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RED + WHITE GALLERY A rt that doubles as furniture is red-hot in the contemporary arena. Now design- into-art infiltrates the countryside — Fayetteville, to be precise — as Red & White Gallery's Joan and Jerry Herring roll out "Art + Craft." The exhibition presents 11 artists, hailing from Houston to La Grange, including proprietor Joan Herring's own sculpted assemblage coffee table. Also notable are Steve Shroyer's stick-and-stone mirror and light series, informed by nature's toolbox, and his occasional table that rests on a giant hand carved from yupon wood. Other best bets: Chris Silkwood's glass mosaic pedestals, table adornments, and a room divider, and Roberta Harris' sculptural chairs sprouting a flock of birds or a cavorting Adam and Eve. "Art + Craft," September 8 through October 7; opening night, Saturday, September 16, 5 to 8 pm; redandwhitegallery. com. Catherine D. Anspon 160 F ayetteville-area Walking Women Ventures has acquired its second property, so come September, Round Toppers will have more lodging options. Joan Herring and her business partner, Mary Quiros, purchased the former Country Place Hotel on Fayetteville's charming town square this summer, from longtime proprietors Maryann and Clovis Heimsath, and have been busy freshening it up for a big reveal. Grand opening festivities are set for Saturday, September 23. The National Register inn is getting a new name — Grand Fayette Hotel — as well as a wine bar. The two-story, 10-bedroom hotel features a sturdy Romanesque-Revival façade that dates from 1900, and was once thrillingly a boarding house with a basement speakeasy that did brisk business in the Prohibition era (later becoming a saloon during World War II). The Grand Fayette Hotel joins Herring and Quiros' nearby Market Street Inn, a block off the square, in making a compelling case for resting your head in Fayetteville after a hectic day of antiquing. Grand Fayette Hotel, guestrooms with private baths, $150 to $265 a night, reservations through Blackbird Lodging, blackbirdfarmtexas. com. Catherine D. Anspon BYBEE LIBRARY R ound Top would not be the same without the patronage of the late Faith and Charles Bybee. Mrs. Bybee, a doyenne of preservation and collecting, was among the three women — along with Hazel Ledbetter and Bayou Bend's Ima Hogg — who lured Emma Lee Turney to town to present the area's first antiques show nearly 50 years ago, in October 1968. Now the Bybee Foundation has stepped up as lead donor for a decades-in-the- making endeavor, set to open this fall: the Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Library at Round Top Festival Institute. Occupying the second and third floors of Festival Concert Hall, the new 3,500-square-foot space boasts unique book collections including the benefactor couple's irreplaceable decorative arts volumes; a music room devoted to Texas-born singer, pianist, composer, and radio host David Guion (a favorite of FDR); architectural fragment details from historic homes, churches, and structures such as windows salvaged from Doris Duke's estate; leaded glass ROOM at the INN YOUR SCHUBER HAS ARRIVED D riving on those starlit (read: very dim) back- country roads is not for the faint of heart. Nor is organizing group trips around the Round Top area. Thankfully, Schuber has arrived, operating out of Schulenburg, covering Fayette and surrounding counties. Co-owner Geoffrey Schiffli says they will "drive anywhere folks are willing to pay." But we will be whistling for Schuber to drive to those boozy farm parties, and into Fayetteville for dinner at Joe's. Large groups can book buses for weddings, wine and shopping weekends, and even painted church tours. No app, just pick up your phone the old-fashioned way. $75 per hour per vehicle, 979.484.7013, schuber. co. Anne Lee Phillips from Princeton's Gothic Revival dorm, the century-old Holder Hall; and, closer to home, stenciled ceiling panels from Fayette County's Sacred Heart Catholic Church, circa 1887. Additional treasures will soon be on view. Works by the late Round Top artist James Painter, whose deftly painted realist canvases were showcased annually at Meredith Long & Company from 1976 to 1983, unveil concurrently with the Bybee Library opening. The long-term exhibition is co-curated by Festival Institute's Lamar Lentz and Pat Johnson. The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Library opening this fall at Festival Concert Hall, Round Top Festival Institute, festivalhill.org. Catherine D. Anspon Grand Fayette Hotel, Fayetteville PAT JOHNSON Festival Concert Hall including Bybee Library, Round Top Festival Institute