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Smithers moved on from the Texas Rose Show, peddling her wares at The Rendezvous and Zapp Hall for several years before landing as a vendor at The Compound, where she has created a permanent home. She chose The Compound as the site of her new brick-and-mortar location, she says, because of the high level of vendors that the venue consistently draws. She was assured that her own standards would be matched by the other vendors and lure in clients seeking rarefied goods, including Fickle's mix of antique furniture, objets d'art, and vertu from all over Europe. The creation of a space to house Fickle's treasures on The Compound campus began inside a sketchbook. Smithers has written, stapled, clipped, and glued a swirl of fabric samples, personal photos, magazine pages, printed images, and scenes from nature inside the book — essentially creating a living Pinterest board to capture her vision. Construction on The White Barn began several years ago and was completed by Smithers and her husband, Jeff, a commercial contractor. "I'm just so thrilled to be open," she says. "It's beautiful! It's landscaped just like in my dreams, and all I want is for people to enjoy it as much as I do. We just finished installing the fountain I picked up in Spain a few years ago, and I couldn't be happier." The White Barn at The Compound opened its Round Top doors full-time over Labor Day weekend, making Smithers part of an ever-expanding list of seasonal Round Top vendors who have turned permanent shop owners; their decision to commit to the area was driven primarily by customer demand (and, secondly, by tugs at their heartstrings). She believes that Round Top has become a leader in the design world, as buyers are shying away from big-box store pieces and are instead seeking one-of-a-kind treasures — which Smithers says are becoming harder to find. While she still stocks her store with pieces sourced primarily from France and England, she's had to expand her search into other parts of Europe, as quality items have become scarcer over the past five years. A collection of white stoneware at The White Barn White Barn vendor: Cuckoo's Nest by Kelly McGuigan (Continued) 17