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New Uses for Old Things
Rather than allow treasures to gather dust, antiques dealer Sean Scherer seamlessly incorporates found objects into the decor of his New York home.
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s the owner of Kabinett and Kammer, a pair of New York antiques shops (one in Manhattan, the other upstate), Sean Scherer collects stuff for a living. But he’s also an artist with an unconventional eye. So while Scherer tends to drag home more than a few vintage finds, he manages to devise ingenious ways to repurpose them. “If I really respond to an item’s patina and shape, I don’t even think about where it’s gonna go before I buy it,” he says of the lockers, fire extinguishers, and newspapers that now serve as built-ins, sculpture, and wallpaper in his 1840s farmhouse. “By using objects with age,” he explains, “I can create a look that feels completely authentic.” Here, Scherer reveals his innovative approach, room by room.
A fan of Russian art and design, Scherer found graphic appeal in a stack of ’60s Ukrainian newspapers, just $20 at a Pennsylvania flea market. Then he placed the pages where he could really admire them–along two walls and the ceiling of a downstairs bathroom–using wallpaper paste and a flat craft sealant (such as Liquitex Matte Medium). Also in the room: an antique medical stand that acts as a caddy for hand towels.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANA GALLAGHER
Put the writing on the wall.
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Give built-ins a sense of history. To establish enough storage and display space for his growing collections, Scherer installed custom cabinets and shelves throughout his house. In each case, he combined salvaged furniture— from wood-paneled doors to full sets of lockers—with standard Home Depot materials, plus his own sweat equity.
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CAST-OFF CABINET DOORS (above, left) The catalyst for this wide bookshelf in Scherer’s living room? Three cabinet doors that cost a total of $75 at a local salvage yard. Scherer built the unit’s frame, attached the doors in a playfully mismatched arrangement, and unified it all with a coat of white paint.
VINTAGE SCHOOL LOCKERS (above, center) Wood-and-glass
lockers from an old Pennsylvania school—$1,000 at auction—hold Scherer’s glassware and ironstone in the pantry. By encasing the freestanding lockers inside a white-painted lumber framework, the dealer made them feel like part of his home’s architecture.
AN OLD FARM CUPBOARD (above, right) When Scherer spied this massive 5'W x 7'H cabinet, he knew it would fit perfectly in the corner of a downstairs bedroom. To integrate the piece into the room, Scherer constructed a thin wood platform to place it on, then added a series of floating shelves that showcase all sorts of utilitarian finds, from metal file boxes to fire extinguishers.
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Group multiples for maximum impact. Back in the late ’80s, a college-aged Scherer scooped up this series of vintage Pompeii postcards for a mere $10. But it wasn’t until he moved into this house nine years ago and started decorating the entrance hall that he had the chance to play up their appeal. “Because I went bold on the walls with Benjamin Moore’s Marine Aqua,” he says, “I relied on neutral accents that would really pop.” Using bookbinder’s glue, Scherer affixed all 45 postcards to a large canvas before hanging the work above an antique grain bin and a pair of mercury glass lamps.
Make the most of oft-overlooked areas. What many folks would write off as a skinny shelf support, Scherer saw as an opportunity to spotlight his tintype photographs. Over the years, he’s collected the pictures from antiques shops and flea markets for as little as $3 (original images of Civil War soldiers can run up to $600). As for the frames, Scherer mixes thrift-store finds with ones from, yes, Walmart.
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