Nitty Gritty Dirty Little Freaks

Day 4 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

Today we got down and dirty with a few garage sales, thrift stores and even an architectural salvage yard. Our first stop was what was advertised as an estate sale but turned out to be a poor excuse for a yard sale.  We did however find a pretty cool garage sale and picked up a few things there.  We had plenty of misses but that's just the name of the game with garage sales.  Next we hit a couple of thrift stores without much luck and decided to check out Orr-Reed Wrecking Co.

They boast having "plenty of good ol' junk" and this was no exaggeration.  Old doors, windows, wood, hardware, granite, fixtures and the list goes on and on just like their rows of "house stuff".  We also met Mr. N. L. Jones who is famous in Dallas for his amazing birdhouses built using the discarded junk found in the wrecking yard.  He has worked there for more than 40 years and is called Dallas' Birdhouse Man.  Our visit to Orr-Reed was well worth the drive.  We scored some cool vintage hardware that we can use for our projects!

Now as fortune would have it we found ourselves very close to the Bishop Arts District which we had planned for our last day so we decided to spend a few hours there.

 This is an artsy (as the name implies) little area right off IH35 in Oakcliff which is south Dallas.  Cute, cute, too school for cool shops, boutiques and art galleries as well as a few restaurants.  Some notable mentions include Made which has handmade items and offers sewing lessons, Dirt which has gorgeous flower arrangements, Just Add Jeans where you can find young stylish clothes and jewelry for a very modest price, and Artisan's Collective that houses amazing mixed media and assemblage art from several different artists.  Debbie bought a few things in this district but mainly we were inspired and now have tons of projects planned!

 Even the tire shop was artsy!

 Epiphany had gorgeous clothes and jewelry but plan to pay a little more than Just Add Jeans.

Another cute mural in the Bishop Arts District!  I need to back up a  bit because before we checked out the shops we headed to the most unique and intimate little restaurant called Tillman's Roadhouse.  Debbie had eaten here before and like so many of our other establishments that we visited, has been voted the Best in Dallas, in this case for their fries and let me tell you I was not disappointed.  We shared an order of the Trio of Frieswhich consists of three very large portions of parmesan black pepper kennebec, chili dusted purple peruvian, and smoked salt scented sweet potato fries with housemade ketchup & horseradish pickle mayo.  Oh my goodness - these are to die for!  We also shared a B.L.A.T. sandwich - that's bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato on grilled sourdough bread.

The atmosphere was very unique and a lesson in contrasts.  Velvet cushions and assorted pillows made up the booth type tables alongside elegant brocade wallpaper and eight, yes count them, (umm, Debbie did) chandeliers while one wall was decorated with carved wooden deer heads - I was extremely pleased that these were not real!  We sat at a little back corner table and I remarked "french fries, avocado, bacon and sourdough bread, what more do you need" to which my best friend-might-as-well-be-sister replied, "you and me"!  Checkout Tillman's website.

We also stopped at a little coffee house for a pick-me-up called Espumoso - great atmosphere and a nice cappuccino for me, iced tea for Debbie and a thick yummy lemon bar which we split. 

We took a little rest on a park bench and due to a bad shoe choice my feet were hurting.  I stuck them out and said that I wished that someone would come along and offer to rub my feet.  Debbie said that whoever would do that would probably be a pervert, to which I replied, "seriously, I really wouldn't care".  Aw, good times!

After Debbie's little idea book was full of inspiration we headed to another thrift store, St. Vincent de Paul on Northwest Highway.  What a find!  This will be a permanent stop on our Dallas trips from now on.  We found tons of treasures here for our newly inspired projects and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that everything in the store was 30% off! 

Be sure to include this charity based thrift store on your list when you go junking.  Oh, by the way, we decided that we are now Junk Divas!  Well, after going through this store and the Bishop Arts District and the prior three days, my feet were refusing to go another step so we decided to head home.

Yep, she couldn't resist! 

Be sure and check back tomorrow - we plan to go to a flea market at Dolly Python.  We'll also give you a rundown of all the shops we visited as well as our list of "Best in Dallas".  Please leave us comments - it thrills us to get them, of course it doesn't take much - today we were quite entertained by the fact that as we drove up to Orr-Reed, after thinking we were lost and driving around trying to avoid and then finally facing I 30 traffic, Fastball sang out from the radio "but where were they going without ever knowing the way".  I'll say it again - Good Times!