Summer Throwback: Magnolia Silos
/As I was checking out at Magnolia Home, I thanked the cashier for such a great experience and told him the whole day had felt like I was at Disneyland. He was appreciative and casually said, “yeah, we get that a lot.”
And I wasn’t exaggerating. Visiting Magnolia really was like going to Disneyland for me… someone who’s obsessed with home decor and all things cozy, and who has watched Chip and Joanna’s show since the beginning.
Magnolia offered everything you needed -- coffee shop, food carts, refreshing drinks and snacks, baked goods, picnic areas, playground areas, and lots of great shopping. One other similarity to Disneyland: there were only two ways out (that I noticed), meaning you were a fish swimming in a school all going with the current in the same direction, hitting up every last shop along the way. It was a money trap, but in the best way.
We ended up going to Magnolia a bit last-minute. After getting vaccinated, we felt more comfortable traveling and finally made it out to see Tim’s parents’ new home near San Antonio, Texas. We flew into Austin and had an amazing time with them and his brother’s family; we even got to meet our cute little Godson for the first time 🥰 We explored San Antonio a few nights, grabbing some food at an amazing brewery and pizzeria and exploring the San Antonio river walk for an evening out on the town. We also hit up a lot of cute little towns right around them, filled to the brim with antique shops, farmer’s markets, outdoor concerts, and coffee shops.
We both had to work almost the whole trip, so our adventuring was limited to the evenings and weekends, but I’d say we really made the most of it! We actually did quite a bit of exploring even with the limited time off.
So Friday evening rolled around and after we met up with his brother’s family, ate some delicious Texas BBQ, and said our goodbyes, we drove 3 hours to Waco for our big Magnolia adventure. I’m not kidding when I say I was so excited the night before I almost couldn’t sleep 🤣
We booked the cutest Airbnb TWO BLOCKS away from the Silos -- and we only booked like 4 days in advance! That was definitely a sign that we were meant to go 😉 The house was fantastic; way too much room for just the 4 of us, but the location was perfect and it was everything you would have thought it would be being so close to all the goodness of Magnolia -- very similar style to Joanna’s (because why wouldn’t it be?!). If you’re looking to go to Magnolia, I highly recommend the Avenues of Waco.
So we arrived on Saturday morning at Magnolia Press around 8 a.m. Most of the shops open at 9 a.m., so we decided to grab coffee and breakfast at the coffee shop. We heard Magnolia Table is amazing, but that the wait is horrific, so we decided to skip it this time around. The coffee shop and grounds weren’t too busy when we got there, so we relaxed for a bit in the coffee shop and outside in the patio area and wandered around for some photo opps 📸
After coffee and breakfast, we hit up Magnolia Home first, walked around, took everything in, and browsed. There is so.much.good.stuff! But I felt like there was still so much to see (and their furniture is a pretty penny) so I decided not to buy anything quite yet.
We explored the cute little row of shops. I went into all of them and bought at least one small thing from each -- jewelry, clothes, beauty/skin care, kids gifts, birthday gifts, etc. These were fun because they had such uniquely curated items.
At this point, it was getting pretty hot and humid out, so we sat down for a bit and had some refreshments -- lavender lemonade for me (so YUM)!
We then made our way over to the Magnolia Market which has a ton of kitchen stuff, plus even more souvenir-y gear. After shopping to our heart’s content, we grabbed lunch from the food carts and drank the yummiest sweet tea I’ve ever had.
We made two last stops before leaving the Silos: 1) Magnolia Seed & Supply and 2) Magnolia Bakery (how could we NOT?!). Magnolia Seed & Supply was a cute, quaint little shop. I didn’t get anything related to gardening, but I did find a cute baseball cap 😉 And the bakery cupcakes were amazing (see mouthwatering photo below).
We spent a good half day+ at the Silos and then went home to rest up for a bit before heading out to do some more exploring. We couldn’t leave Waco without swinging by Joanna’s very first home store, the little shop on Bosque. It was adorable! So small, but they had a cute selection of stuff (+ sale items) and definitely worth going if you’re a Joanna fan like I am ☺️ I bought two latticed shutters that are now hanging at the top of our stairs - forever a fun memory piece.
There are sweet non-Magnolia antique and home decor stores around the Silos that you won’t want to miss -- we went to The Findery, which also has a warehouse a few blocks down. Lots of good finds there.
And how could I forget -- we also just happened to meet THE Jimmy Don -- the guy who makes all the iron signs for Chip & Joanna in Fixer Upper! It might be open by now, but when we were visiting he was building a shop right across from the Silos that wasn’t finished yet, so they had a trailer in front of it with some ready-made signs for sale. As we were walking up, I saw him standing there and basically whisper-yelled to Tim and his mom that I thought that was Jimmy Don himself. And, sure enough, yep! It was totally him and he was as nice as could be. We ended up buying a sign from him and he signed it! So fun.
All in all, I’d say our trip was a success. I’ve heard mixed reviews about whether or not visiting Magnolia is worth it, but I would say it definitely is -- just know what you’re getting into. You can do it in about a half-day, so don’t go for a week thinking that’s all you’ll do. If you love everything home, home decor, family, and fun, you’ll have a blast.
