. Feels like a huge leap, but there is no doubt we will love our new coop!

There are more dreams to dream (Texas size)… all of which build on what we are currently doing. With each step we take I am beginning to believe the sky is the limit… really!

And the birds fluttered around them writing “yes” in the sky!