Texas Art Asylum<\/strong><\/a>, a creative reuse center that still bears the former coffin factory\u2019s golden grieving angel medallion above the doorway. Beyond these doors lies a collection of donated items and trinkets from every era of the last century.<\/p>\nOwner Ramona Brady, a self-proclaimed \u201choarder,\u201d started the business when she realized that she couldn\u2019t find the types of items that she required for certain crafts and hobbies, like collage making, and lamented that what she wanted was most likely wasting away in a landfill. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking for stuff for myself when I opened this, and it seemed like there should be such a place here, and there wasn\u2019t, so I just made one!\u201d says Brady. \u201cI get to help people like myself who want to do good stuff and want to try things and don\u2019t always want to keep doing the same things.\u201d <\/p>\n
Brady acknowledges that people oftentimes begin hobbies that aren\u2019t always a good fit. This is why she accepts donations of unfinished projects, like needlepoint work, etc. There are tools and materials for every variety of arts and crafts, especially the non-traditional. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cyclical,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes we will get someone\u2019s whole lifetime of projects.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the name may be Texas Art Asylum, the space is more like a Mecca of upcycling. The idea is for items found inside to be used to create something \u201cnew,\u201d but that\u2019s not always the case \u2014 although this author did leave with a cache of antique glass test tubes of every size to repurpose into a plant propagation station. Many things, like vintage glass medicine bottles, leather suitcases, blueprints, and even matchbooks work well as standalone decor. That\u2019s the beauty of the place.<\/p>\n
Need a small amount of interior paint to add some pizazz to bookcase backing? Pick up one of the many opened paint samples. Break a panel in a stained glass window? They\u2019ve got you. Want to retrofit a pendant light with a vintage or antique shade \u2014 guess who?! Have a show-stopping hat to display? Try one of the many vintage wooden wig blocks on offer. Going rustic? Reach for the bowl of antlers or acorns, perhaps.<\/p>\n
Bowls and jars populate just about every surface and contain just about everything. Think buttons, keys, mixed poker chips, stray playing cards, beads, beans, you name it. Shoppers will also find antique door knobs, decorative letters and numbers, doll and mannequin parts, cigar boxes, even holiday chocolate and treat tins. Vintage frames, glass block, mirror scraps, tile samples, salvaged lamp parts, wheels, castors, and even vintage classroom chalkboards find their way onto the shelves. Fabric fills one room. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the rusty hardware, or the stuff that\u2019s more interesting,\u201d says Brady. \u201cStuff that has more of a story than a brand name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brady accepts donations by appointment three days a week, 18 appointments per day, and takes in 1.5 tons of items per week. That\u2019s 3,000 pounds of items saved from the landfill every single week \u2014 what a notion. <\/p>\n
Wishing she could accept more, Brady concedes that they just don\u2019t have the space. That means that larger salvaged items don\u2019t make the cut: \u201cAs much as I would love to have like three pink toilets lined up, we have to save room for stuff that people will actually buy and not just what I think is funny.\u201d <\/p>\n
Donations of school-appropriate art supplies like markers, crayons, pencils, etc. are shared with The Houston Center for Creative Reuse<\/a> and help to supply the Teacher\u2019s Warehouse, where educators can find items free of charge. Texas Art Asylum also has a dedicated area in the front of the store with bins of free items for teachers. <\/p>\nThe broad selection can overwhelm newcomers, which is fair, considering its ambiguous identity. \u201cI think people don\u2019t really know what to expect, and I think they are amazed at the breadth of what\u2019s available,\u201d says Brady. Luckily, Shuug and Johnny Cash, the two shop cats (because, obviously) are on hand if shoppers need any emotional support. <\/p>\n
Brady offers some advice to potential shoppers or collectors who may not know where to begin. \u201cJust focus on the stuff that you are interested in \u2014 it\u2019s all here! You don\u2019t have to consume it all the first day. You can kind of get a general idea that you\u2019re not interested in the hardware stuff, or you\u2019re not interested in a bunch of old crayons or whatever. Then there are the parts [of the store] you are interested in, and you just have to take a breath. There are people who are here for hours at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, the next time a junk drawer or workbench clutter gets purged, consider making an appointment at Texas Art Asylum to donate one-off earrings, kid\u2019s meal toys, and other random objects instead of condemning them to a landfill. And give our best to Shuug and Johnny Cash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A maximalist interior is not complete without a cabinet of curiosities. Serving to reflect particular hobbies and interests…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4179,4345,1763,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-152067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-home-design","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-sustainability","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115041844945379563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}