Smart Shopper | He found the stoves sign in Vermont and hung it above a marble-topped counter with milk-glass panels; it lies beneath framed grids of numbers from a machinist’s shop dating from the 1960s. “I love old signs,” he says. “They’re alive, a real connection to the past.”
Perfect Patina | In Mulford’s bedroom, a plaster disk of Aquarius hangs behind a 19th-century French four-poster bed; “modern” concessions include a 1950s hassock and a ’70s-era telephone.
Strictly Ballroom | Mulford designed the chandeliers, light-reflecting mirrored sconces, and banquette in the ballroom , where he frequently throws parties. The fiberglass urns on the bar are auction purchases.
Strictly Ballroom | The roof terrace was “filled with bags of garbage” when Mulford bought the building; fully enclosed, it’s now the stomping ground for his three cats.
Strictly Ballroom | Mulford designed the chandeliers, light-reflecting mirrored sconces, and banquette in the ballroom , where he frequently throws parties. The fiberglass urns on the bar are auction purchases.
Smart Shopper | Vince Mulford lives directly above his antiques shop in Hudson, New York.
Period Drama | The 1940s down sofa in the living room retains its original velvet; birdcages are suspended from the rafters above.
Period Drama | The bed in the adjacent guest room belonged to Mulford’s grandfather.
Period Drama | An ample mahogany table from “a grand house in Lenox” anchors the dining room; a Belgian lacemaker’s lens sits on the radiator.
Vintage Kitchen | A French landscape painting hangs above park benches in the kitchen’s. The light fixture is one of several reproductions Mulford had made for his shop.
Vintage Kitchen | The monitor-top fridge and Garland stove both date from the 1930s and are far younger than the building itself. The light fixtures were salvaged from a gas station.
Perfect Patina | “The first collection I ever had was clocks,” says Mulford, who has installed a few in a central room on the top floor. Walls had been covered in multiple layers of fabric and wallpaper over the years, which he partially removed for an “instant Venice look!”
Office Romance | “I’m not into technology,” says Mulford, who had to move the computer from what he still calls his computer room because the wireless stopped working there. The desk and floor are covered in Oriental rugs; faux bamboo shelves hold magazines and objets.