As promised long ago, here are the many places that helped me turn my Vibe Desert into an Ultimate Hudson Valley House Vibe.
Hours: Thursday–Monday, 12–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Square, credit cards, checks Phone: (646) 335-2335 Focus: 19th-century painted furniture, Americana, and folk art I had so much fun riding along with Warren Battle of Battle Brown, watching him gush over and ogle some of the best-looking slightly run-down houses of the Hudson Valley. His shop, on Warren Street, is just perfect, in my opinion: the right amount and mix of folk art and painted furniture, with modern art and ceramics made by local neighbors and friends. He's really funny, too. Just a great guy with a great shop, "living the dream," as he says.
Hours: Saturday, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Closed through the winter (final weekend for regular shop hours for the 2024 season: 11/29-12/1). Regular hours return on Memorial Day. Payments accepted: Cash, check, credit card, Venmo, Zelle Phone: (607) 230-4084 Focus: Kabinett & Kammer is a "contemporary curiosity shop of antiques, natural wonders, and art that serves as a visual medical, botanical, and zoological design resource." Sean patiently guided me through his design lessons on how to build an ultimate vignette and I must say my Vibe Desert has been much improved. His beautiful shop in Franklin closes for the winter, but in the meantime, you can pick up Sean's two books on interior design and collecting: "Kabinett and Kammer: Creating Authentic Interiors," and "Sean Scherer's Vignettes." You can also visit his booth at The Galleries at Knollwood Antiques, in Lee, Massachusetts: 57 Park St, Lee, MA 01238 [see #10 on this map]
Hours: Friday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Cash or check only Phone: (518) 789-2022 Focus: Antiques furniture ranging from the late 1700s into 1900s. I love the Johnson of the Old Mill of Irondale, and I'll hopefully be interviewing them soon to learn more about their story. I've purchased many things from this wonderful place — ogee mirrors, lithograph prints, craftsman tool totes, plant stands, a burl oak rocking chair, so many good things.
Hours: Friday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Phone: (917) 328-8242 Focus: Come here for an aesthetic of "exuberant self-expression, tempered by neurotic overthinking and thus, obsessively curated and refined." A taxidermy piece called "Squirrel Humping Log With Nut In Mouth" is representative of this vibe, and has unfortunately been sold. UnQuiet is housed in the old firehouse on the Coxsackie waterfront, and owned and curated by, as she describes herself, "reformed magazine editor" Sarah Gray Miller. When I teased it on the IG feed, I described it as macabre, but that was also right before Halloween, and I was feeling macabre. This is a special place. Also stay for her attached bar, Ravish Liquors, which is housed in the former jail.
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Cash, credit, check Phone: (518) 712-5088 Focus: Just having celebrated their second anniversary, this two-level multi-vendor space focuses on 18th- and 19th-century Americana (they've supplied pieces to "The Gilded Age," most-recently oriental rugs for a planned upcoming scene in a rug shop. An apple peeler is about to travel out to Hancock Shaker Village for a film being produced about Mother Ann Lee.). More than 20 vendors are represented.
google.comHours: Friday–Sunday, 12–5 p.m. Monday–Thursday, by appointment Phone: (845) 331-3902 Focus: Traditional, modern, industrial furnishings Milne is truly a full-service antique and design showroom, offering antiques and vintage items ranging from early European and Americana to Midcentury Modern furniture. The story goes that in college, Rebekah Milne decorated her dorm in such a way (French chandelier and with a bed she made out of plywood) that she won the "Coolest Dorm Room in America" by the U.S. News and World Report. Now, through her showroom in Kingston's historic Rondout Waterfront District, Milne offers antiques, furniture restoration, home design and decorating, prop rentals, lamp and lighting design and restoration, and custom furniture design, too.
Hours: Friday–Tuesday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m Payments accepted: Cash only Phone: (860) 435-3569 Focus: "Lou's Relics has everything from a plate to an estate." Lou's Relics has been in the family for four generations. Eleven rooms, two cow statues in the front yard, seemingly 999,999 antiques (some dating back to the early 1800s) in every category you could think of.
Hours: Monday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday, closed Wednesday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday, closed Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Credit cards accepted ($20 minimum), ATM on site Phone: (518) 577-1441 Focus: Antiques and collectibles, handmade crafts, vintage finds. With more than 125 vendors across a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, the Market Place in East Durham is a bit over-stimulating. Anything from antiques, crafts, collectibles, and scaries, if you’ve ever lost an estate sale auction to some anonymous bidder, it feels like this is where it probably ended up.
Hours: Open as announced via Instagram: @schoolhousemercantile Payments accepted: Cash, check, credit card, and Venmo Phone number: (413) 822-4868 Focus: Owner Tracy Delsignore opened this in a former schoolhouse four years ago and describes her style as "vignette-enhancing smalls, made up of an eclectic mix of turn-of-the-century to midcentury." There's a special "secret" room in the back with vintage clothing that her granddaughter Clementine helps source. Just ask to see Clementine's Vintage Emporium. At the moment, Delsignore doesn't keep regular store hours; she announces when she'll be open (usually on weekends) on her Instagram page: @schoolhousemercantile. She plans to be open through the New Year holiday for holiday shopping.
Hours: Open daily, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter Payments accepted: Cash, check, debit Phone: (518) 731-8888 Focus: Many vendors in a range of collectibles, art books, figurines, furniture, lighting, art, vinyl records. In addition to the 100-plus vendors in this warehouse, you can also find a robust reference library with a wide selection of books and magazines on antiques. They hold a policy against selling any antique reproductions – if they see a fake antique on the floor, they'll remove it, and if they sell you one, they'll refund you.
Hours: Open daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (excluding major holidays). Can be open by appointment. Payments accepted: Cash, credit, check, Venmo Phone: (917) 751-0820 Focus: Knollwood is a 5,000-square-foot space housing 32 dealers with expertise in antiques of many eras, fine and decorative arts and interior design (both James Coviello and Sean Scherer are represented here). Speaking of Sean, this is where you can find his newly stocked items while his Franklin store, Kabinett & Kammer, is closed for the winter.
Hours: Monday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday, closed Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday, 12–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Credit card, cash, check, Venmo Phone: (845) 677-3638 Focus: It all started when owner Kevin DeMartine was 12 years old and found two boxes worth of old bottles in the ground that he sold for $25. But now, decades later, he's filled his place near Millbrook with anything from framed oil paintings and Yellowware to lamps, books, enamelware, and cast iron door hinges. There's still a room full of antique bottles, too (some arranged by the region where they were made). I always pick up hobnail milkglass here, and we've stocked our cabinets with antique ceramics (plates, bowls, serving platters) that we love to bring out when hosting friends. People compliment them all the more when they find out we got them from Kevin.
Hours: Friday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Weekday by appointment Payments accepted: Cash, checks, credit card. Layaway available. Local delivery services available. Phone: (845) 758-5668 Focus: Utilitarian items, "anything that can serve multiple purposes or that can be repurposed." Hoffman's Barn is a 50-by-100-foot pole barn that opened in 1992 and is filled with painted furniture, architectural salvage, door knobs, jugs, rugs, mugs, paintings, bottles, chairs, shelves, scythes, a Ford Model A, and cat named Charlie.
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. And by appointment Phone: (845) 338-6465 Focus: Architectural salvage and antiques This is 40,000 square feet and four floors full of just about any architectural part you could need. Aisles of doors, rows of tubs, lighting, mantels, kitchen hardware and, sometimes, a really nice anvil, Zaborski is known across the country and is a resource not only for TV set designers and the Metropolitan Opera, but James Cave of the James Cave Instagram Feed as well.
Hours: Sunday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Friday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (Closed on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) Payments accepted: Cash, credit, check Phone: (518) 589-5600 Focus: Around 20 vendors who each do their own thing, expect to find an eclectic range from booth to booth: vintage clothing, art, furniture, Americana, collectibles, chairs, lighting, hats, cookware, etc.
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday, 12–5 p.m. Payments accepted: Cash, check, credit card ($10 minimum) Phone: (413) 528-8059 Focus: Great Finds is a 7,000-square-foot multi-dealer shop where you can find art, prints, cabinet hardware, Shaker-style peg boards, cupboards, old advertising and ephemera, books, antique toys, and more. So many good things but my favorite zone has to be the frame wall of the Frame Shop — their in-house professional custom picture frame shop. On this wall I've found many Adirondack-style frames, oak and gold-leafed frames, and ogee frames. I can't go there unless I'm prepared to leave with a stack of them hanging down each my arms like long sleeves.
Hours: Wednesday and Friday, 12–6 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Phone: 518-465-2987 Focus: The Architectural Parts Warehouse is the architectural salvage and antique shop of the Historic Albany Foundation, a 503 (c) non-profit organization that educates about and preserves and protects buildings that have historic, architectural, or civic value. They survive on memberships and donations of old house parts that they then sell here, and you can find so many great house parts that it boggles the mind. But that's OK, because any question can be answered patiently and knowledgeably by the volunteer experts, who can tell you about the histories of even the most obscure baubles, gewgaws, doodads, and gadgets.