Sean Scherer, a painter, bought this 1840's Cape-style farmhouse on 90 acres in the Catskills in 2002. The beauty of the surrounding farmland kindled a passion in Mr. Scherer for the rustic humility of early farm furniture. His home is now an "eclectic collection of 19th-century pieces...enhanced by clever juxtapositions with contemporary art, anatomical sculptures, botanical prints, mercury glass, old mirrors and tintypes that he started collecting when he moved to the area."
Friends soon encouraged him to open his own store, which he did. Kabinett & Kammer, a collection of natural and manufactured curiosities, opened in 2006. Mr. Scherer's ability to pair high and low pieces, contemporary items with barn-sale finds have earned him quite a cult following. As one friend said:
Sean creates these a-ha moments... His eye is utterly unique. He will find something that you and I would completely ignore and instantly recognize its beauty. He’s more likely to go for a pipe fitting than a velvet pillow any day.
This is probably one of our favorite homes that we've seen profiled in The New York Times. We simply love the eclectic/vintage mix: the rustic furniture, the old wall charts, the anatomical oddities. But of course it takes a good eye to make it all work together!
Read more about Mr. Scherer and see more pictures here.
Images: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times. Originally published 2009-10-08.
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
Wonderful!
view scootergirl's profile
Lovely! The butler's pantry made me swoon.
But from the very first picture, this house looks way overdone. I'm really not surprised that the owner also owns a store.
view FrogsPet's profile
I wish the house was a store so I could go in and buy most of things... then again, my second wish would have to be for some $...
so beautiful!
view gingew's profile
This doesn't look overdone to me. It looks perfect.
view rosenatti's profile
Love it! It seems like all of these fall tours have such excellent examples of how to do super cozy houses with awesome collections. This one looks to be at the top of that list though- gorgeous home, great eye, sense of balance and space. Somehow this house manages to be completely homey and familiar while chock full of delightful surprises and novel, fascinating elements.
Way.to.go.
I'm looking at my calendar as we speak, this shop is totally worth spending a day upstate!
view talby's profile
Wow...this is really great! I love when homes like this are featured! There are some totally unexpected things there.
view junklover's profile
Does anyone know where to find a globe like the one in the first photo with the black continents?
view junklover's profile
So am I the only one who finds picture 6 sincerely creepy?
view typwc's profile
@typwc,
Word.
view 47ranchdressing's profile
Love, love, love this. Considering leaving my husband and kids to become a groupie.
view Eliblu's profile