The Rust Shack opens quaint shop in downtown Waxahachie

Photo courtesy The Rust Shack.

The Rust Shack is helping to revitalize downtown Waxahachie with repurposed treasurers in its new store located in the Rogers Hotel on the square. The Rust Shack opened on March 1.

WAXAHACHIE — The latest feather in the cap of Waxahachie's downtown revitalization efforts is a quaint, locally-owned shop whose name tells all: The Rust Shack.

Owners Mike and Lyndie Medford chose newly-available retail space in the Rogers Hotel building for their dream venture.

"I love the hotel and the vintage and industrial look and feel," said Lyndie. "And it's right here on the square."

The Medfords cut their eclectic-home-décor teeth as one of many vendors in My Father's House Antiques Mall, two blocks south of the courthouse.

"We started there two years ago," Mike said. "We learned things about this kind of business from the store owner, Dale Frie, and from other vendors in the store."

Opening a store of their own has been a dream for a long time, and it looks like they are off to a great start.

The store, which opens onto College Street, has two levels, both chock-full of charmingly industrial home décor and creatively repurposed items from farm implements to pianos. One corner is lit by a wall fixture made out of a 1939 John Deere tractor hood with a decidedly Art Deco look, while a chicken-feeder-turned-chandelier hangs over the sales counter, and another style of chicken feeder lights the display at the other end of the store.

Black-and-white pillows proclaiming "Take a Load Off!" and "Have a Seat" are strewn throughout the store, along with burlap throw pillows. A large, solid printer's block looks like home to a cast turtle on a large, metal sorting desk. Dining room sets – both oak and Formica varieties – vintage armoires, a North Texas State Normal College (Denton) yearbook from 1901-1912, and a large assortment of dog-head magnets round out the unusual collection.

"We find things everywhere – Canton, flea markets, auctions, junk yards," Lyndie said, with Mike admitting some items were once destined for the dump or lying forgotten in a farmer's back field. "This cart is probably our favorite – the top is an old railroad cart, but the bottom is from a different cart. It's already been repurposed."

While Lyndie, a Maypearl native, is no stranger to a paint brush, Mike is the creative muscle behind The Rust Shack's signature repurposing. A remodeling contractor by day (Medford Remodeling), Mike has built a wet bar from the front of an old International work truck, designed an executive desk and conference table using an antique bed's headboard and footboard, and made dilapidated pianos into a variety of useful furniture pieces.

"We've used every part of the pianos except the harp – although Lyndie wanted to make one of those into a table," Mike said. "We made a shelf, a sideboard, a bench; and we use the keys for these wall hangings." Additional piano keys stand in a box at the front of the store, marked with a sign that says "95 cents each."

"Those have been popular already," Lyndie said, as the store's first day in operation was drawing to a close.

The Rust Shack is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For questions, or to discuss custom repurposing, call Lyndie at 972-935-7146. The store can also be followed on Facebook while the formal website is under construction.