Courtney Barton on Color, Collecting, and Why The Hunt Still Matters

Written by: Lindsey McConathy

Published on October 2, 2026

Time to read 12 min

After more than twenty years of shopping Round Top, the designer and shopkeeper has learned to trust surprise, embrace brown furniture and never underestimate a strange little vessel.

Courtney Barton has been coming to Round Top for more than twenty years, long enough to remember when shopping the show meant climbing into a pickup truck, wandering the fields and stopping wherever something caught your eye.

She has experienced Round Top from nearly every perspective. First as a shopper, then as a designer sourcing for clients and eventually as a shopkeeper herself.

Through all of it, one thing has remained remarkably consistent. Barton is interested in things with a past, a point of view and just enough surprise to make you look twice.

Her rooms follow much the same philosophy. Old wood does not need to be neutralized. Antiques do not need to feel precious. A vessel does not necessarily need to be used for whatever it was originally intended to hold. A shopping list should never become so rigid that you miss the thing you never knew you needed.

Ahead of another Round Top show, we asked Barton about the colors she loves with antiques, what still stops her in her tracks, what she is hunting for this fall and why, after more than two decades, the possibility of Round Top still gets her every time.

The Case For Brown Furniture

If there is one idea Barton would like us to reconsider, it may be the notion that brown furniture is difficult to decorate around.

“I actually think brown furniture is one of the easiest things to decorate around, but people sometimes make it harder by putting it against a very safe beige or gray. I love wood furniture against colors that give it some contrast: muddy greens, ochres, dusty pinks, deep blues, even certain reds. A honey-toned Portuguese chest, a pale Swedish piece or a dark English table can all feel more intentional against a wall color with a little life in it.

I tend to like colors that are a little complicated, nothing too clean or primary. A green with some gray or brown in it, a pink that has gone slightly dirty, an ochre that feels earthy rather than bright. Older furniture already has patina and depth, so I think the wall color should be able to hold its own beside it.”

That philosophy extends to the deeper shades she returns to again and again.

“Deep green. I come back to it constantly. A dark green room with brown furniture, old gilt frames, woven pieces, art and patterned textiles can feel incredibly fresh because the furniture stops reading as “brown furniture” and simply becomes part of a richer palette.

I also love muddy aubergines and tobacco colors. They sound heavy, but mixed with lighter upholstery, natural materials or something slightly unexpected, they can make antiques feel very current.”

Do Not Count Out Red

There is another color Barton thinks deserves reconsideration.

“Red, definitely. Perhaps it’s a byproduct of growing up in the ’80s surrounded by reds and burgundies in every form, but for years I would have told you I didn’t like red in a home at all. Then a few years ago, I realized red had somehow found its way into nearly every room in my house. Sometimes it was obvious, sometimes just a thread in a textile or a small accent, but it was often acting as a grounding color. It genuinely surprised me and completely changed my perception of what red can do in a room.

Ochre is another, and perhaps equally polarizing. It has such a natural relationship with old wood, brass, leather and textiles. It’s a color I return to again and again.”

When a room already contains plenty of pattern, texture and collected pieces, Barton does not necessarily believe the walls need to retreat.

“I don’t necessarily look to the wall color to do all of the calming. Instead, I look for places where the eye can rest: a quieter rug, pottery where the interest comes from its handmade, organic texture rather than strong color, or a throw whose tactile weave does the work instead of another pattern. For me, the goal of a neutral in a collected room isn’t to “calm everything down” so much as to give all the other things somewhere to live. You can have a lot happening and still have balance if you’re thoughtful about where the quieter moments are.”

The Paint Colors She's Loving Right Now

Ask Barton to name a few current favorites and she is quick to add one important caveat.

“Right now I’d probably say these three, but I reserve the right to change my mind next week. Paint is so dependent on the room, the light and everything else living in it.”

Beata Heuman No. 24 John’s Pantry
“earthy, warm and wonderful with dark wood.”

Benjamin Moore Vintage Vogue or Dark Olive
“both beautifully murky greens that make almost everything around them look better.”

Farrow & Ball Studio Green
“if you think you need black for a window, door or trim, I urge you to try this instead. It gives you that same depth, but having actual color in it makes it far more interesting.”

Shop For Possibility

Color may shape the backdrop, but Barton’s approach to collecting is much less prescribed.

She goes to Round Top with things she needs. She just does not allow the list to become the entire point.

“One of the best things about Round Top is finding the thing you didn’t know you were looking for. I can arrive needing something very specific and leave without it, but with an odd little painting, a stack of textiles and something I’m already mentally turning into a lamp.

I always have a running list of things clients need, holes I see in the shops and categories I’m looking to build, but instinct probably wins more often than the list. The list gives me direction, but I try not to let it give me blinders.”

What makes her stop is often the element she did not expect.

“Usually surprise. After doing this for so long, there’s still a thrill in coming across something I don’t immediately recognize.

Then I start looking closer. With furniture, I’m drawn to character and construction. I want the age and unusual silhouette, but I still want you to be able to actually use it. With objects, I’m often imagining what else they could become. Could it be a lamp? Could that textile become upholstery? Could something intended for one purpose be more interesting used another way?

That combination of surprise and possibility is what gets me.”

Vessels. Always Vessels.

Some shoppers walk right past the smalls. Barton looks closer.

“Vessels. Always vessels.

I’m drawn to shape first: an odd proportion, a great handle, something beautifully worn or made from an unexpected material. I don’t necessarily need to know what it was originally intended to hold, or even what it is. In fact, sometimes not knowing makes it more interesting.

Give me a strange little bowl, basket, box or cup and I’ll almost always find a reason to bring it home.”

That same curiosity informs the atmosphere Barton wants inside her own Round Top shop.

“Curious, but also completely at home. I want there to be things that make you stop and look closer, but I never want the shop to feel so precious that you’re afraid to touch anything.

Our shops are a mix of old and new, things I’ve found while traveling, pieces made by artisans we work with, antiques, textiles, books and objects that are there simply because I thought they were wonderful. I want you to sit in the chair, pick something up, flip through the book. Ideally, you notice something different on the second lap than you did on the first.

It should feel collected and interesting, but also comfortable and familiar… like being in the home of someone whose things you really want to poke around in.”

What She Is Hunting For This Fall

Even after decades of shopping, Barton is heading into this show with a list of her own.

“Dining chairs are high on my list. Something interesting enough to catch my eye, but well-made enough that real-sized humans can actually sit comfortably through dinner in them. Age, an unusual silhouette and great construction.

Original art, always. And obscure lighting, especially things that weren’t necessarily intended to be lighting in the first place. It’s relatively easy to wire or rewire something, so I’m always looking at objects and wondering if they might be better as a lamp.

And, of course, more vessels. I apparently never have enough things to hold other things.”

Her Favorite Finds Are Often The Smallest

After more than twenty years, asking Barton to choose one favorite Round Top find is nearly impossible. What stands out instead are the pieces that have quietly worked their way into everyday life.

“Choosing a best find after all these years feels nearly impossible. Some of my favorites are actually the smalls scattered throughout my house that have quietly become part of how we live: a porcupine quill box that holds the remotes on our coffee table, a French baguette basket stacked with extra toilet paper in the powder bath, seafood forks that always end up on my charcuterie boards. And then there’s a beautiful set of china I bought from Rebecca Gardner’s pop-up a few years back. The dinner plates, likely intended to be chargers, are so enormous that I’ve dubbed them our BBQ plates. They can hold half a rack of ribs and an abundance of sides with room to spare. I love using something fancy for something so completely unfancy.

As for the one I regret leaving behind? I honestly don’t have one. If I loved something but walked away because it was outside my budget at the time, then it wasn’t mine to buy at that moment. You’re where you’re at, and that’s okay. I don’t look back on those decisions with regret. There will always be another discovery.”

The Round Top She Remembers

Long before Barton became a Round Top shopkeeper, she came as a shopper.

“When I moved to Texas more than twenty years ago, a couple of women who lived on my street would invite me to tag along with them. We’d take one of their husbands’ pickup trucks and come home with it loaded to the hilt.

I shopped almost entirely in the fields back then and, honestly, that was mostly what Round Top was. So many of the larger venues people associate with the show today weren’t here yet. We wandered, dug, loaded the truck ourselves and kept going. I didn’t know every field, dealer or shortcut. We just went looking and stopped wherever something caught our eye.”

Round Top has expanded dramatically since then. With that growth has come more to see, more to do and more pressure to keep moving.

Barton believes some of the magic still requires slowing down.

“There’s so much more to see, which is exciting, but it can also create this feeling that you need to keep moving or you might miss something. I actually think you miss a lot by moving too quickly. Some of the best finds aren’t necessarily the things you notice from the aisle. You have to dig a little, look underneath something, circle back or stop long enough to talk to the person who brought it there.”

Round Top Beyond Social Media

Social media has changed how people encounter Round Top before they ever arrive.

Barton sees both sides of that evolution.

“Social media has changed the perception of Round Top as much as what people shop for. If you only experienced the show through Instagram, you might think it was as much about the parties, hosted dinners and beautifully styled gatherings as it is about the hunt itself.

And those things are fun, and I love that Round Top has become a place where so many creative people gather. But to me, that’s a byproduct of what has always made Round Top special, not the reason people started coming here. People came together over shared interests: antiques, interiors, art, craftsmanship and the thrill of finding things you didn’t know you were looking for—and probably couldn’t find anywhere else. The dinners and parties grew around that.”

The same lesson applies to the brands and makers arriving with hopes of becoming part of Round Top.

“I see a similar misconception from the selling side. Brands and makers sometimes arrive thinking that simply being at Round Top will translate into instant success. But Round Top is still retail. You need the right product, the right customer and, perhaps most importantly, you need to come back. The relationships here are built over time. Showing up once can be a marketing moment; showing up again and again is how you become part of Round Top.”

What Round Top Can't Lose

There is something from the earlier shows Barton particularly misses: the concentration of antique furniture dealers, including those who traveled from overseas to sell here.

“I miss some of the density of really wonderful antique furniture dealers, particularly those who traveled here from overseas.

For years, I bought from a dealer friend who came from France twice a year. We communicated almost entirely through Google Translate, and he brought incredible pieces: solid chests with beautiful inlay and clean lines, carved chairs built to survive another 200 years. I would select pieces almost as soon as he arrived, and he’d kindly deliver them to both of my stores overnight.

The show has grown enormously, and fashion, jewelry, food and lifestyle have brought a different energy and a much broader audience. I think there’s room for all of it. But I also hope we remember that the antique dealers are an integral part of what made Round Top Round Top.

Bringing a container of antique furniture halfway around the world is expensive, slow and risky. Those dealers simply can’t turn their inventory at the same rate as a clothing or accessories vendor. So when you find an antique dealer whose eye you love, it’s important to support them. Learn their name, go back the next show, bring your friends and buy the piece when you can. I want those dealers to have every reason to keep coming back, because I want that part of Round Top to still be here twenty years from now.”

Her years on both sides of the booth have only deepened that appreciation.

“I came to Round Top first as a shopper, then as a designer sourcing for clients, and eventually as a shopkeeper. Being on the other side has given me a much greater appreciation for what it takes to get something here.”

The Possibility Of Round Top

For all that has changed, the thing that keeps Barton coming back is remarkably simple: possibility.

“The possibility of it.

There are beautiful, highly edited venues now where you can walk in knowing the caliber of what you’re going to find, and I love those. But you can still pull off the road, walk into a field and find something extraordinary sitting beside something completely ordinary. You can shop an important antique in the morning, buy something handmade directly from the person who made it after lunch, and end the day digging through a pile where no one else seems to see what you see. There isn’t one way to shop Round Top, and there isn’t one definition of what’s worth finding.”

After more than twenty years of shopping the show, there is still one thing capable of surprising her.

“That I can still see something I’ve never seen before.

After more than twenty years of coming here, you’d think I would tire of combing through miles of chairs, cabinets, textiles, baskets and strange objects. But I’ll turn a corner and see something I don’t recognize at all, and that feeling of discovery is still my favorite part.”