Shoppers explore the Lafayette Mill Antiques Center during the Winter Shopping Party, February 11-12.

Review and Onsite Photos by Laura Preston

LAFAYETTE, N.J. — Don and Karen Kihlstrom, proprietors of the Lafayette Mill Antiques Center, love to throw parties. But what’s a party without a theme? In preparation for the Mill’s annual Winter Shopping Party on February 11-12, the couple workshopped ideas. Valentine’s Day was an obvious theme, especially for antiquarians. Who wasn’t seduced by love tokens, die-cut cupids and bracelets made from hair? On the other hand, you could honor President’s Day — we can’t forget our heads of state. What about the Super Bowl? Everyone’s a little grim in midwinter, with lingering sniffles and chronic ennui. So why celebrate the universal need to fly the coop? Minimalism is passé; long live the maximalists. And so, Lafayette Mill’s Valentine’s-Day-President’s-Day-Super-Bowl-Sunday-Cabin-Fever extravaganza was established.

The Winter Shopping Party showcased the 55 dealers with leased spaces at the Lafayette Mill Antiques Center, which occupies an 1840s grist mill and its outer buildings — 23,000 square feet in total. Many dealers are old timers. Some have been at the mill since 1981, its first year in business. The result, said Karen, is a “big nutsy family.” Indeed, when Antiques and The Arts Weekly swung by the Winter Shopping Party, we felt as though we had met a scrappy band of relatives, full of antics and familial love. “We put the fun in dysfunctional,” said Don. “There’s not a dark corner in this place.”

For the event, dealers were given a small budget and creative freedom to doll up their shop. Some dealers offered Valentine treats. Others built altars to Lincoln. Some, like Barbara Stanek of Simple Home, sprung on the “cabin fever” end of the brief. Stanek specializes in Midcentury Modern furniture, but when we caught up with her on Saturday, the mid-mod was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she had transformed her space into a hunting lodge, with fishing rods, Double RL flannels and a flickering faux campfire to set the mood. The flannels, reported Stanek, were flying out the door. “I used to do Hawaiian shirts,” she said, “but eight out of 10 go for the flannel.”

Barbara Stanek (with Jake the dog) shows off her impressive menswear offerings.

Around the corner from Stanek was the Kihlstroms’ shop, Bogwater Jim. The shop has low ceilings with warm, inviting light and the look of a smart English parlor. Karen sources her wares from England. “I just had my 91st trip,” she said. Among her furniture and homewares are a fascinating array of artist supplies, including an enameled box of antique pigments in their original vials. Don showed off a 39-key soundless practice piano, circa 1910, designed to help children with their fingering. Lucky for us, a 7-year-old pianist was nearby to demonstrate the right technique.

It was difficult to escape Bogwater Jim without talking to Craig Zehms, who presided over the refreshments. Zehms is not a dealer, but, per Don, a “chronic customer” whose owns a cabin in Dingman’s Ferry where “everything but the bed” is sourced from the Kihlstroms. Zehms wore a stethoscope and a doctor’s coat, and administered “Bog H2O,” a cabin fever remedy curiously reminiscent of apple cider, which Zehms offered to enhance with “something medicinal.”

Zehms was once the brand ambassador for Lalique, and more recently starred in the off-Broadway solo act Sheboyhood. “No,” he said, “I never desired to be in the medical profession.”

Mary Homer wore a beret to match the aesthetic of French Flair Ferme, her new shop in the millrace.

Beside Bogwater Jim was a new dealer, Mary Homer, who has been selling as French Flair Ferme since 2014. Homer recently moved into the millrace, the deep stone channel that in the mill’s working days was flooded with water. The space is dark, earthy and cool, with beautiful original beams. It makes an ideal setting for Homer’s wares, which she sources from the north of France. Among Homer’s offerings were a pink enameled chamber stick, proofing baskets for baguettes and a showstopper of a copper measure — 10 liters, double-handled, with handsome brass details.

Lafayette Mill is a labyrinth of stairwells and hidden nooks. Around every corner is a charismatic dealer insisting that visitors fortify their trip with one more cupcake, candy heart or slice of trout fished from the mill’s own river. On the second floor, we met Linda Gundlah of The Antique Loft, who deals in American primitives and showed off a drop-leaf secretary with a hidden drawer. Next to Gundlah was Debbie Santos, of A&A Antiques, who offered a wide selection of Americana, as well as hand-dipped chocolate strawberries.

“Glad you’re using that for its intended purpose,” Santos said to a local journalist, who had repurposed her notepad as a plate.

Barrett Gould with a Ross Lovegrove for Capellini table and an Alexander Girard for Herman Miller print.

One could spend an entire day exploring the mill’s three floors, but the serious antiquer should not forgo the outer buildings. In the mill’s adjacent storehouse, one will find Barrett and Irene Gould, who specialize in Midcentury Modern homewares. Barrett and Irene staged their shop for Valentine’s Day, with a glossy red table by Ross Lovegrove as the centerpiece and an Alexander Girard double heart print for a backdrop. Irene gave an overview of her favorite items, which included an Eva Zeisel Town and Country tea set in a rare, gunmetal finish, Russel Wright glassware and an excellent trio of Henry Gernhardt studio pottery bowls with deep, round bellies and a hypnotic barium glaze. There is no greater pleasure than meeting someone who loves objects and is bursting to tell you why. Irene, in this regard, is the finest treasure in her shop — her knowledge is deep and her passion, infectious.

Next door, Kim Ferruggia and Jay Romania were receiving the crowds at Carriage House Antiques, where they deal in American primitives. Ferruggia and Romania staged their space with an appealing farm table, well-appointed with stick chairs and a rye basket. A case contained a selection of intriguing farm implements, including two different kinds of egg candling devices and a pair of Hamlinite potato peelers. A highlight of the space was a hanging light fixture made from an old chimney sweep, with metal prongs that curled every which way, like an Alexander Calder sculpture. “It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Ferruggia.

By afternoon, the Lafayette Mill was filled with shoppers, many of whom were local. Glassware and pottery were the coveted items of the day. Colleen Beviss, an interior designer, showed off an attractive set of nesting bowls, while a young pair of sisters from Montclair were on the hunt for uranium glass.

Joe and Sharon Happle of Sign of the Tymes.

Many shoppers were drawn to the mill’s third floor. If the Kihlstroms love a theme, Joe and Sharon Happle of Sign of the Tymes live to execute one. Their third-floor shop is one of the largest in the building, and they have filled it with a staggering quantity of dolls, toys and advertising, which they are always rearranging to suit the season. Sharon, who specializes in Steiff, has crammed several cases with her spectacular mohair menagerie. “There are 700 here but another 1,500 at home,” she said. Each vitrine is world in miniature, with ranks of hand puppets, wind-up toys, chocolate molds, Barclay skaters, celluloid reindeer, pressed paper ornaments on feather trees, papier mache ponies, putz and chalkware puppies in rainbow hues.

At one end of the shop, we were charmed by a Valentine’s Day display featuring a 3-foot Kewpie advertising doll, circa 1917, and a flocked rabbit with a clockwork head, bobbing as it would have in a German shop of yore. The opposite case held enough Victorian valentines to weigh down a postal worker. We were mesmerized by the parasol ladies, cupids with lutes, and wheelbarrows of flowers; the garlanded Model-T’s and tumbling kittens; the arbors with doves; the galleons with love-heart sails — a glittering spectacle, better than television.

Karen Kihlstrom of Bogwater Jim reads only the finest literature.

The mill is full of history, which the Kihlstroms gladly recount. During Prohibition, the mill’s cider press made illicit applejack. One outbuilding housed a Vaudeville stage —later, a political club. “Many people were thrown from the porch into the river,” said Karen. “Nothing’s new!” The Kihlstroms acquired the mill in 1980. As the founding legend goes, the couple was doing yard work when Don’s rake fell apart. He went to town for another.

“He comes back,’ said Karen. ‘No rake.’ I go, ‘Where’s the rake?’ He says, ‘I forgot the rake, but I bought the mill.’”

The mill’s rehabilitation brought many trials. One outbuilding had been used as an indoor archery studio. “The spackling alone!” said Karen.

Forty-three years in, the Kihlstrom’s are training the next generation of antiquarians. This summer, three local 9-year-old dealers will have booths at the outdoor markets, which the Kihlstroms have given them for free.

Opening doors for young dealers is vital work. “The gross national product in Lafayette is antiques,” said Karen. “We got nothing else! It’s important to keep it going. It’s so very important.”

The Lafayette Mill Antiques Center, 12 Morris Farm Road, is open Thursdays through Sundays and holiday Mondays from 10 am to 5 pm. For information, www.millantiques.com or 973-383-0065.