Tall Order

In Julie Kehoe’s dining room, a set of old wood stairs provides the perfect spot for showcasing pantry boxes, a black-and-white game board and assorted small accents. Stairs, Julie says, are the perfect place to display her pint-sized antiques. “I buy every set of stairs I can find,” she says. An antique horse and an old window frame filled with quilt squares are also at home in the vignette. A simple wood shelf holding yellowware bowls and a glass-backed display cabinet holding papier-mâché fill out the corner.

Give a Hand

A bucket of colorful, antique croquet balls adds spice and whimsy to a living room display. “I love things that are round,” Julie says of her preference for objects with spherical style. Also applause-worthy is her unique collection of hand-shaped cast-iron forms designed in Colonial times to make gloves. “It was the actual visual thing for me,” Julie says of her decision to collect the glove forms, which look like tall, cast iron hands with long, slender fingers.

Bucket Brigade

Unusual antiques, such as this aqua-painted coffee stand loaded with wood trenchers, fill the dining room with color and whimsy. “I have a lot of coffee items,” Julie says, adding that she also has cast-iron coffee grinders and antique coffee tins elsewhere in the room. Wood shutters cover just the bottom of one window, adding more interest to the space and allowing in plenty of light to highlight Julie’s antiques.

Stairway to Heaven

The kitchen features a stairway to heaven—antiques heaven, that is! A set of old blue stairs topped off with vintage tins and other collectibles lends colorful architectural style to the room. Julie varied the heights and materials of the pieces—from tea boxes and a crow figurine to miniature windmills and tin horns—in order to maximize interest. Quirky finds, including a red gumball dispenser and a painted pole, enhance the whimsical charm of the vignette.

Earning Your Stripes

A collection of striped barber poles paired with black checkerboards provides a feast for the eye in this living room display. Julie says anything goes when it comes to decorating with antiques, a philosophy that led to the rich combination of pattern and texture here.