A Review of Magnolia Market at The Silos
When you think of Waco, Texas, the first thought that probably comes to mind is Baylor University or Magnolia Market at The Silos.
When I think of Waco, I instantly think of The Silos and Chip and Joanna Gaines. Chip and Joanna are the founders of Magnolia Market at The Silos, and I got an opportunity to visit the market in Waco with one of my best friends recently for a well-deserved girls’ weekend.
We stayed at the infamous Green Door Loft, which appeared on Fixer Upper. The Magnolia Loft was renovated by Chip and Joanna on their HGTV show. We opted to stay in the BoHo Loft, which was just as fantastic, and it even had a direct view of The Silos.
Touring the mini compound and shops within the grounds of Magnolia Market and seeing The Silos that everyone has come to know and love was a designer's dream come true. Everyone working at Magnolia was happy to be there, even if it was 103 degrees, but felt more like 110.
Interior Design that Inspires and Invokes a Feeling
On our first official full day in Waco, we ate the Magnolia Table for lunch. It lived up to all its hype! With my lunch, I ordered their Lemonade Flight which was a sampling of their infused lemonades: blackberry, strawberry, lavender, and cucumber mint. It was so, so refreshing and flavorful! I am not a big lemondae person, but this was truly something special and I didn’t want the sampling to end. It just tasted that good.
During our time in Waco, we went to Chip and Joanna’s new hotel, Hotel 1928, which opened in November of last year. Wow, this hotel was a freakin stunner, and all of the design details did not go unnoticed! Even the latches to the stalls in the women’s bathroom were so beautiful.
As an interior designer, my goal is to always invoke a feeling in my clients’ homes, and being at Hotel 1928 did just that for me. The restaurant in the hotel had such yummy farm-to-table food that filled up our bellies and made us want to stay a while longer. We not only ate breakfast there, we went back that night to eat dinner. After breakfast, we dropped in to the Cafe at Hotel 1928 and I ordered their Bluebonnet Latte which is vanilla, butterfly pea flower tea, and steamed milk. The latte is the color of a robin’s blue egg and was the perfect amount of sweet.
Lots of locals recommend we eat at the Red Herring for dinner at Hotel Herringbone, which we did! Red Herring had delicious Mediterranean classics that really brought me back to studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, where I met my friend, Jenny, 20 years ago who I was on the trip with! Talk about a full circle moment. The hotel had such statement pieces throughout the restaurant. I stood for a solid minute and a half taking in the decor before sitting down at our table.
Waco is right in the middle of Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin, Texas—a short hour and a half drive from either direction. I wholeheartedly believe it is worth a visit to see the small town that Chip and Joanna Gaines have put on the map and the town they take pride in. Everyone we met in Waco was proud of their town—going to school there, working there, or just being there.
The town of Waco created an inspired feeling we won’t soon forget!
