photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Items for sale are pictured Feb. 19, 2015 at Kactus Kate's Mercantile located at 18783 FM 2493 in Flint, Texas. The store specializes in unique new and pre-owned rustic home furnishings.

For the Watkins family, it is all about the hunt.

Family members, who have worked in the petroleum landman business for 25 years, take frequent trips across the country to go “picking,” looking for rustic, western pieces of furniture and d￩cor.

Kathy Watkins, 58, and her two daughters, Tiffani Watkins, 20, and Heather Slaton, 29, are now sharing their love of finding treasures with the East Texas community. They opened Kactus Kate’s Mercantile next to the fire station in Flint in January, offering an eclectic mix of furniture — from bunk beds to kitchen tables — and home d￩cor — from RV chandeliers to deer heads.

Flint Gypsies opened next door in February and offers trendy western clothing for children, teens, women and plus sizes, as well as accessories like jewelry and purses.

“I’m in love with the rustic western lifestyle,” Mrs. Watkins said.

The entire family, including her husband of 40 years, Philip; their two daughters and two sons, Michael, 30, and Jody, 36, have worked in the petroleum landman business and attend a local cowboy church. The family, including Ms. Slaton’s husband Ryan, are all involved with the new businesses.

“We have a great love for one another,” Mrs. Watkins said of working with her family every day. “It’s not perfect always … but it’s fun.”

Mrs. Watkins has always been into design and has decorated people’s homes. Three years ago, the family constructed a new house and she decorated it with a rustic design.

“My love of the cowboy culture and heritage inspired it,” she said.

The family, from Mt. Selman, often goes “picking” together in places like Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Wyoming; Montana and Colorado. They’re now bringing those new and used, rare and unique finds back to their two new stores to sell.

“We wanted to share with the community what we find,” Mrs. Slaton said of why they opened the businesses.

They enjoy traveling as a family and her 3-year-old triplets call them their adventures. She said they often take a trailer or rent a U-Haul while on vacation to bring back their finds. She said they are probably the only family to have toured Yellowstone Park with a U-Haul full of furniture.

Mrs. Watkins said they meet a lot of neat people and hear a lot of great stories during their journeys.

Mrs. Slaton’s favorite part about the business is the search. She finds nothing more thrilling than to see new places and find new things and “bring them back and make it your business too,” she said.

Mrs. Watkins agreed. “The hunt” is the best part, she said.

Mrs. Watkins said they go “picking” every five to six weeks, taking a short trip somewhere to find items along the way. She said people can contact them about something they want to sell and, instead of buying that one thing, they bring back more than a dozen items.

Some of Mrs. Watkins’ greatest treasures found during her travels include a chandelier from Randy Travis’ home; a buffalo mount that came from the movie, “Dancing with Wolves;” and an original painting by the late J.N. Swanson, worth more than $50,000, she said.

“You should see how many things haven’t made it in the shop,” Mrs. Slaton said.

Mrs. Watkins said it is hard to decide whether to keep the treasures or sell them.

“I have already sold a truckload of things I wish were in my home,” she said.

Ms. Watkins loves western fashion and said her passion is finding trendy, young looking, plus size clothing. “It’s hard to find for girls my age,” she added.

Mrs. Watkins said her daughters’ fashion sense is much better than hers and Ms. Watkins has truly been the inspiration for the fashion side of the business.

Ms. Watkins, who is also a musician and artist, said she has 65 pair of boots, and loves “picking” clothes, as she did at the CMA Fest in Nashville last year.

Mrs. Watkins said they were drawn to the Flint area to open their businesses and when the rustic-looking building with two spaces came up for lease, she felt it was almost like it had been built for them.

Since opening Kactus Kate’s, they have had several requests to help design customers houses and to look for specific items during their “picking” excursions, she said.